EDUCATION

The new Oxbridge trick — go private then switch to state

It boosts your chances of getting in, so no wonder the wealthy are at it, says Helen Kirwan-Taylor

Oxford, left; the River Cam in Cambridge
Oxford, left; the River Cam in Cambridge
ALAMY
The Times

There is one thing that all pushy Notting Hill parents have in common: the idea that the prestigious British university system is one they can “play”. After all they’ve gamed both the stock market and the property market. So when Oxbridge made it clear it would be cutting down on the numbers of privately educated students accepted, their first reaction was: watch me.

I just met a 16-year-old student who told me he was leaving his glamorous private school in Oxford to attend a high-ranking sixth-form college in deepest London (where his family have a second home). His parents interrupted to say this was for financial reasons (the kitchen alone was at least four terms’ worth of tuition), because the idea of their son taking