Asking friends and colleagues about a school - the good, the bad and the bits in between

 

When you start asking friends and colleagues about their experiences at X school, remember a few things: 

 

 

1: Schools change - they may have become co-ed, more international, less sporty. I recently attended an alumni event for a school which had been all boys until the 1990s and now is fully co-ed. The stories from older generations bore no resemblance to the experience of recent alums...thank goodness... which leads us to: 

 

2: Recollections may vary.We tend to remember the high and low points of the five or so years spent at senior school and, of these, stories grow with the telling. 

 

3:  Different children have different experiences - I have had students at the same school, some of whom rave about their experiences in the first XV, CCF and weekends at school, others who shiver at the thought of being made to run around in the mud and Sundays in the house. 

 

You know your child. Take the information and use it judiciously!

 

An extract from my new book below: