German banker’s verdict on public schools: average teaching and too soft

Cosseted pupils forget the value of money, says expat with four children at top British establishments

A GERMAN banker has urged his countrymen to think twice before sending children to Britain’s top boarding schools, saying they provide an unspectacular education and “cocoon” pupils.

They should consider other ways to spend their money and their children’s time, Arnold Holle warned.

Mr Holle, 50, originally from Dusseldorf, has lived in Primrose Hill, north London, with his wife Denise, an American banking analyst, for 21 years. Their four children all attend public schools. But he wrote in an article for

a German newspaper, that being “well on the way to putting a seven-figure sum into the English public school system” robbed him of his illusions.

“It is said time and time again, how paradisiacal and in every respect advantageous English boarding schools are,” he wrote. “My conclusion so far: not everything that glitters is gold.”

Pupils fared little better, if at all, than those receiving a free education in Germany, he said.

“The great strength of the English schools and students is the self-presentation,” said Mr Holle, a managing director with Piper Jaffray, an investment bank. “But appearances are deceptive: even at the top English boarding schools, children don’t learn more than in Germany, probably less.”

His 18-year-old twin boys and 14year-old younger son, all attended The Hall, a leading boys prep school in Belsize Park, north-west London, where fees are almost £6,000 a term.

The twins went on to Sevenoaks School in Kent, where boarding fees exceed £11,000 a term and the younger son is now at Westminster, of Nick Clegg, AA Milne Christopher Wren, which charges similar fees. His 12-year-old daughter also attends a leading school.

Mr Holle also criticised schools for cocooning students in a world of privilege. “Even a short stay in an English boarding school will lead to children losing any respect for money,” he complained. “How many chauffeurs are waiting today at parents’ evenings in Germany in dark limousines at the school gate? In England there’s a lot.

“And on the last day before the autumn holidays, the plane from Heathrow to Mauritius always has a handful of students from The Hall on board.”

Mr Holle said yesterday that the purpose of his article was to “disabuse” people of “fantastical notions” being circulated in Germany.

Asked about his own children, he said: “I want my kids to be British first and foremost and if sending them to private school is what it takes to give them the best chance, I don’t want to rob them of an opportunity there.

“I want to send my kids to the best schools, end of story.”