Are Private Schools worth it?

in_my_wellies

I agree with so much but haven't read all this tread.

I would look carefully at the local schools and at your child. If the local schools are good then you child will thrive. Most lessons are set so if the child is bright they will be in high sets where they will be stretched and motivated in a state school, just the same as if they were in a selective private school.

I know from experience that motivated parents who encourage their children are far more important than the school they go to when it comes to how the child takes to learning. After all they are only in lessons for 5 hours a day x about 190 days a year.

Private schools do not always have small classes. My son is in a class of 25 - 28 for most of his lessons and an ICT class has 37 girls with just 18 computers! Check this out. Teachers pay scales and contracts have changed recently and some private schools are struggling to keep up.

If a child needs specialist help e.g. dyslexic this can be expensive. Assessment can cost ££ which in a state school may be free and if the child needs extra tuition can be £25 a lesson x 3 a week x 7 years! (real figures as was offered this job but declined)

I would say a high flyer would get on well where ever they go as they are usually determined learners who do well despite the system not because of it. I think private schools are great for the 'middle' band of students who may just 'coast along' in a big state school, especially the quiet, well-behaved child. These are children who in a state school may end up with C/D passes but by going to a private school could get C/B passes.

Don't be put off by the selection exam - the standard really is not that high! You may be surprised, I was!

Also, one last point (sorry to go on so), going to a private school could actually count against a really high flyer getting into Oxbridge if that is their aim. Good VI Form colleges have small classes full of motivated students. If they can get 5 A's at A level from a good VI Form college send them there.

Tojo_Ralph

I'll keep this brief.

IMHO, too many people lose sight of the objective here and that is, one would assume, to get the best schooling possible for your child, and I never cease to be amazed at those who choose private schooling over moving to a better catchment area..... Yes a better catchment area invariably means higher house prices, but money spent on bricks and mortar earns money, whereas school fees are gone!!!

In my son's case, the choice was either one of the top five non-fee paying schools in Scotland, or the local fee paying private school, who for the record bent over backwards in an effort to get us to accept a place, giving us an extra two weeks to consider and increasing the scholarship offer on two occassions.

Our decision though was based on a myriad of matters, with the starting point being to compare results between both schools and the two schools were very closely matched in performance. Now... when one takes into account the fact that the private school can be selective and will have a far higher percentage of pupils being tutored privately, etc, etc..... and the non fee paying school takes all and sundry... I know which I believe to be the "better" school.

Thus, my son goes to the school nearest to home, goes with the kids he has grown up with, (He was the only child accepted at the Private school), has a shorter day inc travel, still gets to pick his "interesting" holidays..... and The fees I don't have to pay for private education are building up a nice "Uni fund", so that should he choose to go to Uni, he wont come out the other end with huge debts.

PS. That wasn't exactly brief was it

tomstickland

Well, I regularly question formal education vis a vis ability and acheivement etc. Based on knowing some very dull people who did OK through education and some very clever people who did averagly through education. Anyway, got to make the most of whatever there is.

Tojo_Ralph

Wings wrote:

Having received both state and private education, I can strongly recommend private schooling. Private schools offer opportunities that your child would never receive from a state school education, for example travel, flying airplanes and connections. Mixing with those with money will open doors!

If ever a post summed up the narrow minded views of those who believed me wrong in not putting my son to private school.... this is it. :rolleyes:

Those who believed he was missing opportunities made exactly the same comments..... Forgetting that the middle sprog did 6 weeks trekking in Thailand with the same school and that in his first year my son has a choice of 21 different "activity weeks" ..... Seven of those being overseas.

As for mixing with money and opening doors (why am I hearing Sally Webster? ) ..... Doors that money opens are not on a path worth treading.

tomstickland

Noone I knew from school has ever opened any doors for me.

conradmum

Wings wrote:

Latin is the basics of English!!

What a complete load of BS!!

Anglo-Saxon and Norman French are the basics of English.

Private school education? This poster obviously has little knowledge of English history or etymology.

I went to a bog standard comp and even I know that.

I think this just about sums up this debate.

hobo28

I agree wholeheartedly but some children thrive in really bad schools so how do you know they have done better because you spend £10K per year on fees?

The simple answer is that you don't. In effect its a gamble.

So for example, the private school locally gets an average of 85% pass mark and the 2 local comps get 65% and 20% respectively. So statistically, if my kid goes to private school, they have a much higher chance of getting a decent grade than the school getting 20%. The question is that as a parent, would I pay £50k+ to send my child to school where 85% of kids get good grades and hope mine would be one of those or somewhere where only 20% kids do. Or if my child could get in the other school 65% chance. Is it still worth £10k per year for the difference of 20%?

