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What's the girls equivalent of Eton & why?

400 replies

Dinaprettyballerina · 20/10/2022 13:23

Just out of interest which English girls school is the one all sharp elbowed parents are trying to get their girls into? Eton has a reputation for having the pushiest parents with alot of overseas parents who are extremely invested in getting the very best education & getting their child in at all costs.. what is the female equivalent?

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Merrow · 20/10/2022 13:27

The only all girls school I've heard of is Cheltenham Ladies College, so I assume that's the poshest one!

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Comefromaway · 20/10/2022 13:27

Cheltenham Ladies College?

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Yuib · 20/10/2022 13:27

Cheltenham ladies?
Wycombe Abbey?

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MrsMitford3 · 20/10/2022 13:28

I think it's Wycombe Abbey

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AquaticSewingMachine · 20/10/2022 13:28

I'd say St Paul's Girls

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nightbulb · 20/10/2022 13:29

Guildford High would need a trophy room for all the awards it would win for pushiest parents. But it’s not boarding so a bit different.

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Avidreader69 · 20/10/2022 13:29

There are several, including Cheltenham Ladies, Marlborough, Wycombe Abbey and Benenden.

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StrychnineInTheSandwiches · 20/10/2022 13:29

Cheltenham Ladies' College and Roedean are the only two girls' boarding schools I could name. So I'm nominating them.

Wealthier and posher people will be along shortly.

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Rover83 · 20/10/2022 13:30

Wycombe abbey

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Kabbalah · 20/10/2022 13:30

Cheltenham
Roedean
Downe House
Wycombe Abbey
St Mary’s, Ascot
Mayfield

Take your pick.

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Dinaprettyballerina · 20/10/2022 13:33

It's interesting as Eton is seen as the beacon of poshness & it's where all most of our bright & brilliant leaders😜have studied but no girls school has such a reputation..

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LIZS · 20/10/2022 13:33

Benenden?

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TwikTwok · 20/10/2022 13:38

Habs?

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Wonnle · 20/10/2022 13:40

Downton Abbey ?

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AriettyHomily · 20/10/2022 13:41

Where did truss go to school?! 😂

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Dinaprettyballerina · 20/10/2022 13:46

AriettyHomily · 20/10/2022 13:41

Where did truss go to school?! 😂

I was thinking that! Is there one particular school where all female mps go?!

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AngelicaElizaAndPeggy · 20/10/2022 13:50

Dinaprettyballerina · 20/10/2022 13:33

It's interesting as Eton is seen as the beacon of poshness & it's where all most of our bright & brilliant leaders😜have studied but no girls school has such a reputation..

It's because Eton became the go-to place for Britain's PMs and uber elite at a time when girls were expected to stay at home, play pianoforte, dance beautifully, die in childbirth and read hysterical novels. No need for a pushy school.

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PiffleWiffleWoozle · 20/10/2022 13:51

Truss was state.

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Dinaprettyballerina · 20/10/2022 13:55

@AngelicaElizaAndPeggy thank God things have changed!
@PiffleWiffleWoozle really? That's interesting, she had the public school speaking voice down to a t!

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butterflyflutterby123 · 20/10/2022 13:57

Wonnle · 20/10/2022 13:40

Downton Abbey ?

Definitely

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Avidreader69 · 20/10/2022 13:59

Truss went to Roundhay School in Leeds.

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MrsAvocet · 20/10/2022 13:59

Just my observation as an outsider but I think there is no direct equivalent because historically women have not been groomed for power in the same way as men, so girls' schools didn't gain reputations for the same kind of things as boys schools.
I had a few very wealthy acquaintances at University. The boys had been to Rugby and Harrow (don't think I knew any old Etonians) and the girls to Cheltenham Ladies' College and Roedean. They were from very similar backgrounds and definitely did see themselves as the ruling class, but I got the impression that the girls, though they had great academic credentials, had not been brought up/educated to see themselves as future leaders, but rather as potential wives of future leaders. The one girl from that kind of background that I knew who was really focused on her own career progression had been to Rugby for 6th form in fact.
Obviously this is a very small sample, and it was the 80s so hopefully things have changed, but I suspect the reason why there is no true "girls' Eton" is good old fashioned misogyny.
(I hasten to add that I don't subscribe to the idea that all our leaders should come from such schools, but that's a different issue altogether. )

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Dinaprettyballerina · 20/10/2022 14:08

@MrsAvocet I know the type you mean, similar to Sienna Millers character in Anatomy of a scandal. Attended a top uni, met young political student from similar background, they marry & she plays a supporting role to him rather than her own career.

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LeavesOnTrees · 20/10/2022 14:11

Dinaprettyballerina
not unlike the current Princess of Wales

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CredibilityProblem · 20/10/2022 14:14

I think that the girls school I think of as grooming you to run the world rather than marry a man who will run the world is St Paul's.

But it doesn't have the same financial and class connotations as Eaton. Two London GPs from standard middle class backgrounds might well send their bright daughter to St Paul's. They probably wouldn't send their bright son to Eton.

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