Prince George of Cambridge is going to big-boy school soon enough! George has been attending a small nursery school in Norfolk for more than a year. The Montessori/nursery school is close to Anmer Hall, and he apparently likes it and he’s got his little schedule and he’s very happy. But Prince William and Kate are moving to London this summer-ish, and come September, George will have to attend kindergarten (or whatever it’s called in Britain). Interestingly enough, George will not be attending his dad’s primary-school alma mater, Wetherby. George will be attending Thomas’s Battersea at a cost of about $8000 per semester (or $16,000 for a school year). His Montessori school only cost $49 a day! Here’s more:
Prince George will enroll as a pupil at private Thomas’s School in Battersea, south London, this September – confounding speculation that he would follow in his father’s footsteps at Wetherby. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have chosen Thomas’s, one of four family-run schools in London – and not even its Kensington branch, a stone’s throw from their royal residence. Instead they have chosen the co-educational outpost in well-to-do Battersea, south west London, the heart of what is dubbed locally as ‘nappy valley’.
Controversially, the £6,000-a-term school is said to ‘ban’ best friends. Headmaster Ben Thomas said schoolchildren should have ‘lots of good friends’ to stop people from having their feelings hurt, according to the Daily Telegraph. He wrote on the website: ‘Thomas’s Battersea is a busy, thriving, purposeful school, educating 540 boys and girls between the ages of four and 13. As you would expect of any Thomas’s school, the most important school rule is to ‘Be Kind’. We offer a rich and broad curriculum, with Art, Ballet, Drama, ICT, French, Music and PE all taught by specialist teachers from a child’s first day in school.’
It is a very middle class, aspirational area of London full of bankers, journalists and City types – not the traditional Eton-style feeder school royals have been sent to in the past.
In a statement Kensington Palace said: ‘The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will send their son, George, to Thomas’s Battersea from September 2017 this year. Their Royal Highnesses are delighted to have found a school where they are confident George will have a happy and successful start to his education.’
While it’s not William and Harry’s alma mater, it’s not like this school is some hippie-dippy paradise either. Much like Wetherby, Thomas’s School in Battersea “feeds” into all of those posh boarding schools like Eton and Harrow. My hot-take is that Kate wants to put her stamp on George’s education before she follows the more traditional royal path of shipping George off to Eton. She knows she’s going to have to send him to Eton when he gets older, but for now, she wanted to send him to a more sensitive-sounding school that emphasizes kindness and friendliness. Although how a school can “ban” best friends is beyond me. I also chose to include the Daily Mail’s description of this school as full of the kids of “bankers, journalists and City types.” As in, George will be mixing with peasant children. Posh peasant children, but still. Normal, Middle Class Bill and Cathy strike again! (But seriously, I don’t have a problem with George going to school with peasants, it will be good for him.)
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.
We actually try to ban the Best Friend language at our house – truly it’s all about (for many girls) exclusion. His school is less expensive than I thought it would be. Wonder what the peasants with kids there will think of this?
I agree – it’s cheaper than kindergarten in Manhattan.
Just to be pedantic, it will be costing them $24k a year – we have three terms In a school year in the UK.
I agree-my son goes to an affordable private kindergarten in Atlanta and we pay 12K annually-I would have expected royalty to be substantially out of my league, not just minorly. 😂
@LizLemon As an Atlanta resident (born and raised here, too), is there not public kindergarten where you are? Every elementary school in the school system I grew up in had public kindergarten – is that not the case everywhere?
@chicken…
We’re in Forsyth-moved here for the schools. However, we only have one child, so we opted for private due to class size (8 vs. 22).
I agree it’s cheaper than what I thought. I live in NYC too and some of the schools here are super expensive.
Anyways this will be good for George to mix with other kids. And eliminating “best friend language” is actually good and it works. It lowers the exclusion super early within kids. It’s something new I’ve seen here done as well.
Cheap by royal family standards, or maybe by successful investment banker standards, but not remotely cheap by the standards of most of the world. $24000 a year for the education of a 4 year old is expensive.
But that is what Normal Bill thinks is normal. Ridiculously rich and unfettered by public expectation.
