2. Why I chose a private school.

I think my reasons are much more personal than general, and the nature of both my schools are not always perfectly aligned with the usual nature of private and state schools.

1. Quality of education. If you want to be crude, yes the exam results my new school produces are much better. Not forgetting that they very selectively pick their students, ensuring only the crème de la crème enrol (unless you are 4 years old and have very wealthy parents, that is). However, beyond these introductory remarks, the quality of education is very much better at my new private school (NPS), in comparison to my old state school (OSS).

   -Smaller class sizes- the middle and senior school (years 7-11) have class sizes of 16 (previously 24, which is still smaller than the state school average of 30). In the sixth form the class sizes range from 1-16 pupil(s). They are willing to let you take a class on your own, which I believe is unheard of in state schools and some private schools. I recall hearing in some schools that the minimum number of students needed for a class to run is 5 or 8 (I am citing different schools). Small class sizes are very beneficial as the teacher pays much more attention to individual students, and in essay subjects we seem to be in a semi-perpetual state of discussion. A ‘downside’ may be that you have no where to hide if you are shy. However I feel that this teaching format is overall beneficial due to its interactive nature. For example, I feel that I am gaining much more from my current English lessons than my previous English lessons due to the inclusive nature of our class.

   -Higher quality of teachers (on average). There are less teachers who seem “cannot teach” (a colloquial term commonly used by students), although there are still some teachers who definitely could improve their teaching techniques and be more organized.

2. Getting into trouble. At my old school, they were shamelessly authoritarian. Obsessing over the material of our shoes and the phone ringing in our jackets. Teachers could hand detentions whenever they pleased (it was our fault after all). There was a fear of being late. Late for the line, late for form, late for assembly. Not everyone feared, but I certainly did. From what I have heard, most state schools do not take up this model. But my school certainly did. Perhaps this is why embraced the kinder model of schooling on show at my NPS. No one has detentions, but maybe that’s because they know we’ll do the homework. It’s a private school with entrance exams. Children with behavioural problems do not really exist in our school. My old school didn’t really care about mental problems. Depression, anxiety and stress do. We sit at the round table with teachers. It’s amazing, it’s amazing. We’re supposed to socialise and relax and eat cake in form. It’s nice, even if I don’t talk to half of my form outside of form time. But it would be a mistake to say all private schools are like this. And perhaps if I waited, could I have been treated like a “young adult with rights” (as the website of my old school puts it) at my OSS? Maybe. But the atmosphere there could never be the same. Here no one has a key for their lockers. There is trust. That no one wants to steal your homework. But people WILL steal your mugs. Oh yeah, we have a kitchen in our common room that doesn’t really function, except from a hot water machine that bleeds one drop of water at a time. The caretakers are in charge of supplies for sugar, tea and coffee.
3. I want to talk about the above a little more. I very much wanted to depart from the authoritarian house that was my old school. I have bad memories there. Through the years, the school became to me a thread of grey corridors, dull, crowded classrooms and ceilings. As if I was a zombie continuously journeying to and from this ghastly factory. The careless crowds and lonely lunchtimes. When I was at the school, I had mindsets at various times which perhaps hindered my social progress. I went through depression for about a year and no one really knew. I didn’t have many friends, I didn’t have many close friends. My best friend left this autumn to go to university (she is older than me), so I doubt I could have realistically stayed there. I have made new friends at my new school, it makes me happy. It really does. I have also had traumatic experiences at my old school (when I say “traumatic” I mean it to be more than a mere adjective. For days after a certain event I literally shook and sweat.). And the educational style was really not for me. As someone who was top of the class, I really didn’t have much road to walk on. Especially for English, which was my favourite subject for a time. I continuously scored full marks in my courseworks and A*s in my mocks (for English). My teacher couldn’t be concerned for me. Other people were getting A,B and Cs (although this was a top set). If I wanted to be helped, to flourish, to plough forward, I had to move. If I stayed I would become complacent and the teachers wouldn’t have paid much attention to me.
4. Societies and extracurricular: my old state school (OSS) virtually did not offer any activities outside of music and sports for most students. My new school has a society for each subject, even if the societies themselves are not always active. There’s always lots going on. Sports, academics, music, art, lectures, volunteering. Some would argue there is too much (we have compulsory lectures and extra-curriculars). There are school magazines and journals about anything you can think about.
5. Architecture. The architecture of my school really depressed me, therefore the beautiful 18th century architecture of the private school immediately caught my attention.
6. Subject choice. My old school had a pre-set subject table/schedule for sixth formers, therefore there wasn’t much I could do about the fact I couldn’t take the subject combinations I wanted to. Whereas at my new school, I believe they base the schedule on the students’ subject combinations, not vice versa.

tl;dr

1. Better education.
2. Less authoritarian atmosphere. Friendly atmosphere.
3. Bad memories and experiences of old schools.
4. Didn’t have many friends at old school.
5. Extra-curriculars.
6. Architecture.
7. Subject choice.

1.

I’ve been planning to make this for as long as time itself, but the life of a private school girl allows little time and motivation to do one’s own shit. Now since 9 weeks have actually passed since I started school, I will give a summary of both the emotional and technical details that I have accumulated.

