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.’
[From The Daily Mail]
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.
Source: celebitchy.com
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