Is Westminster School the best school on Earth? STATESMOM returns

[statesmom]

I have a lot to say, don't know if anyone remembers the thread. Let me know if you want to hear from me.

(and it was my driver, and it was Park Lane, no bs)

Number 2 bus?

Unfortunately some states don’t allow women to legally cross state lines to get their choice of medical treatment for an abortion. Some states don’t even make exceptions for rape and/or incest.

LSE you say ? Have you read the OPs previous posts. She probably thinks you spent 3 years doing potato prints or pasta pictures.

The OP I suspect is someone whose offspring did not make the cut for the school. Or maybe the kid themselves. I have no wish to feed the troll but suffice to say an actual pupil or parent would’ve corrected some information on the thread.

In terms of ‘there is nothing to worry about’ - sadly not. I have it on good authority that was a credible and specific threat made to the school this term.

If only the nutter with a shit shot had one of the OP’s “4 beautiful Kimber match pistols” 🙄🤷🏼‍♀️ ….

DT really did dodge a bullet. “More’s the pity” 🥴

That is not true. Traveling across state lines to get an abortion is currently legal and will be until the Supreme Court rules that crossing a state line specifically to get an abortion is illegal.

Texas, Missouri, and Tennessee have tried pr are currently trying to restrict residents from assisting women to cross state lines for an abortion but have not succeeded. Idaho prohibits aiding a minor to cross state lines to get an abortion.

Yes, they can't prohibit it as the law stands (it would be an interesting, as well as terrible, legal conundrum to say it's legal to go to Nevada to gamble but not to go to Nevada for an abortion). But the problem is if they have a complication after they return. They may be afraid to go to hospital lest they be reported, and doctors are afraid of being arrested too. It's a real problem, just like the exceptions for life of the mother are useless unless someone is septic and dying because everyone is afraid of prosecution. The entire issue of making abortion a "states rights" issue was a smokescreen, and it's terrible in practice. I actually know doctors who moved out of states where they banned abortion, because they don't want to practice under those conditions.

Only about 1% of abortions are performed after 20 weeks. Medication abortion was a game changer. Of course, now abortions are being delayed till women can get to clinics, and the volume of women going to some states has delayed abortion care for locals. I'm not ashamed to live in America, but abortion bans only result in more death. They are the least pro-life policy imaginable.

Idaho has passed legislation making helping a pregnant minor get an abortion, whether through medication or a procedure, in another state punishable by two to five years in prison.

In Texas, two counties and two cities have passed laws banning “abortion trafficking”.

This is disgusting.

Absolutely no call for that.

Whether you like DT or not, it’s not on to wish he’d been assassinated.

This is an interesting (if weird) thread.

I am often surprised when US universities are suggested as an alternative for UK pupils. The US is quite a different society from the UK and it is really far away. There are universities in Europe where the lectures are given in English.

I enjoyed those posts with detailed accounts of what it was like to have a son at Westminster.

It’s irritating to read that a school like Westminster is “underfunded” or “cramped”. I’ve been to a school that was underfunded and cramped - Westminster is neither.

'underfunded' and 'cramped' can be used relatively. Given that the school charges more than £12,000 per term for GCSE day students, you can make a case that they could do better.

What would be the marginal gain from this measure? An extra £10,000 for every 1% increase in students achieve grade 9?

Do better how? Why does anyone think the school is 'cramped'? Because the OP says so? The OP was not a parent, LOL.

I think I am the only person here whose DC has actually been to the school. There is a dedicated rowing facility on the Thames, a dedicated and very large gymnasium building a stone's throw from the main school campus, a dedicated theatre building with bar, seating staging, lighting, several school halls, a ton of classrooms, ample boarding facilities, secret crypts, dedicated common rooms for all of the house, an on-site medical facility with a medical team, several meeting places, two large and secure playgrounds, a dedicated secure playing field (also a stone's throw) with a whole pavilion building, a dedicated music centre with recording studios, umpteen science labs, a huge library featuring an amazing book collection, more than one school dining facility plus on-site coffee shop - all within the confines of Westminster in listed buildings. Plus a mass of accomodation for teachers that means even when public transport has gone to shit, the teachers are still able to teach.

Oh, and all of this is shared with Harris Westminster to ensure that non-fee paying students also get to to participate in A levels in the more niche subjects like History of Art, Classics, Music, Ancient Greek etc.

It is expensive for sure. It is in the heart of London. But it is not 'underfunded', shit nor cramped.

Exactly.

And neither of those examples mean what you stated as a fact, namely that pregnant women can't legally travel out of state to get an abortion. The right to freely travel from state to state is enshrined in the constitution of the US under the Fifth Amendment. A citizen or lawful resident cannot be deprived of that right without due process of law.

Yet if you stick a pin in a list of leading public, independent, and grammar schools in the UK, and look up their lists of leaver destinations, you'll find a great many have gone to the US for their university education. Perhaps they are attracted by the liberal arts undergraduate model, or perhaps they are attracted by the generous financial aid offered by a select number of US universities to international students.

For a lot of kids in Indie and public schools, their sporting prowess can lead to a full ride scholarship to a US college - for Grammar schools the generous financial support is also a draw. For both groups you’d probably hold your nose to save graduating without £50k+ of debt. Rowing is one of those sports Westminster offers that is valued at US colleges.

Oxbridge has made it clear that they want a more diverse intake across the board (fair enough) so even exceptional students (both Westminster and non-westminster) do not gain a place (have a look on the Oxbridge threads on this forum). At Westminster, a great deal do gain places at Oxford (notably) but they are mainly places for subjects the students are well prepared for - Classics/PPE and that level of support/prep cannot be matched at the majority of schools etc. The attainment of places at Cambridge is considerably less. The attainment of places for other subjects is probably on a parallel with other schools. There is a high success rate for offers at Imperial.

I dare say that the attraction of US universities is threefold:

1. For those students who do want the more flexible American model, which really does suit some students better;
2. Extra options given the increasing competition for Oxbridge places;
3. Possibility of going for little to no cost, especially for those students who are strong in a sport. US universities include living costs in their figures, so even if you don't go for free, it could be a substantial savings.

The problem is, it’s right in the middle of Westminster (next door to Westminster Abbey) and a lot of it is fairly ancient. We looked round and it had staircases that were hundreds of years old plonked in the middle of the library. Without demolishing old, listed, historic buildings, how would one make them more modern and less cramped?

The boys didn’t appear to lack anything that I could see. They had a physiotherapist as part of the Sports staff - for a school which is not sporty, this seemed fairly luxurious.

again, 10 years ago OP was very excited about the ancient buildings and location though she was warned that also meant (relatively) cramped and dated surroundings. She told us all to shut up and she knew best

Move to a more suitable site? Saint Paul's School is also rather ancient and also was once located next to the cathedral. They seem to be doing all right.

Again - it is a campus-style school. It is not cramped. Plenty of everything to suit all of the pupils. Why would you move a school from such a historic location? Part of the charm is the shared spaces with Parliament and the Abbey. The KS are permitted to enter Parliament at any time which many of them take advantage of during PMQ’s.

The library doesn’t have a ‘staircase plonked in the middle of it’ the Library is in an old building which has a staircase running through the middle - the Library itself comprises several rooms which vary in size and purpose. Plenty of space for all of the students.

But if what you are looking for is a school right in the centre of London then Westminster is in a great location. Moving to the suburbs would take that away.

I’m waiting for OP’s thread in 2029 where she rails against the terrible experience her son had at Goldman Sachs and lets us know that he’s decided to do an RHS Level 2 and take up horticulture, part time, in rural Wales, as she always knew he would.