Are Private Schools worth it?

[Deleted User]

My parents chose not to send my brother and I to the local comprehensive when many of their friends picked a private school that had entrance examinations.

They explained their decision to me a few years down the line. It wasn't the money, it was that they believed I'd perform better in the comprehensive environment. I tend to perform best when I think I'm doing well - if I was put in a high achieving private school, I probably wouldn't have been anywhere near top of the class, but in a comp. I was. I also had outside tuition when I wasn't doing so well.

I do wish i'd gone private for 6th form, or picked the local catholic 6th form like my brother did.. mine was rubbish, we had HUGE (think > 50) class sizes in lecture theatres and teachers who didn't care about any pupil's progress.

But hey, i was lucky, my local comp. was amazing, the teaching method was to split kids into classes by ability so you got teachers who actually liked teaching.

funky-footprints

It struck me that this harmonious mixing of cultures and backgrounds was possible because they went to a comprehensive school.[/QUOTE]

would disagree there, in my 1st form class at private school were a girl from Mexico, 1 from Africa and 2 from china, all in the UK to learn English.

In my brothers class of 26, at the local comp they were all local (apart from the boy whose parents ran the chinese takeaway) English speaking and white, that remained the case for his time in comp, where as we had many more from China, Africa, Mexico, France, Germany etc.

ms_london

Me & my bro & sis went to the local school (not private) - and turned out ok :0)

After hearing that a Director here was sent to Boarding School at the age of 8 - I can safely say that if thats what it does to a child, then they are better off going to the local Comp school - she is 57 and the most selfish, rude, childish lady I have ever met!! And unmarried without kids - but that doesnt suprise me.

Sorry, a bit off topic. :0) My parents again, wouldnt have been able to afford to have sent us to private school.

Another Director here only employs Graduates who went to a certain "boys school". I do wonder why I still work here to be honest, its not fun!!

xx

VickyA_2

I went to boarding school and like to think that I'm a normal human being. Though my brother would probably argue otherwise

My parents looked at all the local schools and although they thought that the level of education was good, the "extras" were virtually non-existant at the time. They didn't like the head either.

ms_london

VickyA wrote:

I went to boarding school and like to think that I'm a normal human being. Though my brother would probably argue otherwise .

I am sure you are VickyA, but this woman isnt believe me :0) Although I am sure its not just down to the boarding school.

I always wanted to go to a Boarding School - used to love Malory Towers! ;0)

xx

VickyA_2

ms_london wrote:

I am sure you are VickyA, but this woman isnt believe me :0) Although I am sure its not just down to the boarding school.

I always wanted to go to a Boarding School - used to love Malory Towers! ;0)

xx

It's just a shame that she taints the boarding school system with her ignorance!

A friend and I at school used to devour the Trebizon books - once we'd got through all the Malory Towers and St Clare's books

flutterbybutterfly

I think that you need to do a lot of research into the local schools first and decide if you are happy with them, if not, then consider if the private schools nearby actually get better results.

We live in an area with some excellent comprehensive schools (as well as some very bad ones) we are lucky enough to fall into the catchment of one of the top three (one of the others out the three is a grammar school).

We have considered moving house to live where my husband works as he currently has an hour commute. The main thing holding us back is the schooling, unfortunately the schools where he works are amongst the worst in the country, and virtually everyone he works with sends their kids private. It always a conversation "stilter" when we are at corporate functions and the horsey types ask me where my kids go!

If we did decide to move I would beyond a shadow of a doubt pay for private. It is not something that we don't do now becuase of finances, I'm sure we could if we felt it necessary. I do think that it would affect our ability to take as many family holidays and have that extra disposable income for lifestyle and family, so whilst we are in the good catchment we'll keep them where they are.

Good luck with your choices!

Penny-Pincher!!

Im so glad that DD past her 11+ and will be going to a good school. We only put one comprehensive school down in the choices as the rest in the borough were quite poor according to Ofstead reports and personal research.

If she wouldnt have passed we were seriously thinking of home schooling:eek:

PP
xx

fiobee

Baby_A wrote:

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?

No kids but I went to a state school and then a private school during my secondary school years. My kid sister went to the same private school for her entire secondary school years. The difference is the curriculum.

My state school had a low budget and kept cutting back on subjects every year, whereas the private school could afford to teach a wide range of subjects. This is partly based on popularity of subjects and partly based on expense. The private school could afford to run a Greek class for just one pupil whereas the state school cut maths from the sixth year curriculum (because apparently hardly anyone wants to do maths and sixth year in Scotland is optional). You may not believe me, but in sixth year myself and another pupil were taught physics in a stockroom for one lesson because there was a shortage of classrooms. As for maths, I begged one of the teachers for schoolwork and was fortunate enough to be given some set work and a textbook (because apparently I was clever enough to study on my own). After a couple of weeks like that, my parents moved me to the private school for the rest of sixth year and I dropped physics in favour of classics (30 kids in a brightly lit classroom compared to 2 kids in a dark stockroom) along with English (3 teachers compared to 1) and double maths (3 teachers compared to none). I'd only done physics in the first place due to the lack of choice for sixth year!

To be fair though, I would point out that a lot of kids do go to university or leave school after fifth year in Scotland and I did already have an unconditional place at university based on my fifth year exam results at the state school. However, I'm a January kid so I didn't want to go to uni at 16 and wanted to stay on for the extra year. The situation may be different in England and Wales. Finally, I'll point out that I'm 27 so this wasn't that long ago...

Horasio

It depends on the area you live - our state primary schools were no better than the private primary school - state primary schools were not that good either, nor was the private one. It was a hard time but he got thro' it.

But the high school is where it shows.

My son did very well at private school after aged 11. His friend went to the local state school and said it was horrible. My son got excellent results and is now at university. His friend has gone to college to get his highers, as his school was full of childish bullies which made his confidence plummet and he didn't do very well at all.

My son's private school had a very good anti-bullying policy and he found it a happy time. He did his bronze Duke of Edinburgh and won the Scottish heat of the Young Enterprise competition where he went to compete in the European heat.

Unfortunately you get what you pay for.