Ellesmere College Don’t Tell The Truth On Sports Scholarships

J_B

waamo said:

J_B said:

diggingdude said:

As someone who went to a far superior private school close by Ellesmere college .............

Hmm, I went to one of those ... i wonder which one you went to? ;-)

Would it begin with S and be near a footbridge into The Quarry?

Mine didn't - it was under a big hill!  ;-)

Grumpy_chap

So the OP's son plays 8 hours per week cricket.
Presumably more than that at his 'primary' sport - golf.  At least 12 hours per week to get the differentiation from his 'secondary' sport.
Plus football - must be two hours a week for a game and even a little bit of training
Plus spends hours on his PS4.

Can't be spending much time studying anything academic to give himself a fall-back position in case the golf career falters.  Irrespective of ability and dedication, illness or accident could stop any sports career in its tracks.

EllesmereCollege_fake

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth said:

Here is two things about playing professional sport. My Uncle was a scout for a northern football club when I was at school. We all played up should he visit our team playing on a Wednesday evening. If he had not spoken to you before you were 10, he was not interested in you! Full Stop.

The dedication of people I knew of that age, my cousin who wanted to play tennis, meant that aged 9, he could wipe the floor of myself, even though I was 8 years older than him. In fact, he wiped the floor with his dad and my father. he did this because every time we went round to his house when I was at home, he was smashing tennis balls around the place. He was coached at the Tennis club maybe once or twice week! This is what dedication is required to get a level in sport. He never made it as a professional, others were even better than him, but he has made his mark as a PE teacher and coach in his life. 

OP, you were not misled by the college. No person I know, and I have seen professional players at various events that I have attended  as a photographer, has 100% coaching, and even professional dismiss the words of their management and coaching teams. Your son would have to put in a disciplined approach to his training and as such, like my father did when his golf driving was failing, extra effort into hitting the ball with his woods, until he regained his ability.

I doubt aged 10, your son had got up to this level of training and discipline. I would say, to the extent of a visit to the local golf pro, would had given him an insight into the level of dedication required.

Perhaps before making assumptions you do a little research on what is required to make it to the top in Golf.

to help educate you, check out on Netflixs a programme called The Short Game, which shows you just how much junior golfers commit to their quest to make it.

my son has competed many times at World and European events for his age and therefore when you check the film out you will see just how much dedication is required. Whether you agree with this route or not is entirely your opinion, however it will help educate those on this thread of exactly what is required.

by us choosing to combine education with his golf was our way to give him the best of both worlds. My son isn’t academic, he like a high percentage of 10 year old boys would rather play sport.... therefore at the very least you would expect when ellesmere college stated they would support his golf programme this is what should have been done. 

EllesmereCollege_fake

Grumpy_chap said:

So the OP's son plays 8 hours per week cricket.
Presumably more than that at his 'primary' sport - golf.  At least 12 hours per week to get the differentiation from his 'secondary' sport.
Plus football - must be two hours a week for a game and even a little bit of training
Plus spends hours on his PS4.

Can't be spending much time studying anything academic to give himself a fall-back position in case the golf career falters.  Irrespective of ability and dedication, illness or accident could stop any sports career in its tracks.

I completely agree - which is why we chose ellesmere to support his education alongside his sport. And that involves about 25 hours worth of education a week which is pretty standard for any 10 year old. 

EllesmereCollege_fake

J_B said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Why are you seeking advice here if you have engaged solicitors and they've told you you have a very strong case?

Just let them deal with it. I suspect they'd also advise you not to go around accusing the business of being fake or fraudulent on the world wide web, especially when you've given enough personal information to make it pretty obvious who you are.  You might find you're not the only party to engage solicitors. 

And maybe 'washing your dirty linen in public' may possibly (?) prejudice your case perhaps?

Or perhaps expose Ellesmere College for how they go about making false statements to recruit students, and if nothing comes of our case at least this post highlights to other parents not to believe what you are told when considering this school. 

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

EllesmereCollege_fake said:

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth said:

Here is two things about playing professional sport. My Uncle was a scout for a northern football club when I was at school. We all played up should he visit our team playing on a Wednesday evening. If he had not spoken to you before you were 10, he was not interested in you! Full Stop.

