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

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.

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.

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.

Casdon, what no one ever comments about in the Finish system is that, as a large country with a small and scattered population, all their schools are relatively small and community based and I frequently think that where a school is embedded in the community and all the teachers will know most of the children and the children will know almost every other pupil, it must contribute as much to high educational outcomes as banning private education.

DH and I were both state educated as are our grandchildren. We privately educated our children in the 1980s firstly, because DH's employer wanted to relocate DH to one of their overseas offices, and we wanted to keep our children in the English educational sytem. Secondly because all our son's teachers in his state primary school advised us to take him out of the state system and send him to a private school, because they feared that despite being very bright, and generally friendly and liked, he was quite quiet and as we now know is neuro diverse, having both dyspraxia and ADD, the danger was that in a large school, he would withdraw into himself and sink without trace.

We sent him to a small private school, where class sizes were similar to state school classes, and facilities were not outstandingly better, but the school only had two streams and the effect was like that I describe in the Finnish school system, the relative small size of the school meant that teachers and pupils all knew each other and the community feel was strong. When there were problems, and few children do not have problems at some time, those involved in dealing with it knew the child and their personality and solutions were very individually child sensitive. As a result pupils flourished.

Grandma70s

Incidentally, there are private schools in Finland.

I’ve googled a bit more, this is the position according to the BBC:

‘Schools not operated by the government or local authorities are permitted - and are referred to as "private schools"- but they are publicly funded and free to pupils, although some charge parents and guardians registration fees. And there are only 75 of them, making up just 2% of Finnish schools.’

So, they are run outside the public education system, but they aren’t elitist, because they are still funded by the state.

The left wing MP that we are talking about receives deeply misogynistic threats on a regular basis, so I am not sure she escapes anything.

Incidentally, there are private schools in Finland.

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

The Royals, right wingers are fair game?

Thinking parents send their children to the best schools they can manage. I went to private schools because my parents thought they were the best local schools. My children went to state schools because they were better than the private schools in our area. My grandchildren are going to a mixture, again measured by the quality of the schools.

The difficulty is that although ideally all schools should be of equal quality, in reality at the moment they are not. It would be a mean parent who did not choose the best that they can afford.

It is fair enough to sacrifice yourself for a principle, but I don’t think it’s right to sacrifice your children.

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!

I repeat: I don't think anyone has to justify themselves for sending their child to the school of their choice because some schools are not what we would want. That seems as pointless to me as deciding not to feed your children because some are starving. I see nothing hypocritical in this.

I do think the government - who are mandated to provide both good schools and the opportunity to earn enough to feed your family - do have to justify themselves.

Should you put a government into power - perhaps by not tearing MPs apart - that will do what Finland did and ban fee-paying schools, then I am sure we will all be happy about the rise in standard. Sadly, we are not inclined to behave like the Fins, so you may have a long wait.

True volver. The ‘old boy network’ still thrives I suspect.
Who you know rather than what you know.
Internships are another example. For the few and not the many.

It’s a very bumpy road for some, this life.
Brains or beauty unlock some doors.

Pity the poor sod who has neither and a family on their uppers.

There is a significant difference between being able to buy yourself a nice haircut every week and being able to buy yourself unfair advantages in life via a private education.

This topic was on r4 this morning across the lines or something it's called. They were as usual quoting the percentage of politicians, etc who receive a private education. The other thing that nagged me whilst listening is the impact this has on the quality of people in public life, it doesnt really seem to be working out well does it?

Ah, so many things money can buy.

Private healthcare.
Private schooling.
Beautiful big houses in nicer areas.
Expensive cars.
A boat.
A second home.
Trips out to places of interest.
A cleaner.
A gardener.
Shopping at Waitrose instead of Lidl.
A gym membership.
A personal trainer.
Cruises.
Salon appointments.
Designer clothing.

Life isn’t equal or fair. We make choices if we are lucky and have some disposable income.

During the pandemic we were all hugely grateful for the supermarket workers, the shelf stackers and delivery drivers.

Even academics need a plumber.

Wealth. It never was & it never will be evenly distributed.

? ?

I agree with Volver completely, which doesnt always happen

I do really understand why people - even left wing hypocritical loonies - feel they have to send their children to fee-paying schools because the education they would get elsewhere may not be up-to-scratch. But up-to-scratch education should be available to anybody who would benefit from it. And as long as we have the attitude in this country that money can buy you education, the state schools will never be good enough.

volver

If anyone else had written that Casdon I'd accuse them of telling me to move to North Korea ? But I know that's not your Modus Operandi.

(My Latin, learnt in a state school in the soon-to-be-republic of Scotland )

Interesting about Finland.

Of course not, I wouldn’t think the North Korean state education system has much to recommend to anybody volver, those poor little souls. It is interesting about Finland, they also don’t historically have a Royal Family, the only problem is they also have no daylight in the winter!

p.s. - we don't have academies in Scotland, at least not as you mean them. I don't think we have grammars or comprehensives either.

We just have "schools"

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!

The main advantages of the public school our sons went to were a boarding facility, a longer school day to incorporate sport each day and a great selection of extra curricular activities.

The school day in higher line was 8.20 am until 8/9 pm.
From 9-13 it was 8.20am until 7 pm.
School finished at 1pm on Saturday or later for sports teams.

The boys also took part in an enrichment program that involved them taking part in charity work, both boys worked with disabled young people.

It was a good holistic education.

Interestingly my husband went to public school in the 1970’s with a Prince from a South Pacific Island, he didn’t have a security detail but he did have a regular hamper delivery from Fortnums.

I don't think anyone has to justify themselves for sending their child to the school of their choice because some schools are not what we would want. That seems as pointless to me as deciding not to feed your children because some are starving.

I do think the government - who are mandated to provide both good schools and the opportunity to earn enough to feed your family - do have to justify themselves.

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.

Sorry, GG13, Nicola is too busy picking up the litter in Edinburgh and driving the school buses in Lanarkshire today. Anyway, I think I'm right that in Scotland, school provision is the responsibility of the Local Authority. Our local one is a LibDem/Tory coalition.

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.

If anyone else had written that Casdon I'd accuse them of telling me to move to North Korea ? But I know that's not your Modus Operandi.

(My Latin, learnt in a state school in the soon-to-be-republic of Scotland )

Interesting about Finland.