I have been walking DCs to their (state) junior school and have noticed a marked difference in the two tribes on either side of the road (girls' independent and prep school on one side, state junior and comprehensive secondary on the other).
These two streams of humanity mark themselves out in the following way:
- Private school kids hop out of SUVs, whereas there are scooters, bicycles and shanks' pony for the state school kids.
- No dads or grannies taking private school kids to school - it's almost all mums and nannies.
- Private school kids look like pack-horses with sports kit with hockey stick, racquet etc., school book bag and occasionally a monstrous musical instrument (sometimes several times the size of the child) whereas the state school kids carry a book bag or nothing at all.
- Private school girls' skirts are so short they would not be acceptable in the state school (which is odd - there are no boys to impress at the private schools anyway - maybe a girly competitive thing?).
- Immaculately coiffed hair is de rigeur for the girls' schools, although state school kids have more adventurous hairstyles (e.g. corn-braids, spiky hair).
- Private school girls are much more diverse in height (some very little, some very tall), but state school kids seem to cluster around the mean.