Why do British royal children not go to state schools like the Scandanavian royals?

When our children were about to start school, the director of education for our county berated us for not thinking open plan education, with no uniforms, was a good idea. He assured us that all schools would be run like this and would not allow us our choice of school for our children.

Thus our children went to public schools. We were lucky (and dh worked bloody hard) to ensure that our children had the best education available at that time.

Well, I’ve learned more about Finland tonight than I expected! Thanks for that Monica, I see what you mean, and there are quite a few similarities to Scotland, similar size population, and similar density of population in the south of Finland to the whole of Scotland, as virtually nobody seems to live in the north.

KittyLester Our DS hated the open plan teaching and random way subjects like history were taught and longed to get to secondary school, where he would be taught, what he described as 'properly'.

When the headmaster of the local comprehensive came to talk to the parents of what now would be called year 6 children, one of the first things he said was that to help the children make the transition, many of the teaching methods used in primary school would be used in the first 2 years in secondary school. My heart sank, but it was what made us decide that even if we did not get sent abroad, we were sending our DS to the school we had identified as being the one that would best meet his needs.

I'm with volver on this. There should be one system and it should educate all children. Then perhaps those with the most influence and the loudest voices would insist that the system was properly funded. I bet the private school the royals attend will offer all sorts of 'extras' not available in the state schools.

I see Cuba was mentioned. It has one of the highest literacy rates in the world.The country with the top literacy rate is Finland. Something going on there?

Surely there’s no one who wouldn’t agree that our state schools should offer children the best possible education. Unfortunately many currently don’t and that is why many parents opt for the private option. The children are needing a good school now. Future improvements, although very welcome, don’t help those who are being educated in the present.

Every parent has the right to choose their child's school, including the royals.

Pantglas2

Is it only left wing hypocritical MPs that shouldn’t be torn apart?

The Royals, right wingers are fair game?

That is a very twisted version of what I actually posted Pantglas. Why do that?

Scandi royals don't all attend state schools.

Danish royal children often attend private schools - Crown Prince Frederik and Princess Mary have sent their children to a number of private schools including an international boarding school in Switzerland. It was recently announced that they had removed their children from the private Herlufsholm School after a documentary made bullying and rape allegations and the entire governing body was forced to resign.

Princess Estelle of Sweden attends a non-profit free school in Stockholm

Prince George attended a local Montessori nursery school in Norfolk where, although technically private, William and Kate could have used their free nursery hours.

Money gives choice, in housing, education, food etc, etc
I’d love one system that educates all, but IMO it’s naive and unrealistic to expect that to happen, here, in France or even in South Sudan or wherever else parents can pay for choice.
Successive governments have tried to make things more even with initiatives like the National Curriculum, but again they’re up against differing parental finances, differing parental attitudes to education and different cohorts of children. On top of which, so many children now have SEND, which adds to the problem even with the help of Pupil Premium.

I suppose we could adopt the Chinese school system-much more prescriptive, but even in China the better off choose what they want, just as they do here and in other countries as this quote shows;

Wealthy parents in China are paying as much as $63,000 a year to send their kids to school in Japan as China clamps down on Western education.

Even if anyone had a workable answer to equalising education, those with the money to do it would still choose to pay for what they want-as we all do with one thing or another.

Volver there have been @938 NEW and substantially refurbished schools in Scotland in the past decade .Class sizes have stayed stable since 2016 at an average of 23 in primary schools .Of course there are still a lot of smaller schools like my GC's village school where her class this year has 14 .As faras I know there is one grammar school in Scotland in Dunoon.
I'm with you on this,we could easily have afforded to go private but its against our principles .money or lack of shouldn't be the route to a good education ...for anyone .Our local schools have good standards and the number of young people in higher education is in the high 80%.
I'm happy to live in a country where education s free to access for all .

Pantglas2

Interesting in Wales that Monmouth has the highest percentage of privately educated children 12% and 5 counties have no private schools at all. The average is around 3%.

Nothing wrong with being a left wing loony volver ? - what I can’t be stand is the left wing hypocritical loonies who send their own kids to private school on the grounds that they shouldn’t be made to suffer (a bog standard school) for their parents political beliefs!

Let’s not forget those lefties who buy homes within catchment areas of church run schools etc which are deemed more select...a family member did this in spite of professing strong socialist principles!

Interesting in Wales that Monmouth has the highest percentage of privately educated children 12% and 5 counties have no private schools at all. The average is around 3%

Mustn't forget Atlantic College either, Pantglas
Atlantic College costs £69,325 in boarding fees,

Glorianny

I'm with volver on this. There should be one system and it should educate all children. Then perhaps those with the most influence and the loudest voices would insist that the system was properly funded. I bet the private school the royals attend will offer all sorts of 'extras' not available in the state schools.

I see Cuba was mentioned. It has one of the highest literacy rates in the world.The country with the top literacy rate is Finland. Something going on there?

But there isn't one system Glorianny. If we had such a system, we know that half the country would not want to pay for it. In Finland, where they don't have independent schools, the average single worker faced a net-average tax rate of 30.8% in 2021. In the same year in the UK, the average single worker paid a net-average tax rate of 23.7%.

The British are very disinclined to pay for what they think they should have as a right.