Of course its not as simple as that since secondary school is much more complicated than primary. Other factors such as will my little cherub mix with undesirables etc. You know, the ones who deal drugs, bully and/or assault teachers. Will their peers all be hanging round street corners by the time they are 12? Drunk at 14, pregnant by 15?

Rich kids are most certainly not smarter than those from poorer backgrounds but the fact is that poorer children often have to deal with much more in life such as crime, family/social problems etc. I have met a lot of little thugs who are smart as hell but because of their circumstances just have not reached their full academic potential.

Finally a lot of people move areas to get into a different catchment area. In fact, I'm doing that myself largely as a result of the councils recent actions. As my partner and the govt all point out, its not a fair system where those who can afford to move push out those who cannot. I agree. That said, what other choice do I have? Sending my child to the rough school would be like sending a lamb to the slaughter.

nearlyrich

In my limited experience the kids with money are the one's with the drugs and girls get pregnant at 14 in all kinds of schools. I agree that in rougher schools good kids who want to work face more of a challange but life is a challange and it's better to find this out early than use it as an excuse for failure when Mummy and Daddy can't pay to make life easy anymore.

Having said all that I think it is a choice that individual parents have to make but it has to be understood that sending a child to private school does not make tham a better class of person. Several of my daughter's friends got 10 A's at GCSE and others got 4 A's at A level without a private education.

gilly41

in_my_wellies wrote:

I agree with so much but haven't read all this tread."

I would look carefully at the local schools and at your child. If the local schools are good then you child will thrive. Most lessons are set so if the child is bright they will be in high sets where they will be stretched and motivated in a state school, just the same as if they were in a selective private school.

I know from experience that motivated parents who encourage their children are far more important than the school they go to when it comes to how the child takes to learning. After all they are only in lessons for 5 hours a day x about 190 days a year.

Private schools do not always have small classes. My son is in a class of 25 - 28 for most of his lessons and an ICT class has 37 girls with just 18 computers! Check this out. Teachers pay scales and contracts have changed recently and some private schools are struggling to keep up.

If a child needs specialist help e.g. dyslexic this can be expensive. Assessment can cost ££ which in a state school may be free and if the child needs extra tuition can be £25 a lesson x 3 a week x 7 years! (real figures as was offered this job but declined)

I would say a high flyer would get on well where ever they go as they are usually determined learners who do well despite the system not because of it. I think private schools are great for the 'middle' band of students who may just 'coast along' in a big state school, especially the quiet, well-behaved child. These are children who in a state school may end up with C/D passes but by going to a private school could get C/B passes.

Don't be put off by the selection exam - the standard really is not that high! You may be surprised, I was!

Also, one last point (sorry to go on so), going to a private school could actually count against a really high flyer getting into Oxbridge if that is their aim. Good VI Form colleges have small classes full of motivated students. If they can get 5 A's at A level from a good VI Form college send them there.

Hi
Re the second paragraph here.........."I know from experience......."

This is my point entirely. As I have said my daughter(now aged 22) gained 11 GCSEs at a state school(the lowest in the borough!!)- ten of these at A & A*. She has gone on to achieve a First Class Honours Degree in Maths!!!!

So does this not show that if a child is prepared to work and has a parent(or parents) that are really interested then they will do well at whatever school they go to??
xx

purplepurple

hobo28 wrote:

Of course its not as simple as that since secondary school is much more complicated than primary. Other factors such as will my little cherub mix with undesirables etc. You know, the ones who deal drugs, bully and/or assault teachers. Will their peers all be hanging round street corners by the time they are 12? Drunk at 14, pregnant by 15?

I hate to say that most of the dysfunctional people I know have all been through a private education! :snow_laug

hobo28 wrote:

That said, what other choice do I have? Sending my child to the rough school would be like sending a lamb to the slaughter.

I would advise you to go to both your local schools and spend a couple of hours there. I'm sure this will put your mind at ease.... there are tonnes of "horror" stories about state secondary schools... many of which are true... but from my experience 99% of pupils are lovely and that's in even the "roughest" schools.

Children will always have issues, regardless of what sort of background they are from. The problems are just different. From my experiences of teaching in a private school, some of the pupils feel abandoned by parents who are paying others to look after them... that all they really want is more time with their families. some pupils in state schools are battling with poverty, having to work in the evenings, caring for an ill parent etc etc... you just have to visit all the schools you are thinking of applying to and trust your instincts! I really wouldn't put too much faith in the league tables to be honest... they're manipulated beyond belief.......also they will be changing soon... at the moment, a GNVQ is classed as 4 GCSE passes, so many results are inflated by the inclusion of GNVQ results, but this will change soon.....