Do privately educated students have a clear advantage?

Last year it was recorded that 56% of state educated students went onto higher education, alongside 60% of their privately educated peers. Not a huge contrast, but the difference between the kinds of institution they went on to attend was vastly dissimilar.

It was found that privately educated students are twice as likely to attend Russell Group universities, like Warwick. But is this completely predictable?

The basic idea behind independent schooling is to fill the criteria that the state system can’t manage. The classes are notably smaller, along with the number of students attending the school. There are more teachers per student and a strong focus on pastoral care, as well as heavy encouragement to continue into higher education from an early age.

The basic idea behind independent schooling is to fill the criteria that the state system can’t manage

Of course state schools attempt to cover these criteria to the best of their abilities, but their abilities are limited with such dependency on government funding. Having been to a private secondary school in a leafy London suburb and then a state college just outside of London, I could spot the differences.

At school, we were asked from Year 8 onwards to start thinking about our futures. From early on we had speakers from Oxbridge coming in to speak about the criteria pre-GCSE students should be achieving if they wanted a place.

We were asked from Year 8 onwards to start thinking about our futures

Our form rooms were gathering evidence of favouritism towards Russell Group universities. They were filled with information about the courses these universities offered and the benefits that a strong university degree would give you.

In fact the notion that you would just go out and find a job after leaving school was simply not spoken about. It certainly wasn’t something about which we were given any information.

Our form rooms were gathering evidence of favouritism towards Russell Group universities

The teachers also made sure that you got through your exams, in whatever way they had to. Because that’s what they were paid to do. You would get that C in Maths whether you did it voluntarily or had to be dragged through the process.

Funding wasn’t considered to a major issue. Parents paid the majority through fees and that was the end of it. Whereas at college, the constant threat of Ofsted being able to deem our college a failure meant that funding was spread incredibly thinly to try and improve all areas.

Parents paid the majority through fees and that was the end of it

Courses were taught inconsistently as the college couldn’t afford to run them anymore. The year I left, multiple departments which would always need singular attention had to be merged together in order to keep them managed. Students who were struggling would be potentially removed.

Attendance had to be high if you wanted to keep your place. But it is not only the field of academics that independently educated students potentially do better in.

It is not only the field of academics that independently educated students potentially do better in

For an anxious wallflower like my eleven year old self, the idea of going to huge school filled me with an unbridled fear. The louder children in primary school had always shouted over me and I have no doubt that I would have been left behind in a class of thirty plus.

Private school has the ability to wrap you up in cotton wool, protecting you from any notion of real life. It is undeniable that private school did amazing things for my confidence and abilities, not just academically. Naturally some people would say that I should have just got on with it; plenty of other anxious children did.

Private school has the ability to wrap you up in cotton wool, protecting you from any notion of real life

But if you have the opportunity to be nurtured in an extra-safe environment, why wouldn’t you take it? Eventually I had to face the real world. But when I did, I was perfectly grounded in the knowledge that I was clever, competent and I had all the confidence to deal with whatever happened.