The dedication of people I knew of that age, my cousin who wanted to play tennis, meant that aged 9, he could wipe the floor of myself, even though I was 8 years older than him. In fact, he wiped the floor with his dad and my father. he did this because every time we went round to his house when I was at home, he was smashing tennis balls around the place. He was coached at the Tennis club maybe once or twice week! This is what dedication is required to get a level in sport. He never made it as a professional, others were even better than him, but he has made his mark as a PE teacher and coach in his life. 

OP, you were not misled by the college. No person I know, and I have seen professional players at various events that I have attended  as a photographer, has 100% coaching, and even professional dismiss the words of their management and coaching teams. Your son would have to put in a disciplined approach to his training and as such, like my father did when his golf driving was failing, extra effort into hitting the ball with his woods, until he regained his ability.

I doubt aged 10, your son had got up to this level of training and discipline. I would say, to the extent of a visit to the local golf pro, would had given him an insight into the level of dedication required.

Perhaps before making assumptions you do a little research on what is required to make it to the top in Golf.

to help educate you, check out on Netflixs a programme called The Short Game, which shows you just how much junior golfers commit to their quest to make it.

my son has competed many times at World and European events for his age and therefore when you check the film out you will see just how much dedication is required. Whether you agree with this route or not is entirely your opinion, however it will help educate those on this thread of exactly what is required.

by us choosing to combine education with his golf was our way to give him the best of both worlds. My son isn’t academic, he like a high percentage of 10 year old boys would rather play sport.... therefore at the very least you would expect when ellesmere college stated they would support his golf programme this is what should have been done. 

I explained quite clearly in the first paragraph about my Uncle, if you were not up to scratch when he visited your team playing football, and left, you were not in contention. End of.

I know nothing about professional golf, except to live next to a Championship Golf course and meet with two of the pros that worked there on  physio basis. Apart from that, I have no interest in golf.

As for support in his golf programme, any pro at a decent club would have provided this, together with a discipline that your son has, to put into practice what he has been coached. Why you sold up and paid over the odds, I do not know. 

pinkshoes

Getting back the consumer rights question...

Regardless of how people feel about a 10 year old doing so much sport, the question is whether the school mis-represented what was on offer.

Private schools are desperate to get students at the moment. A friend of mine moved house a couple of years ago, and all 3 of her kids attend private school. They visited several in the area and said it was like having a car or double glazing sales pitch, desperate to impress, everything they asked about the school could do etc... 

The OP made it clear to the school what was required for her son, and the school answered that question stating what they could offer. This is private education - when you are paying, you are entitled to get what you paid for!!

If the OP can prove that the school did not meet the requirements, then they have a perfectly good case. 

e.g. if you paid to go on a french language course with a degree qualified tutor, you'd be rather annoyed if DelBoy turned up greeting you with "Mange Tout Rodney!!". 

Aylesbury_Duck

EllesmereCollege_fake said:

J_B said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Why are you seeking advice here if you have engaged solicitors and they've told you you have a very strong case?

Just let them deal with it. I suspect they'd also advise you not to go around accusing the business of being fake or fraudulent on the world wide web, especially when you've given enough personal information to make it pretty obvious who you are.  You might find you're not the only party to engage solicitors. 

And maybe 'washing your dirty linen in public' may possibly (?) prejudice your case perhaps?

Or perhaps expose Ellesmere College for how they go about making false statements to recruit students, and if nothing comes of our case at least this post highlights to other parents not to believe what you are told when considering this school. 

That's not sensible at this stage because a) they're just allegations and b) J_B is correct in that it may prejudice your case.

By all means highlight to other parents after your case is settled in your favour, but doing so now is daft.

Ditzy_Mitzy

EllesmereCollege_fake said:

As a sports school they left our child with an unqualified bus driver

My Dad was, when required, an unqualified bus driver.  He has Grandfather rights on his driving licence and was sometimes given charge of the school minibus.  Chaos ensued at least once.  He is, however, a qualified teacher! 

J_B

Aylesbury_Duck said:

By all means highlight to other parents after your case is settled in your favour, but doing so now is daft.

And, please do come back after to tell us how you got on