Why is Prince George not going to secondary school until after he turns 13?

[MinnieMounjaro]

Prince William reveals Prince George, 12, is already boarding at £10,669-a-term Lambrook School mol.im/a/15846933 via https://dailym.ai/android

I saw this article in the DM saying Prince George is currently boarding at Lambrook "ahead of moving to his secondary school in September". He turns 13 in July so the thought occurred to me - why is he still in primary school? Should he not have started secondary in 2024 when he was 11?

@goodbyestranger will be gutted - she was adamant he'd not passed the entrance exam and was very very confident in asserting he wouldn't be at Eton...

Everyone passes the exam - it just looks super bad to announce it before the results are officially in.

George actually sat his most important exam two years ago: the ISEB Common Pre-Test, which is used by schools such as Eton as part of their admissions process.

After that, there were further assessments, interviews and entrance procedures at Eton and any other schools under consideration.

The Common Entrance exam was the final stage, and although most pupils with conditional offers do pass, they still have to achieve the required standard. Eton does not simply admit pupils regardless of their results.

And the results are officially in. That's precisely why the announcement was made. There would have been no announcement before the results had been received.

They were never going to tell him he hadn’t passed in fairness! Presumably they announced it now because that is when other families found out and they like to be seen as the average family 🤣

You still don’t get it. Eton ranks all the boys in different subjects. They would not have wanted him to go there unless he passed with his own merit. That means he is bright, whether anyone frothes about that or not. The Eton List test is a challenging test. They sit that in year 6. Then in year 7 they choose the house. In year 8 the Common Entrance is more of a formality, hardly anyone ever fails. But it would be bad form to be arrogant and announce it without the formal confirmation of a pass.

FGS it would have to be an absolutely massive fail
for him not to get in, there was no way he wasn’t going to be accepted. The RF do what they want when they want, people dont say no to them eg:
prince Edward going to cambridge
andy getting his trade job

@measuretwicecutonce
FGS it would have to be an absolutely massive fail
for him not to get in, there was no way he wasn’t going to be accepted.

The proof will be on how well he does in GCSEs. If he does badly then you can enjoy gloating.

If he wasn’t up to it, or not the right fit, he’d have been steered elsewhere. Happens all the time.

I think it's unlikely he'd be going to Eton if they didn't think he'd cope academically and fit in socially, especially after Harry's experience. I imagine George's preferences will count for something too, and that might depend on where his friends are going. Not a great fan of boarding myself, but it's very common in those circles and at least he will be close to home I suppose.

If George had not been accepted by Eton, he would simply have gone to another school. Nobody outside the family would ever have known whether Eton had rejected him or whether they had chosen a different option.

How likely was it he would be rejected? Who would make that call? Doubt there will even be fees charged as the kudos of having him there is worth a lot more than money. I might be cynical but he wasn't not going.

They had the perfect excuse primed if he didn’t get in that they wanted to keep all the kids at the same school so chose a co-Ed instead.

Eton wouldn't have taken him if he wasn't up to it from an academic point of view. It would be awful to be struggling compared to the other students. I don't think William and Kate would let that happen.

The good thing about Eton is they are used to Royals and the security needed.

It does leave open the question as to where Charlotte and Louis will go, as Charlotte has to go elsewhere.

They had the perfect excuse primed if he didn’t get in that they wanted to keep all the kids at the same school so chose a co-Ed instead.

They wouldn't all be at the same school anyway. George will have left by the time Louis is due to start.

I think because they took Harry who clearly wasn’t suited academically to it, they opened themselves up to doubt.

Special circumstances because Diana died and Charles wanted to keep the brothers together.

And look how well that turned out.

@Pedallleur - given how cognisant people are nowadays of mental health issues amongst the young, there is no way the school would have accepted him unless they were confident he could sit alongside other clever boys in classrooms day after day, and hold his own within the boarding community. Now that may mean extra tuition if necessary - but he would absolutely have to be at least average in his cohort and not constantly struggling.

Boys of that age can be ruthless. I promise you we’d all soon know if he turned out to be hopelessly out of his depth academically and socially. So it just wouldn’t be worth the risk.

Pedallleur · Today 16:22
How likely was it he would be rejected? Who would make that call?

I doubt very much the school would take a boy who couldn’t keep up. It wouldn’t be fair on him - though no doubt poor GCSE results would give plenty of people pleasure.
As pp have pointed out, Harry had suffered the loss of his mother and surely it was reasonable to keep the brothers together.
I know lots of young people suffer the loss of a parent but not usually one that is broadcast across the world for weeks on end.

I doubt William would want George to go to Eton if he isn't able to handle it. Marlborough is a bit less tough and he could easily have gone there if he wasn't going to make it into Eton.

It is less tough than it used to be. There will be plenty of boys who are no great academic shakes. If your dad went, you’ve got some boarding experience and you aren’t an out and out reprobate, you’ll get in and will get good enough GCSEs and A levels.

@Ziegfeld
Why is it less tough than it used to be?

@southwestern

1. It’s become much more expensive - fewer people can afford it
2. Full boarding is less popular

They could probably fill the school with very academic students from Asia if they wanted to but what would be the point?

It is not really accurate to say it is “less tough than it used to be.” Eton is still extremely competitive to get into, and demand remains very high.

If anything, I would think it is getting tougher rather than easier, given the level of applications and the limited places available.

And if he had gone to a different school instead, people would simply have spun it the other way and said he wasn’t “good enough” for Eton — whatever choice was made would have been criticised either way.

@Ziegfeld thank you for answering my question.
My son was one of the cleverer boys at his prep school but when he got to Eton he was only in the middle. There were some very clever boys there then including quite a few from South and East Asia, but this was some years ago.

I must admit to being underwhelmed by today's "sensational announcement" that Prince George will be attending Eton. Was there ever any doubt that he would be going there?