24.000 is roughly twice what you get in unemployment support per year.
Unemloyment support (not unemployment money) is about 12.000 a year.
In other words: they spend twice that money on kindergarten what others live off for a whole year.
I find these relations disgusting. I am all in support for good education (including kindergarten) for all children. As soon as the upper class and the upper half of the middle class manage to pay for everything private then the public system will become underfunded. The truth is that upper class and upper half of middle class are those with the sharpest ellbows and those with the most political influence. If they pull out of the public (aka state) education system then public state education will go down the drain.
Sad but true.
What blows my mind is the fact that it’s in Battersea. George is going to school south of the river. It’s also not far from the new US embassy in Nine Elms, so there may well be lots of American diplomats’ children there.
That’s interesting. I’m American so admit I know nothing about British private schools, but this sounds like a decent choice.
The new embassy hasn’t opened yet, but I have heard that lots of Americans have bought places down there in anticipation.
I did a google maps and the school is 1/2 an hour away from Kensington Palace. It seems pretty far for a little kid. I can’t help being suspicious – keeping in mind how paranoid they are about the press. Could they be sending him to a different school closer by and misinforming the press?
A Person I Know consulted on the new US Embassy. Ridiculously secretive project – so much so that I’m saying A Person I Know rather than who it actually is!
Looking at the destination secondary schools for the kids from Thomas’s, I think you’re right, Tina. Quite a few kids going on to American International schools or other typical diplomat child destinations.
Agree, I’m in Toronto and our daughter goes to a private kindergarten and it’s $34,000 a year.
Gross
Has anyone here read the DF article with this misleading headline:
Wills cheats death: Prince’s helicopter horror as a lethal drone comes within HALF A SECOND of his air ambulance in dramatic near-miss – but was it reckless or deliberate?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4349456/Drone-hits-Prince-William-s-helicopter-near-miss.html
I hope this story is not coming from his PR team because that would be pathetic.
Cheating death harrumph he’s usually making daring rescues after a bout of bad headlines. Poor Jason is so unimaginative
We have to credit him even where he is not present.
Them are the new rules.
But William wasn’t even in the helicopter that day, the article clearly states that abet several lines in. Total click bait.
Yeah, but poor hero Wills COULD have been in the helicopter 😉
@justsaying. *Clutches pearls* no, not our hero 😉
@LAK and ‘justsayin’ nailed it – he could have been and will be mentioned even if he’s not – this is all getting downright Orwellian!
And that proves just how hard he works.
I think the article is trying to suggest this may have been an assassination attempt directed at William. See, not safe! He needs to quit now!
Oh, I see. Now we’re to believe his laziness and workshy ways have saved his life? If Bill had bothered to show up for his part part part time job, he might have been in danger. Well played #PoorJason.
Isn’t his contract ending with them this spring anyway? It has probably already finished and they just haven’t announced it so the low number of appearances can be attributed to the job until this fall.
It is a poorly-worded click-bait that tries to imply that whoever was piloting the drone may have thought that Prince Williams was inside the helicopter.
That is odd that a dangerous drone would fly next to a helicopter.
Civilian aircraft have their own “air routes” and flying heights which the military doesn’t use and vice versa. So you would expect a rescue helicopter to stay on those air routes and go off that route only for the last stretch of the flight.
Additionally helicopters usually don’t fly as high as airplanes.
And what does a lethal drone do in Britain flying as low as a rescue helicopter?
The whole article seems fishy.
I doubt that the British monarchy will be still around when it’d be George’s time to ascend the throne.
I agree with you, and a good thing for all, especially for George. My hope is that both George and Charlotte will be the opposite of their parents ad grow to be thoughtful, intelligent, hardworking people.
It is said that children are often like their grandparents.
That would be Diana, Charles, Carole Middleton and Mike Middleton.
Hmmm…
I think everyone knows he won’t be King as well as William.
People keep saying that but is the movement tho become a Republic actually advancing in Britain? Or is this based on it suddenly getting a huge boost after the Queen dies?
