Leavers and fees

Area for current parents, past parents and future parents of Blues or Old Blues.

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Fjgrogan
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Re: Leavers and fees

Post by Fjgrogan »

No, children were never expected to leave merely because the parents' income had increased - the fees, sorry that should be parental contribution, would be increased commensurately. Once a child was accepted they had 'security of tenure' whichever way their parents' income changed, but the rise in fees was directly related to the rise in income, which no longer seems to be the case. At least that was how I understood the system worked when I was at CH. It must surely have been the case in many families that once all of their children were boarding it became possible for both parents to go out to work if they needed or wanted to do so, resulting in increased income and therefore increased fees. But it was more or less possible to work out whether or not it was financially viable to do so. Now it is apparently total guesswork!
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MaryB
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Re: Leavers and fees

Post by MaryB »

Mid A 15 wrote: That's a valid point Neill but what if a child qualifies to be admitted on "glass ceiling grounds" at 11 but family fortunes improve in the meantime. Should the child be made to leave at (say) 15 because his /her parents earn too much?
My father worked for West Sussex County Council and was paid on an incremental scale. When I went to CH his salary was just below the glass ceiling - another year and I wouldn't have been accepted, and my whole life would have been different. That's an odd thought.
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Re: Leavers and fees

Post by Sussex »

I am interested in how this 'glass ceiling' idea worked or could work. How does it take into account number of children in the family becaesu clearly this makes quite a difference ? On quite another topic I watched the documentary on CH4 last night 'too poor for posh school' and apart from the lack of overnight stay thought the selection process shown seemed remarkably similar to that at CH. I also wondered where the Beckwith scholarship was publicised as it seems to be croutignt he saem market as CH.
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NEILL THE NOTORIOUS
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Re: Leavers and fees

Post by NEILL THE NOTORIOUS »

Certainly NOT ---

To quote the IRA --- "Once in -- never out !!"
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Re: Leavers and fees

Post by MrsAverage »

Just found this quote from Mr Franklin speaking at the U.S. Friends of CH and printed in their newsletter November 2009 to which he'd been accompanied by David Cooke

"In a final Q&A, the Head Master
announced that up to 92 new full fee
students would be carefully phased in
over the next five years in order to help
fill the present gap between income and
expenditure. He explained that the new
full fee students would be admitted at
ages 11 and 13 and in the Deputy Grecian
year and would be spread evenly among
the 16 Avenue houses and two Grecians’
houses. He added that the program was
easily reversible once the current cash flow
shortage was resolved.

No wonder so many of us are being forced out.

full report at http://www.chassociation.org/news/linke ... HNov09.pdf
Last edited by MrsAverage on Fri Mar 19, 2010 1:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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J.R.
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Re: Leavers and fees

Post by J.R. »

Now link this in with my post regarding day-pupils.
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Re: Leavers and fees

Post by DavidRawlins »

I am very sad to read all this, and the thought that fees are rising too rapidly and too high for some parents.
The costs to the school and foundation have risen at a greater rate than the cost of living due, amongst other things, to new legislation on the care of children at school. In spite of cuts the school is running at a loss of about £5,000,000 a year, and needs to increase its endowments by about £100,000,000.
I fear that many Old Blues are to blame; they have forgoten or ignored the charge. Very few Old Blues are donation governors, and not that many make a substantial regular donation to CH.
CH used to house, clothe and educate over 1,100 pupils. The number of boys has been halved (although there are more girls now). If we, Old Blues, are not careful and forthcoming, the school will be irrevocably changed within a generation, and may even have to close. All Old Blues should make a standing order to CH when they first start earning and review it annually. A lot of their earning power is due to their education at CH. Initially £5 a month may be reasonable, and is unlikely to bankrupt anyone.
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Re: Leavers and fees

Post by Pixie »

DavidRawlins wrote:All Old Blues should make a standing order to CH when they first start earning and review it annually. A lot of their earning power is due to their education at CH. Initially £5 a month may be reasonable, and is unlikely to bankrupt anyone.
My earning power has absolutely nothing to do with CH, which let me and others in my year down spectacularly in our 'A' levels by recruiting the worst science teachers it could find. It is due to Walbrook College, a state 'A' level college in London, who picked me up from the black hole that CH left me in. It's brilliant science teachers taught me everything that CH had failed to in just one year and I came out with very good results. That year did wonders for my self esteem and confidence and I went to Manchester Uni from there, far better prepared for the world.

