Are Private Schools worth it?

ReportInvestor

georgiasmum wrote:

I read in one post somewhere that primary school doesn't matter but as an English teacher I would heartily disagree!!!

I wholeheartedly agree with you.

I would go as far as to say that if I couldn't afford private education for 13 years then I would go for 5-11 as the priority as long as your local state schools at 11-16 came up to the Tony Blair/Harriet Harman standard.

I used to add that you should then switch to private for the sixth form if there wasn't a good Sixth Form College in the neighbourhood.

But with the politically correct University Entrance Tsar in place :mad: , I don't know for certain if that still holds.

Why not draw lottery places at birth for uni? That would be "fairer". Where it would leave the UK in the competitive global economy marketplace I leave others to decide.

P.S. 7% of the 5-18 population go to private schools.

As did 20% of Labour MPs The proportion of state pupils was, of course, even lower when the Labour MPs themselves were educated.

caveat_emptor

lettie wrote:

my children went to the local comp and had a good education, both in university now studying to be doctors. its not the school you send them to it's what your child will achieve, you cant put anything into a child thats not already there.

Couldn't disagree more about 'it's not the school you send them to' and 'you can't put anything into the child that's not already there'.
Performance tables show that it matters very much which school you send them to and I thought education was all about putting something in the child.
What are schools for?
I think your making the mistake of assuming your good experience is typical.

in_my_wellies

Hi gilly

I totally agree, a well motivated child with supportive parents will achieve their full potential at whichever school they go to, despite the system, not because of it. Where I think private schools are good is for children working at C/D grade, who are perhaps not so confident. These are the students who can 'drift' or be under bad influence or others. At a private school they stand more chance of being pulled up to a higher grade, thuis achieving A/B grades.
My son would have done well anywhere - he has a one track mind where studying is concerned! My daughter, however, needed the extra encouragement and, yes, pushing which the private school offered.
Unfortunately, parents of children like my daughter don't apply because they think they wouldn't be good enough to get in. Most would do, certainly into the three schools where my children go.

Sarahsaver

caveat_emptor wrote:

Couldn't disagree more about 'it's not the school you send them to' and 'you can't put anything into the child that's not already there'.
Performance tables show that it matters very much which school you send them to and I thought education was all about putting something in the child.
What are schools for?
I think your making the mistake of assuming your good experience is typical.

performance tables show statistics, and there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. My kids are at a school which reflects the community we live in, so they will learn to interact with people of different backgrounds and different faiths, and speakers of other languages. If it is 10k a year and you can afford 10k a year then your child will probably be alright without private school. If you are well off your kids usually tend to do ok, as long as you are not arrogant. Poor people often have to be more 'pushy' in order for their children to succeed, but a bumpy ride often has a more interesting destination;)
If I had 10k a year to spare I would save half and have some bloody great (educational) holidays with the remainder!

kermitthefrog_3

both myself and my brother went to a private primary school and had the best experience! and i am at uni now and my brother starts in september both studying forms of architecture. i would recommend pivate education to anyone. i found it esspecially helpful when leaving and attending a state grammar school, as i was used to the way of working, ie, homework every night etc. whereas alot of the girls i went to school with really struggled with the changes from their comp schools. there is also alot more connection with the teacher around you and alot more focus upon getting you to achieve, especially seen as there are only 2 classes per year with a maximum of 36 students! the other people i went to primary school with who i am still in contact with have all been very successful, upon leaving primary school, all went to a grammar school and from there went onto uni. there were points in our education where our parents wanted to put us both into local schooling, my brother especially, was taken out and put into year 4 at the local school but only stayed fo a year and then went back into private education and when assessed on re-entry had been put back to year 3 level with what he had been taught, this may have been due to the particular teaching at the school, but the teachers at my primary school worked so hard with him and he passed his 11+ with flying colours. i can honestly say that i don't think i would be in the position where i am today if my parents hadn't made the decision and the sacrifice to send me to the school they did, and i will always be grateful to them for that start in life.

beautifulgorgeous_2

Sarahsaver wrote:

. My kids are at a school which reflects the community we live in, so they will learn to interact with people of different backgrounds and different faiths, and speakers of other languages.
]

As they would also do at our local private schools.
People who choose to privately educate their children are NOT in the most part rich. After all they spend 10 grand a year of their income after tax per child on education.
The fact that many on this forum would consider the possibility of paying for their own children at a desperate finacial struggle will show that other parents with children already at the school will be in the same position.
Children need to be in an enabling environment(private or state) where the ethos and peer pressure is to sit down, shut up, listen and work hard and then they will be able to achieve as the teachers will be able to do their job properly.
Incidentaly, more is spent per annum, child on state educationthat on private.

mike_paterson

My two eldest are at private primary school (prep and pre-prep to be precise).
Even though it involves 2 1 hour round trips a day to drop them off and pick them up (or 3 if it was like today when PE kit was forgotten !!) ,we decided to send them there rather than to the local state primary school for a number of reasons (in no particular order);

1) The fact that the children would be with other children of parents that also wrer prepared to pay for education and therefore would be likely to want them to work hard at school rather than mess around.

2) Smaller class sizes (only slightly smaller though)

3) More accountability to the parents/childrens requirements - If you are paying the bills you get listened to a bit more.

4) Better chance of getting to a good local state grammar school if they pass 11 plus - their school has good 11 plus pass rates without unduly focusing on that aspect of education.

5) Because we wanted the best available and were prepared to make sacrifices to afford it until they are 11. Shame the fees go up 8% every year which has made it very difficult

We are very happy with our choice so far - my daughter is now in her 5th year there and my son is in his 3rd. They get the opportunity to do a lot of other activities and have made nice friends from nice families (thankfully). The school itself has a real family feel, and the school fund-raising events, and concerts etc are incredibly well supported by the parents (as you would expect this seems to be a big difference to some (not all) state schools.

I would say that if you have a great state school that your children can go to, then you are very lucky - make the most of it and remember to support it and your children fully (eduction is done only partly at school). If you have concerns then take a look at the private sector.

As stated the only problem is that the fees are going up way faster than the cost of inflation and anybody should factor that in.

A good source for info on prep schools is http://www.iaps.org.uk/

mike_paterson

gizmoleeds wrote:

I don't believe that to be true. While I have no experience of private school fees, people on here are talking about "£10,000 a year" - which is far more than the £4,500p.a. it costs the state (which I know from studying politics - it is up from £2,500p.a. under Major ).

Fees vary form school to school - we pay about £2,100 per term including a few after school extras - piano lessons, speech and drama etc.

The vast majority of the fees is taken up by the teachers salaries. There is very little left for anything else which is as you would expect.

The teachers salaries are about the same as they are in the state so any savings that the state make are by cramming more kids into the school - i.e the difference between 4,500 that you state and the £6,000 I pay could well be due to the greater number of teachers.

I personally am an advocate of devolved power and greater control for individuals over their money. I think we should all have a voucher for our children's education that we use for entry to a school of our choice. If we want to, we could then pay extra to choose more expensive schools, or schools that meet the levels that we want. This is similar to the scheme for nursery care, and in fact private schools can and do take those vouchers in part payment. If the schools had to compete for our vouchers then the whole system would improve as a result - this would even then rub off on all the really bad schools !

What annoys me is that I have to pay twice - once in my tax for a bunch of state schools that are sub-standard, and because of that I have to pay again for a decent school !

Rikki

I don't want to frighten you, but my sons fees have just hit £6,000 a term.

mike_paterson

Rikki wrote:

I don't want to frighten you, but my sons fees have just hit £6,000 a term.

OUCH !

So you have to earn £11,000 just to cover that !