I’m a preschool teacher, I teach (have taught, I’m home with my kids for the next few years) four year olds. Here’s the morning dialogue between them:
“Hi, you want to be best friends?”
“Yes! Yay!”
The next day they will come in and say it to someone else entirely hahaha. It’s cute and silly at that age. I have once had a little boy get upset because his “best friend” from the day before requested to be someone else’s best friend. It was actually heartbreaking how much he was hurt. Most of the kids don’t pay much attention at that age, they just say it and move on with their day. But particularly sensitive children can notice and be hurt.
I told the little boy that a person can have many best friends, so he is still the best friend of the classmate, too.
I don’t know how I feel about banning it altogether. It’s one of the parts of life we have to navigate, painful as it may be at times. I think maybe it’s better to support kids through it and offer the idea that there can be many best friends.
I teach 4 year olds, too. The “best friend” thing is a pretty sensitive topic in our class this year, and tends to result in at least a little or occasionally a lot of drama every year. We have a couple factions of kids who are unintentionally excluding other kids and a few who intentionally do it and it’s pretty stressful for everyone and hurtful to the kids who are excluded.
Of course our daily mantra is to include and be friendly to everyone, which is a pretty sensible and universal message. It takes a lot of work to get the “bullies” to understand how hurtful their actions can be and to help those who are excluded to deal with their hurt and anger. Sigh. But I don’t see how a “ban” on best friendships could possibly be enforced.
I was wondering too how you want to enforce such a ban? And for kids everything that is forbidden is even more appealing.
This is not a thing in my country and I struggle a bit to understand the concept. It’s a nice idea, but isn’t it totally unrealistic?
I think you can discourage the use of the word best friend and encourage kids to cultivate more than one close friend. And parents instead of asking “who IS your best friend” should ask “who ARE your good friends” to discourage that mentality. It’s definitely worth the effort. That kindergarten bestfriend thing is good for nobody.
…and friendships are made in kindergarten that can last a lifetime. Would you want to deny a child that?
Why indeed, Lady D? My best friend today is the same best friend I made in kindergarten all those years ago.
My daughter’s boyfriend of a few years was a kid from her preschool! They didn’t know that though until another former classmate showed them a preschool photo of all of them years later when they were all in high school together. How cute is that?
You people are being so weird. They’re not banning friendships. They’re just trying to use different language around interpersonal relationships. It’s okay for kids to learn slightly differently than you did.
NO Bridget! Concepts suggesting that the ways I know might not be the best way are stupid! I am fine so nothing that challenges my norms is necessary!
/massive sarcasm/
I don’t think this has anything to do with Kate wanting to put a stamp on George’s education . This is a school for boys and girls , they obviously don’t want to have two children at two different schools . Wetherby is for boys only . Also , this school takes kids from 4 -13 , so there is no need to change schools at the age of 8 like William had to .
What jumped out at me was the age range of the student body. WK aren’t sending those kids to board at 8!!!
I found that interesting too. Especially as they both did. Kate boarded before she went to Marlborough, right?
I honestly thought they’d stay at Anmer and have the kids at posh schools near there. Never expected them to board their kids, though, so that is no surprise.
She didn’t board at Downe, she was a day student. That’s how the bullying claims were proven false. One of the big bullying claims was that they put feces in her bed. Can’t put them in her bed as she never had one as a day student.
Did I read correctly before that Kate was a day student at her boarding school?
Good points Hannah. I didn’t realize Wetherby only accepted boys. And that will be nice that they wouldn’t have to change schools at the age of 8.
Those kids are cute but look like Ma and Pa Middleton.
Yeah, Charlotte looks like Carole and Pippa.
George is a mini Michael and I do see that Char is a mini Carole (emphasis one the ‘e’). I bet Pippa has a kid there 4 years from now so likely some overlap. This is def a pippa school the term ‘aspirational’ was shade IMO
Betti, thoughts on Kate’s appointments/new pin tuavulu?
Hey there – haven’t heard about that? Do tell. Not been paying much attention to the news that past few days.
