Actually my son, who is now 19 was given the opportunity to go to a boarding school in Dublin, The King's Hospital, when he was 12. His aunt and uncle were going to pay the fees. I really wanted him to go. It would have changed his life. I was a single mum on benefits at the time with severe depression and struggling to cope. But he absolutely refused to go. Said it would ruin his life. So he stayed at his local crappy High School [not even a Grammar School ] instead. He is still convinced it would have ruined his life. But I often wonder how he might have turned out. [Sorry for hijacking your thread OP ].