Eton Free (or not so free) school

Just looked at the list of approved ones. Over 100 in the pipeline. A number of them are faith schools, which I think are divisive. We need less separation along religious and ethnic lines, not more.
Quite a few are secondary. I do not understand how small secondary schools can start up with a tiny number, maybe 50 pupils, and provide a breadth of curriculum - science, art, sport, other practical subjects etc It costs a great deal of money for the average secondary to set up, maintain and equip such facilities. How is a small school going to get the facilities - let alone recruit staff with the range of expertise needed to teach all these subjects?
Children's education is at risk here.
There has already been one example of a free school all set to open and then the Department pulling the plug a few weeks before the start of term and leaving secondary kids without places.
I predict that many of them will go messily wrong in the next 5-6 years and that unless Gove has been elected head of the Tory party and led them to an overwhelming majority, [scared emotion] he may not even be around to carry the can.
Most of these free schools do not have the wealth of Eton behind them.I believe they will though receive a state grant to help set up.

I do worry about Gove's Free School initiative. All kinds of schools under this umbrella including small prep schools that are jumping into the state funded sector. Why one wonders, if they are so great, do they need to do this?

Absolutely, I totally agree with you. Everyone should have the same opportunities.

I don't have a problem with people paying to send their children to a particular school but I think the same amount of money should be spent on all children not just the lucky few.

Well, ultimately we all do the best we can for our children, and that means different things to different people. I think it's sad if we just take a left or right wing position and tar all the people who have different experiences and feelings to our own, with the same brush.

It is possible for privileged people to want to help others from an altruistic point of view, even if some people think they're misguided or motivated by greed. We still live in a free society, more or less, and may spend our own money as we see fit

Yes sending your child off to boarding school really lets you off the hook of helping with homework.

Parental committment??? They're boarders at Eton...where is the parental support you talk about.

Give any secondary school £15000 per pupils, the right to cream off the brightest kids with an entrance exam and the right to exclude any child who presents as a challenge and watch the exam results shoot through the roof.

I like to think that people who run private schools and teach in them actually care about less privileged students and want to help them to share facilities and learning experiences. I don't think it's just about charitable status, though that is also an element. Even private school teachers are human beings with moral codes.

Of course all students deserve a first class education, but that depends on more than money. It is partly up to the parents to support the schools with discipline, and to make sure they help their children at home.

I help on a voluntary basis in our local primary school, which is in a middle class area and provides an excellent education. Unfortunately I see children whose parents don't commit even 10 minutes a week to read with their child. So sad because it does make a difference to have that extra help and support. Apart from anything else, what message are those families giving their children about the importance of school and learning?

Holyport, eh? One of my favourite pubs is there - the Belgian Arms...
it's got a bit above itself in recent years and has become something of a gastro pub - c'est la vie.

I can't say I have any negative feelings about Eton - they are kids in slightly odd clothes as far as I can see. I wouldn't have fancied it, myself - my suburban grammar school was all I wanted to cope with!

Where are these poor children to come from? Will they bus them in? Who will choose the 21 children boardering on being taken into care? Will they be chosen on need or on academic ability? I notice that they're not taking children who are already in the care system.

I'm not cynical about private schools. I simply believe all our children should be able to access the best education available not just those from well off families or those few 'charity cases' who are taken in to ensure that the private school can maintain it's charitable status and not pay tax on it's profits.

The average payment a secondary school received per child is £5000 per annum. I say average because this amount can vary according to age, size of school, type of catchment area, number on free school meals, special needs etc. The fee at Eton is just over £30000 per annum with extras charged for music lessons, extra pe, extra tuition etc. Now say we allow £10000 for boarding costs that still means that an Eton child has £15000 per annum spent on his education. Three times as much money.

I agree J07, Eton are trying to help at least some disadvantaged children. As for starting up in the middle of a poor council estate, I understand that part of the plan is to use the main school's facilities, so the new school obviously needs to be reasonably close for easy transport.

It's a shame that we don't acknowledge how successful our private schools are in bringing in foreign money by educating the children of wealthy Chinese, Japanese etc. They are a big money earner for our economy and they do a good job.

Private schools also try to help local state schools by sharing facilities and educational events, like seminars, for state school students. Most private schools also offer assisted or free places for bright poor children and provide a ladder out of disadvantage in the way that grammar schools used to.

It's easy to be cynical about private schools, but at the very least, wealthy parents are saving the state some money by paying for their children's education. If private schools were all abolished tomorrow, state schools would find it hard to cope with the extra students and the additional costs involved, as well as there being a big loss to our national economy when the foreign fee payers returned home.

This sounds exactly like the school I was lucky enough to go to. There should be more like it.

It does not claim that all the pupils will be from less well off families.

"A fifth of places for day pupils will be set aside for children from poor homes and 21 boarding places will go to youngsters on the verge of being taken into care"

I doubt that the poorer families will have to pay the full amount for boarding. Help will be given from LAs.

Sounds great. Eton on a budget. Not bad for anyone.

"Spaces for the poor?" Is that some kind of joke? I can imagine there will hundreds of "poor" people living in their catchment area, and I wonder how many free meals they actually provide? The figure none springs to mind!

I rather hoped that a few more cynics would have a stab at "Eton's ethos" . Ethos anyone?

Revolting hybrid school more like. They charge for boarding and take state money for teaching. I think that is how it works. And what is Eton's ethos anyway?
"Top jobs for top boys?"