Help me understand Brighton College

[4U2]

Please help me understand Brighton College, as it continues to remain an enigma in our books. Its ethos tends to be similar to that of Wellington, with a strong PR push and very good GCSE and A-levels and Oxbridge rates.

Normally there is a good correlation between a given school's performance at inter-school competitions and Oxbridge/Ivy/medical school acceptance rates, as one would expect that these universities would look beyond grades only. E.g. Winchester gathers around two dozen medals at science olympiads, and medics are around 9% of leavers, Merchant Taylors and Sevenoaks around a dozen medals in science olympiads, and medics are around 6-7% of leavers. A similar pattern holds in Model UN results, which tends to translate well into Oxbridge/Ivy acceptance rates in humanities.

I am not aware of BC getting any special recognition at these large inter-school competitions like Model UN and math or science olympiads, or at least they don't seem to advertise it (and I am sure that if they had they would🙂). The pupils we have seen at BC don't seem to come across any better than those at other the top schools, and seem to be more in league with Wellington than Eton. How it is possible then for BC to beat most of the top schools in terms of Oxbridge and medical school acceptance rates is a mystery to me.

It makes sense that if a school focuses strictly on the curriculum, then there will be stellar results in the GCSE and A-levels league tables. But surely Oxbridge/Ivy and medical schools will be looking for more in a candidate than just top A-levels?

Agree, in fact many children come from disadvantaged backgrounds who don't have the opportunity to do extra curricular activities or medals, but that doesn't means they don't have the academic ability

This thread is not about private vs state re Oxbridge. Plenty of threads and articles on that. It's about understanding Brighton College.

Seems to be about you asking if Brighton college will get your children into Oxford ahead of more intelligent children who didn’t go there, about whether it will let you game the system.

No, it probably won’t.

Maybe BC is not really the right school for your DC. Perhaps a school which is more successful at Olympiads and debating would suit your DC better?

No, it is not. If you think so, then you're missing the point.

I think you're totally wrong about the reasons state schools don't enter kids for Olympiad etc. If you haven't worked in a state school (I do), it's hard to imagine the sheer lack of headsspace they have for this sort of thing. Sadly, when you're potentially dealing with staffing problems, budget deficits and behavioural challenges, it can be hard to find the time to give to organising challenging extra activities for your high achieving kids who you know are going to basically be fine anyway. I remember a memorable day a couple of years ago when my Head had spent the whole day on the phone to social services trying to deal with a truly horrific case of child neglect, having to literally dry her tears to take a call from one of our pushier MC parents demanding to know why the school hadn't put her daughter forward for a tennis tournament.

There are lots of reasons why state schools don't engage with Olympiads etc, but lack of faith in pupils' abilities is unlikely to be one of them.

My state comprehensive wouldn’t even order in the Oxbridge prospectuses, let alone prepare us for interview there or give us any extra activities or tuition to help us get in.

It is beyond naive to think the only reason they don’t do these things is that they doubt their pupils’ ability to make it.

OP, have you any particular reason to assume that your child is Oxbridge standard? Are you and your husband alumni, and are your children up to your standard?

My school was the same, and I know from personal experience that talented pupils will always find a way. I went to libaries to get the said prospectuses. Chased the teachers to get us into math contests. I didn't know anyone who had gone to top schools, but I wasn't looking for excuses, quotas, pity or contextual considerations. A talented and motivated child will find a way, no matter what. This is my own personal life experience, which is why I find these kind of excuses amusing to say the least.

In any case that is beside the point, it belongs elsewhere and it is also rather personal. My interest is in understanding BC, which can hardly claim excuses like disruptive pupils or overloaded teachers. Not more than other schools anyways.

Due to my husband's work Ds had moved 4 schools before joining BC. (UK State primary, USA private, UK independent prep)
The first two years were hard because of the Covid social restrictions in the school. But since the restrictions were removed he seems much happier there. He doesn't have any national medals or aim to reach Oxbridge. But his academic performance remains great. House master and teachers are very supportive. School culture is open and diverse. Most of his friends want to go to Oxbridge or G5 in the future. Have met some of them. All seem very intelligent. If those kids work hard and receive enough supports from the school, can't see why they cant be Oxbridge material. I hope my comments can help you understand BC a little bit more.

You can say it's beside the point OP, but YOU were the one who said that state schools didn't enter children for competitions because of a lack of faith in their abilities. To say that 'clever children will find a way' is a breathtakingly sweeping underappreciation of the barriers some children face. (My DC are at a private school, so no chips on shoulders here, incidentally.) Sorry, but your narrow and insistent focus on Olympiads and competition results suggests that you can't see the wood for the trees. If you're so fixated on the answer, I suggest you just go and ask Brighton and see what they say.

That's what you read @mamaism not what I wrote. What I actually wrote is "a school" and since the title of this thread is "Help me understand Brighton Collage" it takes a certain bias to read state school into it.

Look, what I am looking for a constructive discussion about Brighton College, not another discussion of private vs state re Oxbridge. There are many other forums to visit for the latter, as I have repeatedly said in this thread earlier.

It is not that easy to see behind the glossy brochures, and I do welcome any opinions about or insights into BC as I am sure other people do as well who visit this thread. Misguided personal attacks like yours are a waste of everyone's time.

Thanks @West66 this is very informative. May I ask why you chose BC and what other schools you considered?

You explicitly stated, when it was pointed out that state schools are less likely to send children that it’s open to all and that if a school didn’t send pupils it was because they didn’t think the students were capable.

It’s still up there.