Re: Kate’s new Tuvalu pin……Queen trolling Kate? 😂
….but seriously, new order created in 2016 for contribution to Tuvalu, so perhaps Kate has hidden depths (and working secretly )apparent to the govt of Tuvalu.
On a different note, Hyacinth Bucket was made a Dame last week!!
http://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/783334/Hyacinth-Bucket-Buckingham-Palace-damehood-honours
Yay, Dame Hyacinth!
Ah – she and William partied once in Tuvalu during their official visit. ‘I got 5 on it’!! Must be for her dance moves. Yes, TQ is trolling her.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/tuvalu/9551161/Kate-and-William-dance-the-night-away-with-islanders-in-Tuvalu.html
Yay – ‘The Bouquet Residence -Dame of the House speaking?’
LAK and Betti, will she wear the order on occasion? Would be odd to have just one especially if seated next to Prince Phillip.
Definitely.
At all occassions that call for orders to be worn, especially involving Tuvalu.
This is the ribbon that goes with it: https://www.worcmedals.com/resizeimg.aspx?h=500&crop=1&img=/images/products/4496/FR1193.jpg
Whew!
FINALLY, our Future Queen, the hard working, always modest, Katie Keen is rewarded for her years of service to…Tuvalu.
Job well done, I’d say.
I’m here for Hyacinth Bucket! I hope someone organizes a party in honor of Patricia R., where light refreshments will be served on Royal Doulton china with the hand-painted periwinkles.
Question: why say “emphasis one the ‘e’” when referring to Carole? It kinda sounds like you’re mocking her for putting on airs or something, but isn’t that her birth name?
Not that she doesn’t put on airs, of course, but it’s not her fault if her parents spelled her name that way.
So basically she’s getting a ribbon that resembles an IKEA placemat made from polyurethane.
Meh, doesn’t sound that high priced, relatively speaking.
Bankers and journalists in London must be making big bucks if $24000 dollars a year is easy peasy cash for them. Of course for WillKat, it’s not even a consideration. I am guessing the school is full of children of very wealthy, non-titled folks, you know, what Normal Bill thinks he should be. I am also guessing that the area may be middle class by the outrageous standards of London real estate, but not recognizably middle class by 99.9% of the world.
They say they ban best friends, but you know it goes on regardless. Being kind is a very nice goal, though.
I can believe bankers make big money.
Bankers encompass everything from mortgage loan officers at the local branch to senior executives. Only a fraction of those people can dream of spending 24000 a year on preschool education.
Career bankers could certainly make a good enough living to send their kid/s to this school.
By journalists, I’m assuming the author is alluding to the upper echelons, not just beat reporters. I.e. – editors, online editors, department heads etc.
Then again, the Daily Fail’s HQ is in Kensington, so who knows? Maybe that’s why so many of my colleagues are flooding to their online team; there’s cash to be made . . .
It depends on how you define career banker. Lots of people spend their entire lives in banking and could never afford that type of outlay.
An investment banker? Sure. A successful one.
My sister in law was a SAHM for many years, so the family was accustomed to living on one salary. When her sons were all in school, she went back to work and used her salary to pay for “extras” like sports, music, special camps, etc. So I can easily imagine a professional couple who can survive on one salary could put the second towards children’s education.
I agree I know many dual income couples and quite frankly can’t easily imagine this at all.
You won’t get a house or flat around there for less than £500k (and anything decent will be £1m+). Anyone sending their children to school there will have a minimum household income of £250k+.
By “Bankers” I assume they mean Investment Bankers.. M&A, Traders etc., Not High Street bankers unless they are Senior Management.
I agree. If by bankers, they mean “investment bankers” and by “journalists” they mean those who own media outlets, then yeah, I can see it.
A good education is important – but on the other hand he won’t need it because he holds an outdated title…. and the British royals aren’t known for being smart anyway.
Not a huge difference in price. The Montessori school works out at roughly £10,000 a year. £16,000 is a jump up but not like a OMG HOW MUCH jump comparatively. Eton comes in £30,000.
Lovely.
The Uk has 3 terms so £6000 a term is £18000 a school year which is about $22500. Assuming the other school of $49 a day then $10000 a year is about right.
