While the elite school is host to British royalty, it also houses a large section of children from some of England’s wealthiest and most privileged families. And naturally, they all expect the school to go above and beyond for their children.
However, Thomas’s Battersea’s head teacher, Ben Thomas has spoken out about the “demanding” expectations of some of the school’s parents.
In an article for the book The State of Independence: Key Challenges Facing Private Schools, Thomas says the mantra "I pay therefore I expect,” seems to have been adopted by parents.
"With school fees up by nearly 100 per cent since 2003, parents' expectations are, not unreasonably, sky-high," he writes. "The days of the laid-back, hands-off, middle-class parents (if they ever existed) are long gone… 'I pay therefore I expect' has become a mantra".
However, Thomas issued a warning about what this mindset can do to children, stating that students are at risk of becoming "overanxious, over-prepared young robots".
He spoke to The Times about his concerns, saying the independent education is "predicted on children taking high-stakes exams".
"Parents are very aware how high stakes the exams are – it's not unusual for secondary schools to have one place for every ten children applying," he said.
"I want to encourage children to find out the answers themselves, to figure out what questions to ask and to cope with failing," he said.