You are determined to try to paint your children as being special, and are upset that Oxford may not feel the same way. You are right, they won’t.

If they are half as good as you seem to think they are then you can send them to the local comp and they’ll still rise to the top. If what you are actually fishing for is the best way to get them to Oxford despite them not having the raw talent then, as above, Brighton College is not it.

Thanks for your contribution John. It is reassuring that you can judge me unseen and you can solve everything with a few words. Please do not hijack this thread with private vs state vs Oxbridge, this is the fourth time I am stating this yet you keep circling back to repeating your own thoughts which are way off the mark.

This thread is about Brighton College which is what I have on my mind. You can keep repeating your own thoughts and then read anything into anyone if you approach it with a not negligible bias. Good bye 🙋

Yes, my bias is someone with two physics degrees from Oxford and a doctorate from imperial who is seeing someone who is arguing that my university should change its entry requirements to let in kids from a posh school who wouldn’t make it anyway.

If you had any of those degrees, you certainly wouldn't make such assumptions and certainly not in this style. No-one was arguing that Oxbridge should change its entry requirements. No-one was overselling their DCs, as you not so politely implied. Noone was trying to game the system, as you so crudely assumed. All of this happened in your mind and then flown from your pen. Can we talk about Brighton College instead for a change, please?

OK, I think what a lot of us on here are baffled by is that you are focusing so intently on something so very specific. IME when people drill down to such a fine level of detail, it means they have lost sight of the bigger picture of what will actually make a difference to whether their child is happy and successful at school. It would never have occurred to me to consider Olympiad performance when choosing schools. There are so, so many factors that are so much more important than whether a school happens to do well at a science competition. But if it really, really matters to you that much - then ask the school. I very much doubt that any BC parents will have considered this an important enough question to have formed a view about. Maybe I'm wrong.

They seem to categorically deny this.

Wasn't it Mandy Rice-Davies who said 'they would say that, wouldn't they'

Sure, I can see what you mean. The olympiad medal thing appeared to me as a glimpse into a symptom, which was discussed at length only because there were so many questions about it. It was really only meant to be an example which is very concrete, undeniable and easy to follow and was very obvious to me. Think of it like an EKG for a heart patient. I guess I didn't realise it wasn't that widely known.

What I am really trying to understand as a parent is whether BC can sustain its superb performance in the long term, or whether it is just a rising star near its zenith and bound to finish its journey like Wellington. The PC PR push is incredibly polished and effective, even GSG's review (which normally tries to be somewhat objective) reads like a sparkly eyed sales pitch of the school. My hypothesis was that if I could understand the medals/offers symptom better (the EKG), then something would click and I would somehow understand the school better (the patient). It would be naive to expect an honest answer from the school, which is why I am asking parents who normally tend to be very well informed and knowledgable.

There are many many things to like about BC. It is mostly due to this anomaly that I have grown more than a little sceptical. On the other hand I cannot afford to be too philosophical about journey and learning experience. I am also a parent with a degree of responsibility for DC's future, and school fees will mean a huge sacrifice so we cannot take it lightly.

Grammars and comprehensives are unfortunately not an option for us due to where we live. By the way, selective grammars / comps is the best way to milk and game the system, as I am sure most people have already realised by now.

If?

Anyway, so when you wrote “but they surely need to be looking for the academic potential in the subject a candidate is applying for.” do you mean that you just didn’t understand the entry process, rather than wanting them to change it?

When you went, presumably it was the standard, interview, exam, then unconditional offer (well, two E grades, which is equivalent)?

We didn't consider any other boys full boarding school due to Ds growing up in many different countries. We thought he might do better in a mixed school than a boy only school. So we only considered two schools: Ardingly and BC. We went to BC twice for the open morning , the impression for us was that the kids there looked normal, polite and confident. The facilities were great apart from the sports field in the school compound was not big enough. But Ds liked there more than the other school so we choose BC.
DS is weekly boarder, school home work is extensive there. But he mostly does his homework in the school before he comes home at the weekend. So relaxation and stress balance quite well. The House Master was also very encouraging too.
He likes all his teachers. Teachers and the house master are very supportive. If we have any concern about DS life in the school, house master and all his teachers give full attention to him and try the best to support him.
The most important things is that he is very happy there now and loves his house. So we think we have made the right choice.

@mamaism - I agree. The obsession with Olympiads and debating seems extreme. They are far from being the only way of expressing an interest and talent in a subject, and are organised by ones school, so hardly indicative of personal drive, initiative and curiosity. It is also true that some schools prepare their students for these events (most likely the ones that enter lots of students and want to be able to advertise their amazing medal hauls), and others just announce they are about to happen and round up the likeliest looking candidates who also happen to say they are available on the relevant day.

A less biased question might be, what are Brighton College encouraging their students to do instead of Olympiads and model UN debating competitions, rather than a question which presupposes that they do nothing but focus on GCSEs and A-level results.

Ok, let's do it this way. I would have thought that the answers to these kind of open questions will be more in the area of rhetoric and will likely attract less evidence based thesis-antithesis type of conclusions, but since there is no viable explanation for the thesis approach let's go for an easy going generic approach instead.

"How can we explain Brighton College's stellar Oxbridge results apart from GCSEs and A-levels and is it sustainable or just a rising star near its zenith?"

@Walkaround as a former participant I am fairly certain that "preparing" pupils for these olympiads is a waste of time. The ground to cover is too vast and solutions typically don't rely on what you can mechanically apply based on what you read in textbooks. Bit like an IQ test but subject specific: you need months if not years of immersion in a subject for it to make any difference, and even then it will be marginal.