• break down on the induction day- couldn’t find buddy (later found out they couldn’t be bothered to get there on time), fear of not being able to make friends, overwhelmed by the amount of people near me, crushed with administrative paperwork, scared I might have to take maths and not politics.
• getting lost (thinking there are 2 floors when there are 4) (being given a map of the library, but not the school. Basically keeping in the piss for a whole day)
• being okay at the end of the day (i.e.: ate lunch with people)
• also had a fucking headache for a week.

After First Week

• students having too much work. I know someone who always looks tired simply because of the masses of Latin and Greek homework they get.
• People aren’t actually that organized. Seriously, last Thursday I was the only one who had done the English essay and many Thursdays ago I was the only one who did the politics essay. There is a lot of last-minute and night-before essay writing. My guess is that science students may be more organized or have easier homework to do. Although I have to confirm it with my friends.
• People aren’t really elitist about certain subject combinations, unlike my old school where there were a group of boys at the top of the class who looked down on arts/non-science/vocational students. Mind you, they let me go because I was not bad at maths and science.
• People aren’t fussed about who they eat lunch with. They don’t have exclusive lunch time cliques, although there are friendship circles in general, which is nice.

SCHOOLING

• the first few assemblies and speeches they gave made the school seem like an intellectual blooming ground, not forgetting the fact that everyone received a collection of essays on the first day (overwhelming because it gave me the impression that everyone was an high grade intellectual. It took me a while to register that they were just crammers.). Words such as “passion”, the girls of the school were encouraged to fulfil themselves and run afters their “passions”, also individuality mentioned (stark contrast to my old authoritarian school where conformity was valued highly, and speaking out warranted punishment)
• in an assembly, a teacher said, that in the future we would all be “leaders in your fields” (pop the word international somewhere), not something they say in state schools (generally) (re: Akala). Reaffirmed when an alumni of the school said, “there’s no challenge you can’t overcome [not sic], you’re a **** girl[sic]”.
• A fucking massive library, enthusiastic librarians and a shit load of leaflets telling you about magazines and resources the school subscribes to. My old school library wasn’t exactly resourceless, rather it wasn’t organized nearly as well. Like no one told us how to get the magazines. If someone had put labels on the German books I might have read more if I knew which ones matched my level of understanding. Etc. As my classmate put it, “our old school library was good, but this one is the British Library”.
• Clubs. Shitloads of them. Year 12s organize “societies” for the middle years, Year 13s organize clubs for sixth formers/senior school.
• Compulsory lectures. At least we get a choice from 4.
• (not complaining about that, except for the time I went to a lecture about oligodendrocytes.  Although people are constantly avoiding these lectures. But I think they are pretty cool tbh.)
• Non-compulsory lectures and talks (e.g.: on US universities)
• A nice system where they shove societies down your throat at the end of year 12 if you haven’t joined any before. For UCAS. (haha I am being sarcastic. I like the societies.)
• Shitloads of homework. (can’t tell if this is just sixth form or private education)
• REALLY SMALL CLASSES. My class sizes are 6-8 people, the smallest in the school is 1, and the largest (that I know of) is 16. I’ve heard someone saying they consider 12 large. Talking to a dude from my old school, he said even his small classes were 22 (art).
• Round tables (oval). Yay. Also we sit at the same level as teachers (depending where/how they choose to sit).
• Youtube is blocked. Also certain computers can only be accessed by teachers. Really random shit is blocked. Like I was trying to print an essay on Evangelion, but it was blocked.
• An atmosphere of trust. (sometimes forced, sometimes voluntary) We are obliged to leave our bags outside the lunch hall, and lower years must leave their bags in certain areas of the library. Virtually no one has a locker key but we all have lockers (the lockers aren’t very big and there is a problem with my hinge, as in IT’S ALWAYS OPENING ITSELF). We also leave our bags in form during assembly. I would not have done this at my previous school. Ever.
• The subjects offered are basically those on the trinity blacklist section “A”. (Haha why the fuck is politics “of More Limited Suitability” when it should be compulsory for the lower years) (also why is music more suitable than art?) with the addition of art, drama, politics and d&t.
• (basically you won’t accidentally choose an B or C list subject, unlike those poor state school souls)
• As some person of power said last year, “if all our girls want to apply for Oxbridge, we will accommodate that”
• Also they are forcing my year to do the EPQ as A Levels have now become linear
• Although we do pre-u in some subjects anyway, which are linear. Talking about the pre-u, handy things, yet just another advantage the school has planted for itself, i.e.: they don’t have to go through the chaos and confusion of A Level reforms that most schools have to suffer. (including my old state school).
• They also offer IB (i.e.: sacrificing your life to the gods)
• They sing Christian hymns. But have also once had a split assembly where people of different religions/non-religion had their own services respectively.
• The majority of teachers come from Oxbridge. Anyone who doesn’t is an exception to the rule.
• There are still teachers who aren’t great though.  Neither of my politics teachers are particularly brilliant in explaining exam techniques, one of my philosophy teachers is very wishy-washy, complimenting a classmate for the drawing they made in his lesson…
• All my teachers are white. Not all teachers in the school are white, but most are. There is much higher ethnic diversity among students.
• Oh yeah, my school is a business. Let’s not forget that.