I might move to Finland. Or Norway. Or try even harder to have an independent Scotland. Where we can actually implement policies that aim for a better society instead of just saying, "that'll never work here."

DaisyAnne

Glorianny

I'm with volver on this. There should be one system and it should educate all children. Then perhaps those with the most influence and the loudest voices would insist that the system was properly funded. I bet the private school the royals attend will offer all sorts of 'extras' not available in the state schools.

I see Cuba was mentioned. It has one of the highest literacy rates in the world.The country with the top literacy rate is Finland. Something going on there?

But there isn't one system Glorianny. If we had such a system, we know that half the country would not want to pay for it. In Finland, where they don't have independent schools, the average single worker faced a net-average tax rate of 30.8% in 2021. In the same year in the UK, the average single worker paid a net-average tax rate of 23.7%.

The British are very disinclined to pay for what they think they should have as a right.

Is it a good or a bad thing, then, that we have many non-British children who come to board at schools in the UK from all around the world?

And, if there were no independent schools which offer boarding facilities, what would happen to the children of British parents who work overseas where the local schools may not be suitable?

Why do British royal children not go to state schools like the Scandanavian royals?

Because they are not Scandinavian?

?

volver

I might move to Finland. Or Norway. Or try even harder to have an independent Scotland. Where we can actually implement policies that aim for a better society instead of just saying, "that'll never work here."

Who has said, "they will never work here"? They have as much chance of working here as in any country should we choose to put the necessary laws in place.

However, you will need to get a government into power that can implement this. That would probably mean stopping the two sides of the Labour Party from attacking one another. That is something I don't think will ever work here.

GrannyGravy13

volver if your local state school is falling down I suggest you complain to Ms. Sturgeon as education is devolved.

Whilst the U.K. has a choice of schools, Grammar, comprehensive, academy and private it’s down to parental choice. If they can afford school fees, I really don’t see why they cannot spend their money as they wish.

As for the Cambridge children, a prep school in Berkshire is preferable for their safety and privacy.

Because when people can send their children to private schools if they have the money they don’t care about the plight of children having to go to comprehensives. In Scandinavia, I believe, they don’t have private schools so it’s in everyone’s interest to make every school provide the best education as possible for every child, no matter what their background. My daughter left teaching because she was burnt out but also in despair at the lack of resources the school had.

And, if there were no independent schools which offer boarding facilities, what would happen to the children of British parents who work overseas where the local schools may not be suitable?

Well here's a thought. Establish schools for expats' children that provide education for free, but charge for room and board. They don't have to be "independent".

A little bit of imagination and a willingness to find novel solutions, that's what we need.

We moved to an area where we thought that the high school would be a really good social mix because it was the only school.
What we didn't know is that children are driven miles everyday to attend private schools.
Madness.IMO
I don't think our DC suffered educationally at the state school though one was bullied and another now says she hated school. Would things have been so different had we sent them privately? We have no way of knowing.
This was in Scotland. Edinburgh has the highest concentration of independent schools in the country.

volver

^And, if there were no independent schools which offer boarding facilities, what would happen to the children of British parents who work overseas where the local schools may not be suitable?^

Well here's a thought. Establish schools for expats' children that provide education for free, but charge for room and board. They don't have to be "independent".

A little bit of imagination and a willingness to find novel solutions, that's what we need.

Is it a good or a bad thing, then, that we have many non-British children who come to board at schools in the UK from all around the world?

A little bit of imagination and a willingness to find novel solutions, that's what we need.

We only need to find solutions if we have a problem.

Not enough people think this is enough of a problem to worry about finding a solution.

Hmm. ? On balance, I think a bad thing. Because I am so anti private education. I can see the benefits of revenue, but I don't think I should give up my principles for money.

I'm on the fence.

Finland is lovely, though. But a bit chilly in the winter.

Callistemon21

^A little bit of imagination and a willingness to find novel solutions, that's what we need^.

We only need to find solutions if we have a problem.

Not enough people think this is enough of a problem to worry about finding a solution.

You asked a question. I gave you an answer.

MayBee70

GrannyGravy13

volver if your local state school is falling down I suggest you complain to Ms. Sturgeon as education is devolved.

Whilst the U.K. has a choice of schools, Grammar, comprehensive, academy and private it’s down to parental choice. If they can afford school fees, I really don’t see why they cannot spend their money as they wish.

As for the Cambridge children, a prep school in Berkshire is preferable for their safety and privacy.

Because when people can send their children to private schools if they have the money they don’t care about the plight of children having to go to comprehensives. In Scandinavia, I believe, they don’t have private schools so it’s in everyone’s interest to make every school provide the best education as possible for every child, no matter what their background. My daughter left teaching because she was burnt out but also in despair at the lack of resources the school had.

Maybee, do you think that when people feed their children, they do not care about the plight of those who can't?

As has already been said, many families will use both systems for their family, aiming to find the best school for each child at different stages of education. It's also worth remembering that there are a proportion of parents who send their children to state schools who, once they are there, don't care about their input into the school or the system either directly or indirectly.

Scandinavia comprises Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland. Also, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland. Each country runs their system of choice. They are not one political system. The system in Finland, which does not allow private schools, has been mentioned several times.