from Feb, 2010 but worth sharing again :) :P Revealed: David Cameron was class dunce at elite Heatherdown prep school .....from Feb 25, 2010 but worth sharing again Bottom in Latin and Maths. Second bottom in Geography and French. Worst overall performer in his class by the year-end. Must do better, schoolmasters would doubtless have harrumphed to his parents. And he did as he was told. David Cameron has come a long way since being class dunce at elite Heatherdown prep school in 1978 – revealed in previously unseen grading papers unearthed by the Mirror. But our revelations also shine a light on the life of extraordinary privilege the Tory leader, 44, was born into. All-male Heatherdown, near leafy Ascot, Berks, was Britain’s most exclusive preparatory school. Old boys include Princes Andrew and Edward; James Ogilvy, son of the Queen’s cousin Princess Alexandra of Kent; George Windsor, son of the Duke and Duchess of Kent; and James Turner, now Baron Netherthorpe. One ex-pupil at the boarding school – son of a mere MP – joked he was one of the few whose name did not change due to inheriting a title. Little surprise that its youngsters were expected to glide effortlessly into positions of power and influence in later life – almost regardless of academic performance. The young David Cameron, whose older brother Alex was also a pupil, was no exception. His five years at Heatherdown saw him repeat one term after poor grades. Yet he left in 1979, aged 12 for Eton and then Oxford. But even Heatherdown old boys have raised question marks over how well it equipped them to relate to millions of ordinary people in the outside world. One now admits: “I think parents thought it would be a good place for their sons to toughen up, but they were surrounded by so much privilege. “They were confined to school for a whole half-term and so had a very blinkered existence. “While they were at school, none of them mixed with children who didnt have money, that’s for sure.” Instead they mixed with the likes of Peter Getty, grandson of billionaire John Paul and one of young David’s best chums. In 1977 the 11-year-old David enjoyed a summer treat other youngsters across Britain could only have dreamt of – as he and two other boys joined Peter on a Concorde flight to stay with the Getty family in the US. They were ferried around in a convertible, taken to Disneyworld, Las Vegas and Hollywood, given a Grand Canyon helicopter ride and treated to seven days at the Getty mansion in San Francisco. Teacher Rhidian Llewellyn, the group’s chaperone, has recalled how as the wealthy schoolboys scoffed caviar, David raised a glass of vintage Dom Perignon 69 champagne in his direction and grinned: “Good health, Sir!” A recent biography of the Tory leader laid bare the gilded elite from which Heatherdown pupils came, with parents including “eight honourables, four sirs, two captains, two majors, two princesses, two marchionesses, one vis count, one brigadier, one commodore, an earl, a lord and the Queen”. Other contemporaries have revealed that David – whose dad Ian was a stockbroker and mum Mary a baronet’s daughter – at times struggled to fit in. One said: “He was very unassuming and certainly didn’t have the charisma he tries to display now. He was so timid you would hardly notice him. “I think he was overwhelmed by it. When his brother Alex left it made a huge difference. He appeared bewildered at being left there.” His old teacher Mr Llewellyn added: “Among all those titled children Cameron was one of the most normal, although, like any 10-year-old, he would get a bit out of line and need a metaphorical cuffing.” Three years ago Mr Cameron briefly mentioned his time at Heatherdown. He told how he was hit with a clothes brush at least “a couple of times” – once for stealing strawberries from the garden of the headmaster’s wife. Elite education that led to Eton By TOM PARRY IT was an automatic conveyor belt to Eton for the sons of landed gentry and millionaires. Heatherdown School in Ascot, Berks, was renowned as the leading independent prep school in Britain. It had only 80 pupils – all male and all boarders – and a small team of highly educated masters. The school’s business was simply to take impressionable boys from well-off families and mould them into gentlemen of the old school. On arrival, new occupants were allowed to bring their own rug – to cover the spartan wooden floorboards of the dorms – and their own teddy. That’s where the creature comforts ended. Boys slept 10 to a dorm and lived under a strict regime with the school day book-ended by religion. Each day, before breakfast, senior boys would gather for “scripture” in the school library and headmaster, James Edwards, would discuss the Bible. After breakfast, children would meet for a 10-minute chapel service before classes began. Mr Edwards insisted the boys learn to recite the monarchs of England and their dates on the throne. After lunch, the boys would escape to their dorm for reading followed by games, mainly cricket and rugby. Tea was an important meal of the day and boys would take it in turns to sit next to Matron, who would insist on faultless table manners. The academic day ended as it had begun, with a chapel service followed by a light supper and lights out. On sports day, helicopters brought parents to the playing fields. The school was so elitist that three separate lavatories were provided – one for ladies, one for gentlemen and one for chauffeurs. Heatherdown closed in 1982 due to financial difficulties while Mr Cameron was at Eton. The school was subsequently demolished. The site is now occupied by the Licensed Victuallers’ School.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Apr 2014 15:45:00 +0000
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