Vivienne" ..some of the top selective boys', girls' and mixed private schools and top selective state/ church girls' schools...."I don't dispute that St.Pauls Girls is in a different league, and no doubt St.P Boys also, possibly Latimer too. Lady Margaret School, though not large, has a more mixed-ability intake than might first appear and does very well with them, and also imparts values, good behaviour and sheer good manners better than most schools I can think of. Of the others, there is one school of whom a confidential diccesan report wrote - this is some time ago - that it "did little or nothing for children of low ability" - needless to say it got the go-ahead from Mrs.T to go out of the local authority sphere, and got later prime ministerial support also.I think you may find that Phoenix High School gives more "added value", which is what counts, than most other schools in the radius. Middle class parents sadly don't perceive that, because abve all else they are terrified of their Jonathans and Georginas getting polluted by mixing with oiks. Children develop well if given support and space by their parents. I learned most not from my teachers but from later life, the world of work, reading etc. I am baffled by the enamour for the bright new building, as if the plant in a factory makes the product rather than the workers. One of my A-level classes at school was in a condemned hut, pre-WW1, with a stove in the centre of the room into which solid fuel was dropped. The lessons taught there were excellent regardless of the venue.Dan
Dan Filson ● 5825d