Good for her. The school sounds great, and if I could afford it I’d probably want to send my kid there too. And yeah, it’s not that expensive by private school standards. I can’t resent them that. As for ‘banning’ best friends, honestly this is DM reporting, it wouldn’t exactly be beyond them to exaggerate. They probably try to get kids to mix up more and use more inclusionary language. Nothing wrong with that.
I wonder if Kate asked for a discount in tuition.. lol
PS: 24k a year is NOT middle-class for kindergarten.
They mean middle class in the UK sense of professional people, as opposed to upper class aristos. By any standard, the people who send their children to Thomas’s are wealthy.
He’ll probably receive a lot of help from his teachers etc. just like Kate, Wills, Harry etc. no need to waste his time with learning 😉
Well George and Charlotte better Pay attention to academics because there may not be a monarchy around by the time they are adults. So George and Charlotte might have to actually work for a living!
And the kids are cute in a “little kids are cute” kind of way. I’ll say they are nothing special or incredibly beautiful kids like a lot of sycophantic people make out. And I get my head bitten off by commenters when I say that they are average looking and with Will & Kate as parents, I’m not sure how kind, book/street smart, honest or hardworking people they’ll be.
The royals are very rich, saved a lot thanks to the taxpayers etc., even if the monarchy will be abolished they don’t have to work… life can be unfair lol
@Kaiser, as I wrote elsewhere. Lots of people are making a big deal over them choosing a school that emphasizes “kindness and friendliness”. Have we ever seen those traits in W&K? No. I have to doubt that they chose the school for that reason, as they clearly do not value those traits themselves. As written above, it being co-ed is a more likely reason.
Is Kate unkind? I hadn’t heard she was. Not work steady, but unkind to people?
Will I believe, is sometimes unkind, in a “do it my way” sort. Not unkind like trump, not so overtly.
To the staff, to any other woman, to Federer’s wife, to the Yorks. Yes, she is unkind.
I always forget they have a second kid! Both very Middleton looking, maybe that will weaken the horrible Windsor genes a little bit. Altrough the tiny eyes and genetic eye bags from the Middleton side not really help… I hope both kids stay away from the eyeliner!
Not surprised with this choice of school. The kiddies will be close to Amner Hall. Means Bill and Kate can continue to live here most of the time with the big excuse “family”. Boarding school would mean no excuses anymore, even the sugars would expect Bill & Kate to “work”.
The school is in London, not Norfolk.
Assuming they take up the place in September, it means the younger child will start in London, not Norfolk like her brother did.
The Windsor genes tend to show themselves from mid twenties onwards, so all the kiddies are cute and resemble their in-laws, but after 25yrs old they morph into Windsor.
What the hell have Beatrice and Eugenie morphed into? Charles kind of morphed out of the Windsor genes into the Mountbatten, IMO.
The Yorkies are the exception to the rule. They are throwbacks to earlier generations, but they acquired the pretty genes eg Beatrice is a throwback to Victoria who she resembles very strongly. Andrew and Eugenie are a throwback to the Queenmother. They strongly favour the Bowes Lyon side of the family. Their mountbatten genes are the big teeth. That’s how you know Andrew is Philip’s kid despite the rumours because William, Zara and Anne and a few Mountbatten cousins and older relations have those big teeth.
With age, Charles looks more and more like his uncle David and less Mountbatten.
With age, William and Edward look pure Windsor.
@LAK, I 100% believe the Queen has been faithful to Philip her whole life. (The reverse, not so much).
Ok, now I’m picturing a teenaged Prince George going through a Boy George phase. Bring on the eyeliner!
That’s literally almost as much as the cost of my grad school.
It’s more than twice the cost of undergrad and grad school in the UK. Bizarrely by US standards, private schools cost much more than university does.
I once checked out the Made in Chelsea Wikipedia page, and was fascinated by the table listing the name of each participant alongside the private school(s) they attended. It seems to be gone now, and I’m a bit disappointed, because to me, that’s such a fascinating and telling aspect of the British posh world: the specific building that you expensively learned math in when you were going through puberty is considered one of your defining traits as a human being for the rest of your life. If you graduate from Eton, you’re an “Old Etonian,” with all that that signifies, until you die, in a way that just isn’t a thing with the vast majority of schools.