I don't think I owe CH anything.
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Re: Leavers and fees

Post by anniexf »

Pixie wrote:
DavidRawlins wrote:All Old Blues should make a standing order to CH when they first start earning and review it annually. A lot of their earning power is due to their education at CH. Initially £5 a month may be reasonable, and is unlikely to bankrupt anyone.
My earning power has absolutely nothing to do with CH, which let me and others in my year down spectacularly in our 'A' levels by recruiting the worst science teachers it could find. It is due to Walbrook College, a state 'A' level college in London, who picked me up from the black hole that CH left me in. It's brilliant science teachers taught me everything that CH had failed to in just one year and I came out with very good results. That year did wonders for my self esteem and confidence and I went to Manchester Uni from there, far better prepared for the world.

I don't think I owe CH anything.
Well said, Pixie. We CH Hertford girls were scandalously short-changed by poor-quality teaching. The good teachers left asap. Everything I achieved academically was despite CH, not because of. The generally unambitious, unimaginative and dreary standard of lessons, combined with the oppressive regime, ensured that only the elite few achieved what parents of the LCC Scholarship girls were led to believe we could all attain by being at CH. 5 terms at a girls' grammar school were like breathing oxygen again after 13 terms of smog. No way would I contribute to CH coffers, even now. Let those who have reason to be grateful take on that responsibility.
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Re: Leavers and fees

Post by midget »

Even in the 1940s there was a problem with recruiting maths and science teachers at Hertford. some of the old-timers , such as Miss Bruce (chemistry) were there far beyond their sell-by dates, if the results were anything to go by. When Miss Wootton took over in my last year she was horrified at the amount of the syllabus we were unaware of.
Physics teachers were hard to come by, and at one time we were taught by a woman who lived at home, and therefore played a less active role in the school.

In mitigation, the war made movement more difficult, many younger women had experienced much more freedom than they had previously enjoyed, and would have found it much more difficult to adapt to a regime where they were watched over by miserable old bats like Miss Mitchell, who had a young PE teacher sacked for staying out all night, and who was therefore a bad example to the girls. Had she stopped to think, she would have realised that if she had kept quiet there was no reason for the girls to know anything about it.
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Re: Leavers and fees

Post by englishangel »

and as most of us were supposed to "give something back to society" as nurses, teachers etc, there isn't a lot left over for CH.
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Re: Leavers and fees

Post by anniexf »

midget wrote:Even in the 1940s there was a problem with recruiting maths and science teachers at Hertford. some of the old-timers , such as Miss Bruce (chemistry) were there far beyond their sell-by dates, if the results were anything to go by. When Miss Wootton took over in my last year she was horrified at the amount of the syllabus we were unaware of.
Physics teachers were hard to come by, and at one time we were taught by a woman who lived at home, and therefore played a less active role in the school.

In mitigation, the war made movement more difficult, many younger women had experienced much more freedom than they had previously enjoyed, and would have found it much more difficult to adapt to a regime where they were watched over by miserable old bats like Miss Mitchell, who had a young PE teacher sacked for staying out all night, and who was therefore a bad example to the girls. Had she stopped to think, she would have realised that if she had kept quiet there was no reason for the girls to know anything about it.
Physics, chemistry & maths continued to be problem areas in the 1950s. We had one brilliant, inspiring maths teacher, Miss Shuard, who was assigned to the B stream, so I had her for my first year. I caught up completely with what I'd missed & did well. (She went on to do far more important work nationally).Then I was moved to the A stream and the ghastly Miss Mitchell, another in the Fanny Page mould, who was going deaf, was only interested in her stars. and was well past her use-by. Then a young woman straight out of university (Miss Vigar?) who couldn't control the classroom. She left pdq and as far as I remember, Mitchell was persuaded out of retirement to fill the breach. So much for my maths education.
midget
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Re: Leavers and fees

Post by midget »

I'm astonished that Miss Mitchell was still there in 1955. I remember Mareen Harding decided to do Maths for A level, but gave up after about 3 weeks because she was scared of Miss M, probably because she was such a lousy teacher, the group was learning little or nothing.
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Re: Leavers and fees

Post by Katharine »

I had a very good OG teaching me Maths in the VI form, Joy Holmes. She had not taught me lower down the school so she may have taught just the B streams. Joy taught me for Pure maths which I loved, we had a funny woman for Applied Maths, can't even remember her name. She didn't have a clue how to teach a VI form of just two very bright pupils both expected to reach Oxbridge. The difference in approach between the two was remarkable.
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anniexf
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Re: Leavers and fees

Post by anniexf »

midget wrote:I'm astonished that Miss Mitchell was still there in 1955. I remember Mareen Harding decided to do Maths for A level, but gave up after about 3 weeks because she was scared of Miss M, probably because she was such a lousy teacher, the group was learning little or nothing.
I checked my old school mags to see if my memories were right, and found that in the October 1957 one, there's a eulogistic paragraph by DR about Mitchell who had selflessly agreed to come out of retirement until a replacement could be found. So that would presumably have been from autumn 1956.
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