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See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

Separate Private Schools board please

214 replies

MrsBright · 04/02/2014 22:43

Dear Mums Net HQ,
Please can we find somewhere else than 'Secondary School Education' for the Belgravia crowd to parade their 'St Trinians vs Eton' conversations? Its getting like the private school version of Trip Advisor.

Then the SS Education board could get back to talking about slightly more universal topics like GCSEs and bullying, that involve ALL mothers.

OP posts:
lunar1 · 05/02/2014 11:39

Can we have a separate board for faith schools as well, I find it offensive that these schools are inaccessible to me even though they make up the 4 closest schools to our house. The next closest is in special measures and is my only state option.

Or maybe I could just hide the threads that bug me! I would hate to see a separate board for private school, it just promotes segregation.

Forago · 05/02/2014 11:44

Agreed. I don't want to know that other people can relax at home all day and don't have to work to pay school fees because they were lucky enough to be born into a religious family and hence have access to high quality education for their children for free.

diabolo · 05/02/2014 11:48

Please don't do this Mumsnet. It's just reverse snobbery and would not be fair to people trying to decide between the sectors, or who have children at both state and independent schools.

NewBlueShoesToo · 05/02/2014 11:49

Surely part of the joy of MN is that you can read about other people's points of view, lifestyles etc and not just be locked in your own little bubble of what you know, where you know?

soul2000 · 05/02/2014 11:52

I am pleased the idea is a "Chippy One" I actually thought it was a suggestion from some Private /Public School parents.

ChippingInWadesIn · 05/02/2014 11:53

Don't be daft and you need to remove the chip off your shoulder, it'll give you back problems!

MrsSteptoe · 05/02/2014 12:08

"I think it would be a good idea to have a separate Private Schools board... it doesn't clutter the general education thread.... It is not discriminatory whatsoever."

Yes, because those who seek private education are by definition those who are cluttering. I just drive a car. It's everyone else who creates traffic.

TheOriginalSteamingNit · 05/02/2014 12:15

Inevitably, you are going to get specific requests for information about specific schools more when they are about private rather than state schools - because there are less of them, because people from across the country might know of or about them (esp if they are boarding schools), and because there's usually going to be more choice involved.

It would be quite helpful if you got the same kinds of response to 'Sirius Academy, Hull - anyone know anything about catchment areas?' but realistically that's not going to happen, because there is going to be a much smaller handful of posters who have anything to offer on that. In a way, 'School Review' might be useful, but would inevitably - I imagine - end up mainly reviewing private schools.

Also, many private school threads are, implicitly or explicitly, also about state schools (state til 8, private or state for gifted dd, should I let GPs pay school fees) - I wouldn't like to see all these shunted into a corner, and I don't think we need any more boards on here to be honest.

All that said, I don't think it has anything to do with OP having a chip on her shoulder or being an inverted snob - just some days it's tiresome when there are a lot of very specific threads on which you have little to say!

Wetoopere · 05/02/2014 12:16

I prefer the idea of specific school discussions being elsewhere but don't see a way of doing it. I now hide the whole topic instead.

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 05/02/2014 12:21

I don't think this is a good idea. People might want to consider and compare state and private. I really wonder what the OP's motivation is.

Wallison · 05/02/2014 12:27
Only1scoop · 05/02/2014 12:31

I'm considering a private ed for dd....I always read the threads with interest....

ZeroSomeGameThingy · 05/02/2014 12:37

No Wallison. Segregation is not being allowed to sit at the front of the bus no matter how much money you offer.

Angry
Wallison · 05/02/2014 12:39

Yes, it's time that this disgusting prejudice against kids at private schools ended. You never see any of them in Parliament, much less the Cabinet, or taking up executive positions on boards, or senior places in the judiciary. Man the barricades!

saintlyjimjams · 05/02/2014 12:39

I like those threads. The Devon/Cornwall one has me in stitches everytime. The slagging off of Truro School, then along comes a mum from ...... Truro school. And Mount House is the only true prep school in the whole of Devon & Cornwall darling. Ds2's (state) school was proclaimed to be better than the one local public school costing many thousands a year.

Where would I go for a cheer me up laugh if they were all swinging handbags at each other in private....

HeartsTrumpDiamonds · 05/02/2014 12:40

I do not agree with this suggestion whatsoever.

TheOriginalSteamingNit · 05/02/2014 12:40

I love how people are talking about boards as somehow impenetrable though! It's not as if nobody would be able to see that stuff anyway, if it became sufficiently active!

FiscalCliffRocksThisTown · 05/02/2014 12:44

I think a private school board would be great.

why not?

Wallison · 05/02/2014 12:46

Actually, that's true, saintlyjimjams. The Westminster one has offered many minutes of staring at the screen in horrified fascination for me - these threads are valuable in anthropological terms, if nothing else.

Forago · 05/02/2014 12:48

Exactly, education is disgustingly random in this country - postcode lottery for state, discriminated against if your parents are atheists for faith, only if your parents are well off enough (or are good at fiddling the bursary system) for independent. When we all agree, I am sure, it should be about the child's abilities and welfare. So why segregate it even more by burying your head in the sand and pretending all this is not going on in the UK now.

The over-representation of white, privately educated men in the UK boardrooms and governments won't be addressed if nobody knows it's going on.

Mintyy · 05/02/2014 12:51

I used to like to get stuck into a good old ding-dong on the school threads. But its just not the same without Seeker Sad.

Forago · 05/02/2014 12:54

Or Xenia. It was one of my main MN revelations - that there are people out there who think that children's lives are worthless if they don't get into one of a handful of North London schools. Whatever happenned to them?

Much bonkers ness from both sides of the argument, all of which has been very educational for people on the fence, we wouldn't see all that if the boards were segregated.

curlew · 05/02/2014 12:55

21 posts til the first mention of driving a "normal"car. P
22 posts to "snobbery
26 to "envy and bitterness"
Then somebody started talking about chips on shoulders, and after that it all went downhill a bit. Grin

Starballbunny · 05/02/2014 13:01

It's not private schools in general that bother me. I live in a very mixed area and my DDs have friends at private, comprehensive and grammar school, so general chat is interesting.

It's specific London School questions, state and private I'd like a separate place for. The levels of competition and tiny catchments are just totally removed from everyday life here.

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 05/02/2014 13:02

curlew
Oh come on...
You can't have "private school" in a thread title without a fairly rapid descent into this especially 40 secs onwards