(Ha, I found an old version of the page in the article’s history: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Made_in_Chelsea&diff=648701522&oldid=648491775 …I can see why that information was stripped out — it’s unsourced and completely unnecessary — but it’s still so interesting that it was there in the first place. Especially considering how airheaded most of the cast are…)
Ravine – exactly. It’s an access/network investment much more than it is an education investment.
That’s what private schools cost here in SoCal too. They were the same back on the East Coast. Private schools prices are ridiculous. We’re fortunate that we have good public schools where we live-we need to save all the money for college tuitions!
??? am i the only one who sees charlotte as, almost literally, a copy of her grandmother? that child looks nearly identical to elizabeth. not sure how on earth anyone sees middleton in her?
actually, i always figured the queen would be mad for charlotte simply because she is the most windsor looking of all her greatgrandkids…
She’s a mini Carole to me, they have the same eyes and so on.
I see the Queen too. She also has that spark in her eyes that the Queen has.
Middleton eyes always look dead to me, especially Carole’s.
Charles barely sees his grandkids so the Queen rarely sees them too. She is closer to Zara and Peter’s kids because she actually sees them.
I definitely see the Queen. To me the two children don’t resemble each other all that much.
I see Carole and Pippa. She has Carole’s eyes, face shape especially when you see baby pictures of Kate and James Middleton. Her mouth, jawline, and chin are nothing like the Queen’s. Lady Louise is the one who looks like a mini-Queen.
Yes. I too thought Char looked like the Queen, but only the Queen at also ist 90. Lady Louise continues to blossom as a beauty and really looks like the queen at the same age.
“A Royal has to be seen to be believed “quote un quote The Queen
Maybe the move to London is now a new leaf and team Cambridge will be working very hard. As long as GP doesn’t lead him astray again in one of his london night clubs.
My niece in the US was sent to a $24k a year private school from kindergarten on. Friends were/are the children of industry leaders, hedge fund directors, some celebs, etc. It seemed like a very nice place.
At age 13, as a top marks student and active in clubs with friends, she asked to be sent to a different (albeit just as costly) school for her remaining years, saying that they were learning kindness, art, dancing, singing, performing, writing, and French, but bare drips of math and science, which she realized she needed for her particular career goals. Other kids had begun to depart the school for the same reasons, so her parents allowed the switch.
She got into another top school and chose to have a full summer of math and science tutoring to make sure she was up to the new school’s standards. Similar experiences happened to friends with children in London. So I read about such schools, and sometimes wonder if assumptions about quality are made via the price tag.
Maybe social mobility is dead, so the upper classes no longer have to worry about ‘education’.
They know they’ll slide right into jobs kept warm by their parents and friends of parents with the job interview consisting of -“Tell your parents Muffy says Hi!”
2:2 Degree in dance appreciation = six figure job in the City 😉
(…so cynical)
Elaine, I am feeling a bit cynical with you. 🙂
I asked my niece about it today, and she laughed and said many of her former classmates were fun but not realistic and many were planning to be singers and actors and create clothing lines, via their parents’ connections, and that was what made her realize it was time to “find a real school, because i plan to work.” Many of her friends jumped ship, too, as they also had plans for careers in medicine, business, science, or technology.
That top pictures make me laugh every time I see it. It looks like Will isn’t happy about something and the look on Kate’s face says “you’re such an a**hole”
Does William ever look “happy” around his wife and kids?
I’ve just gone through the West London school hoopla (my oldest is at Wetherby) so can tell you that Thomas’s Battersea is (a) selective – the kids get assessed for entry and (b) insanely competitive and hard to get into.
What is odd is that Thomas’s has a campus in Kensington right next to KP. George is going to have to commute down and back – it’s 30-45mins each way. Although am guessing he’ll do it with a police guard so maybe quicker?! But it’s a long way from KP. My guess is that W&K want him to be with English kids – Kensington & NH are very foreign these days. Would bet that William has some friends living down there.
