@payn4ward , thanks for posting the link to my “second-tier” question. The reality is as described so well by Albion. My own school experience – I was once upon a time extremely bright, strange though that may seem to those who know me now 
– made me particularly attuned to this issue, and I most definitely did not want a similar experience for my children. Luckily, it seems they have found themselves a school where they can be (if they work hard) among the better students rather than easily being the best. Big difference there.