Are Private Schools worth it?

Baby_A

Hi,

Still got a while to go before my daughter starts school, but just looking around and alot of kids around where we live go to a private school which works out about 10k a year per child.

Apart from the money factor is there a great big difference between private and government schools? I assume its still the same subjects taught? One thing I have noticed is that the children going to private schools always get more holidays than government schools.

Any views? Does anyone send their children to private school and think its worth it?

Mumstheword

It all depends on your individual circumstances.
We are considering private education for high school (DS1 is in y5 now). We considered it at primary level, but the school he goes to is very good, and we worried that if he wasn't clever enough to cope at the high school, he would suffer in changing back from private to state.
Our local high school is ok, and I think the boys would do ok there. But sending them to the local private school would give them smaller class sizes, and other kids whose parents are all paying too, and so most I would hope would be eager for their kids to do well too.
We could move about 15-20 miles to one of the few areas in the country where the grammar system still exists for free. The grammar and comp schools there both do very well, which indicates that teaching children of different abilities seperately works for them all. The more and less able can each work at their own pace, without being pressured to progress faster than they can manage, or being held back and bored.
However, a move would cost a big chunk of the local private school fees, and distance our family from our established life and backup network of friends and family.

We are in discussion at the moment as to what would be best for ds1, and it's not an easy decision at all!

funky-footprints

we will most definately be sending our children to private school at 11, both my husband & I are privately educated, and so may be more for private education because of our experiences. I am an only daughter with 3 brothers who went to comp all destined to work in my dads business so i understand why dad wanted to offer something better to me, i was admittidly a lazy child and would of fallen behind in the local comp, but in a class of 15 I was made to work, as i had no body to hide behind.

My husband and I are most definately not snobby gozmo !! I never encountered any snobbery in my classes at school and to be honest with the upbringing i had, my feet were kept pretty firmly on the ground with parents guiding me (NOT PUSHING !!!) in the right direction. My husband went from a working class family with a scholarship to his school and also encountered no snobbery. I did find the attitudes of my former primary school class mates changed towards me, calling me names, snob etc, but i put that down to total jealousy, infact many of them now 15 years on have admitted they were jealous that they were not given the opportunity i had. i was the only child from my year in primary school to go to university. no one form the year above went nor the year below, and the primary i went to was very good, it just shows the comp afterwards was slipping.

In matter of fact the local comp here has a higher than norm suicide rate as many of the children there are from high achieving parents who expect high results from thier children and dont believe or cant afford private education at 10k / 15k a year. I guess if you went to a comp you are more than likely going to send your kids to comp.

I feel very fortunate to be in a position where we will be able to offer private education to both our children.

On another side my brothers comp was pretty dire, but the a-level rate was quite high as those that stayed on at school, stayed on for a reason to go on to university, so you didnt get the lower graders staying on for a free ride that you may get a private school.

I dont realy believe in private education for primary years, i believe a lot of those years are what is taught at home and school combined, and once in the private sector it is very hard to adjust to go back to state system.

good luck in deciding.
xx

Spendless

Baby A-Is she likely to remain your only child? You may also need to consider if you had another child, how would you be financially and could you also afford to send 2 to private schools, and if not would you have at private, one at state or would you take the eldest out of her private school? Just things you might need to consider.:xmassmile

conradmum

Echoing some other posters I know, but...

I agree there's little point in the primary years unless your local primary is particularly atrocious, as the usual reason for sending your child to a private school is a better chance of good GCSE and A level grades, and/or the kudos of having attended a private school (which does hold some sway with some employers).
If there's a very good state school they can get into, again, there's little point in going private. My boys go to a City Technology College that's always in the top 3 in the league tables and is excellent at forming good characters too, so it would have been pure snobbery for me to send them to a private school.
Simply being a private school doesn't make it good. I've known two teachers who taught at different private schools and they both said they were mediocre (the schools!).
Consider your child's personality. My eldest would have done very well wherever he went, the middle one needs challenging. In a poor school he would probably do pretty poorly.
Personally speaking I would rather have needles stuck in my eyes than perpetuate the private education system, as it's the backbone of class attitudes and in my experience has produced a lot of status obsessed sad people with low self esteem because they never quite made the grade. One man's tale of sobbing for his mother for days when he was sent away to school aged 8 broke my heart.

Taplledraw

Have a look at the local schools first and then decide. I was a scholarship girl at a Private school and vowed not to send my children too one. My girls both went to the local comp however my two boys went to a private school as they are both very dyslexic and dyspraxic. (one is being paid for by the county council as it is the only school in the area with specialist teachers)They all went to an excellent village primary school. Some people say private school teachers are better (They are at my sons school) but that is not always the case, they may have better qualifications ..but can they teach better? Remember too that there may be longer holidays, but longer hours (8.45 till 6) and Saturday mornings too so the children probably do more schooling (..but dont spoil the boys illusions!!) Definatly take each school on its own merits and on the individual childs educational strengths.

Crispy_Ambulance

I went to private school on a scholarship. It was a very high achieving school and I got good grades. However, I would rather stick pins in my eyes than send my children to private school.

It is not just the money. There is no guarantee that you will get better teaching - you don't always need a teaching qualification to teach in a private school. I also hate the thought of paying so that my children don't have to mix with the poor kids from the estate. I would rather they went to a good state school and learned to mix with a wide range of people and developed good social skills. You need more than straight As to get on in life.

My school might have got good results but that was thanks to the keep up or get out attitude. Those who struggled with any subject were not supported and the culture of !!!!!iness in an all girls school was horrible.

Just because you are paying through the nose to go private does not make it any better.

Gingham_Ribbon

There are many highly skilled teachers in ordinary comps. But smaller class sizes, more facilities and more time to prepare lessons etc would be things that I would imagine could make a case for private education.

We could not afford it for our son, but I would not choose it if we could. The main reason is that I think school education should be comprehensive in the widest sense. I want my son to mix with children from a wide range of backgrounds as well as having a range of formal lessons in which he is expected to pass exams.

conradmum

Taplledraw wrote:

Some people say private school teachers are better (They are at my sons school) but that is not always the case, they may have better qualifications ..but can they teach better?

Private school teachers are not guaranteed to be better qualified. Qualifications are not regulated in the private sector, so they could easily be worse qualified.

Rikki

A private education is not just about the academic subjects. Its about an all round education. All the outside activities they get the chance to do.
The longer holidays are because they work longer hours and saturdays.

chickenlady_3

Crispy_Ambulance wrote:

"It is not just the money. There is no guarantee that you will get better teaching - you don't always need a teaching qualification to teach in a private school. "

I so agree with Crispy Ambulance. My husband is now a state secondary school teacher, but before he even had a degree he was given a job as a teacher in a private boys boarding school where parents paid thousands under the illusion that their kids were getting a better education. What a racket!! This would NEVER happen in a state school - they are too well regulated.

Teaching is no better at private schools - why should it be? The teachers are all trained in the same places - some are good, others are !!!!!!!! We know teachers who could not hack the pace at comprehensive schools (because they had to be able to handle a range of children in terms of behaviour and ability - a real skill), so took the easy option of teaching at small private schools full of nice middle class kids with motivated parents.

The fees pay for smaller class sizes and possibly better sports/music facilities (there is no guarantee of this though).

If you have OK local state schools and, as parents, support your kids and their school, they will do well at those schools. It is worth researching the local schools, though. It is sad but true that schools tend to reflect their catchment area - if you live in a half way decent area the schools will be good.

To be honest, I am amazed to see how many money savers would even consider paying for private education. Go and view as many state schools as you can in your area before you decide - you might be surprised at how pleasant and unscary some of them are.