And there’s really no need to board in london now if you don’t want to. That wasn’t necessarily true in W & Hs day.
We must have had the same thought at the same time! 🙂
Battersea is pretty foreign as well these days. You may well be right that William has some friends living down there.
Battersea has a kindergarten program with an entry age of 2 1/2 . So I see Charlotte attending there too once she hits that age .
Interesting
I’m not familiar with the locality so can any Londeners help me out? I read on another forum that the daily commute for George is going to be a nightmare as the school is over the river? It seems a bit much (considering there are excellent schools on their doorstep) for them to expect our hard pressed Police to take on this additional duty every day. Seems a bit selfish of them but maybe Wills is going to drive him there himself…
Yes, to cross the river southwards in London requires answering the bridge troll’s riddles three (all bridges have a troll, and also a guardian heron) then doing battle with the mighty sea dragon of the Thames.
This is why you so often hear the traditional Cabbie battle cry: “Nogorn saaaarrrff thistimeOnight” late into the descending gloom of a wintry eve.
@Fluff haha ha!
I think they chose Battersea so George would be away from prying eyes.
Doesn’t the Kensington branch of the ‘Thomas school’ use the outside fields in Kensington Place gardens?
Seems like that would be a nightmare to keep George safe and away from lookie-loos. KP is a major tourist area and he’d have little privacy.
That’s my guess anyway.
“ban best friend”-I went to Catholic school for my 3rd and 4th grade years. They had a similar ban. For example, if you were having a birthday party, you had to invite everyone to it. But it wasn’t enforced as I remember having a slumber party one year and I only invited those who I wanted there (as did some of my other friends).
Kate either knows some parents at the school where George is going, or is sure that none of William’s old girlfriends send their kids to the school. Good luck staying away from that bunch.
Weird that they’re not sending him to the Kensington location, which is a lot closer.
oh how prices for education have gone up when my dad started Catholic School in 1964 he paid 25 cents a week in tuition because he was the second child attending his older sister was already a student and his twin sister attended free. a general school year is 180 days or slightly less than six months he went to Catholic school until 8th grade then public high school and later went to a catholic college
This has always baffled me as a Canadian. Yes, we have private schools, but they must teach to provincial curriculum anyway so the difference isn’t that great? I will say the only thing I remembered about kindergarten is wishing my mom homeschooled me so I could play with her all day… and that time I got a craft wire stuck in my butt.
George is just a dead ringer for Michael Middleton. It’s uncanny.
@Zeddy I missed my Mom in Kindergarten too.
I had the interesting experience of going to State School until I was 8 and then changed to private school at 9. The difference was huge! At State School we mostly rolled around wrestling like puppies and played in the sand tray. It vvas very noisy and chaotic and fun and I learned very little. The next term I was sent to St Paul’s Girls Primary School which is a feeder for St Paul’s (secondary) school, one of the top 10 schools in Britain.
It was silent! No one spoke without raising their hand, ever. The 9 year old girls had been taking french and flute lessons for several years already. I felt like Mowgli! I was severely reprimanded for trying to wrestle/fight with another girl – which rather baffled me. A completely different world. But I liked it – which just shows that kids like boundaries more than they think they do. It vvas £4,000 a term many years ago, so George’s school is similar.
I vvas upper middle class (my Dad was a Management Consultant, no inherited money) the other kids mostly were too. They were posh but not aristocracy – although my little friend’s mother was named Ianthe Cornwall-Smythe!
Anyway, just to give it some context.
Thanks to all of you for the regular laughs :o)
I know this site gets lots of clicks for William and Kate posts and the vitriol thrown at these two is positively gleeful at times. I never read the story or comments because of that. I’ll save my vitriol for the GOP stripping our country of its dignity, defunding social programs and spreading racist hatred. However, using a small child to snark on his parents and ridicule the school’s policies and goals is really not cool. He obviously needs police protection and the comments about not going to a school with “peasants” is really distasteful. And we get it, the cost is high (although a bargain compared to Bay Area and NYC) and we’re all supposed to be outraged at the nerve of these profligate parents. Please.