Crunch raises state school demand

silvercar

The other advantage is schools seem keen to take home educated children, think they want to "save" them so you get your pick of schools when you decide to opt back in, well that was my experience anyway.

May be true in your area. In my area, the good state schools have waiting lists a mile long.

shirlgirl2004

before_hollywood wrote: »

how many of the others in her school do the same?

ex council houses arent exactly cheap to anyone but the original council tenant, unless they are in an absolute tip of an area, the ones in nicer places are bought because of large proportions, thick walls and in a lot of cases off street parking.

there are two types of child and parent at private school, the ones to whom education is everything, and those to whom snobbery and one upmanship are everything

The 2 that live in ex council houses are not in nice areas, I think they'd be pretty cheap! One of the parents I am good friends with and she just wants a really good education for her child. She was offered a place at a good state school but after speaking to the Head was given no assurance that her daughters needs would be met.

Yes there are some that seem to look down their noses but TBH the 2 parents from my DDs class that are guilty of this have actually just moved to the school having taken their older children out of the state system.

Spendless

I did the very 'daily mail' thing of moving into the catchment area of the school I wished my kids to attend. We would have had to move anyway, the house I'd bought for just me wasn't big enough for a husband and child. There was a handful of schools I was prepared to send my kids to. The catchment area of one of them was where I grew up and had family and friends still living there. We moved before ds was 2, when a 'bargain' house came up for sale, it was before we were financially ready really as we had to rent my house out for a couple of years. We gambled well though as house prices soared after this, meaning we bought this cheap and it took my house out of the negative equity we were in.

I wanted my children at a local school, having friends nearby, that they would be able to call on when older was important to me. I like picking them up from school and taking them straight to the park to play.

I don't really know what private school fees are, the 2 in my area that I looked up don't publish their fees. I looked up another and that gives £2,200-£2,800 per term for yrs reception to yr6 as a day pupil (school also offers boarding). No idea if this is good, bad or average. These sort of fees would be manageable definately with 1 child and me working, 2 children and I'm not sure. Definately wouldn't be able to stretch beyond that.

before_hollywood

shirlgirl2004 wrote: »

The 2 that live in ex council houses are not in nice areas, I think they'd be pretty cheap! One of the parents I am good friends with and she just wants a really good education for her child. She was offered a place at a good state school but after speaking to the Head was given no assurance that her daughters needs would be met.

Yes there are some that seem to look down their noses but TBH the 2 parents from my DDs class that are guilty of this have actually just moved to the school having taken their older children out of the state system.

its a classic case of the equivalent of what men call small !!!!!! syndrome

shirlgirl2004

before_hollywood wrote: »

its a classic case of the equivalent of what men call small !!!!!! syndrome

I think you're right :rotfl:

shirlgirl2004

Spendless wrote: »

I don't really know what private school fees are, the 2 in my area that I looked up don't publish their fees. I looked up another and that gives £2,200-£2,800 per term for yrs reception to yr6 as a day pupil (school also offers boarding). No idea if this is good, bad or average. These sort of fees would be manageable definately with 1 child and me working, 2 children and I'm not sure. Definately wouldn't be able to stretch beyond that.

Yes our fees are £2,400 a term I think plus extras and obviously school uniform is much more expensive as a coat is £75, a blazer £70 plus hats, bags, multiple PE kits. The list goes on. I think for many people it would be doable they just choose not to. We are paying off our mortgage so when DD2 starts in 2010 we won't need to sacrifice the "extras" such as holidays. I'm fortunate I don't have to work but most of the mothers do have to. I guess we all make different choices.

mumps

natalie1974 wrote: »

:rotfl:The kids need saving ! Makes you laugh , is it really that bad

Well I suppose it goes against all their training, lots of teachers found it hard to accept that untrained people could teach children anything. What we found was that children can teach themselves an awful lot. Think what they have mastered by the time they get to school age; sitting up, standing up, talking, all sorts. I had a problem with two in particular, the one got over it eventually but the other never accepted it, anything going on at school was due to my daughter not having started at four. Even losing her pe kit once.

mumps

silvercar wrote: »

May be true in your area. In my area, the good state schools have waiting lists a mile long.

When I applied to the local school they told me there was a waiting list but rather grudingly agreed that we could have a look at the school and meet the head. When he found out she had never been to school he couldn't get her in quick enough, even allowed us to start her on a part-time basis and we could pick which year four teacher she went with (I was told by other parents that was unheard of.)

Davesnave

mumps wrote: »

Well I suppose it goes against all their training, lots of teachers found it hard to accept that untrained people could teach children anything. What we found was that children can teach themselves an awful lot. Think what they have mastered by the time they get to school age; sitting up, standing up, talking, all sorts. I had a problem with two in particular, the one got over it eventually but the other never accepted it, anything going on at school was due to my daughter not having started at four. Even losing her pe kit once.

Sorry, but this is all very 1970s to those of us 'trained,' as you call it, during that period. The American de-schooling movement was in full swing then, and its proponents certainly challenged and altered my way of thinking about education.

There may be individual teachers who have some kind of 'blockage' over home schooling, but I think most of us are smart enough to evaluate kids as individuals and work out what to do with/for them. If they're capable and sociably adjusted, why worry? Not all are, but that's also true for kids who've been though the mill!

Where I worked, in the mid-eighties, we had some wealthy artistic folk set up an 'alternative' private school nearby. I don't know how successful it was from their creative standpoint, but some of their 'graduates' switched our school to have their 3Rs sorted out around Year 5. We certainly didn't feel we needed to 'save' them though.

I had two very different kids myself; one of whom was extremely bright, but who, to this day, prefers to let her partner do the PhD while she involves herrself with something more hands-on. So far as she was concerned, school was a bit of a distraction, but the social life made it worth the effort.

Our second child struggled with a specific learning difficulty, which meant that we had to teach her at home after school and, as I was unavailable, that meant my 'untrained' wife taking on the role of remedial teacher. It worked out fine, or at least far better than the alternative: one hour of 'professional' help each week in school. Being in the business, I knew that the county's interpretation of 'adequate provision' was BS.

So, from personal & professional experience, I'd say a mix of home and school teaching can work out fine. I just wish more parents of kids who have learning problems would have the courage to pitch-in, (with support) rather than leave it to the experts who are, of course, totally underfunded.

natalie1974

shirlgirl2004 wrote: »

Yes our fees are £2,400 a term I think plus extras and obviously school uniform is much more expensive as a coat is £75, a blazer £70 plus hats, bags, multiple PE kits. The list goes on. I think for many people it would be doable they just choose not to. We are paying off our mortgage so when DD2 starts in 2010 we won't need to sacrifice the "extras" such as holidays. I'm fortunate I don't have to work but most of the mothers do have to. I guess we all make different choices.

God that's cheap , our school coats are £120 (woollen dry clean only !!!! things that don't keep the kids warm!) , £90 blazers , £15 a shirt , £25 a hat , £20 a school bag and then the skirts , jumpers , PE kits etc .
Our fees are roughly the same , we get 10% discount for siblings . I don't have to work , OH earns enough to pay all the fees but as it was my choice I will go and get another crappy part time job once this baby is born to pay towards the fees . But then again , I might not , the way I feel with the tiredness at the moment I doubt there are many employers out there that let you have 2 hour naps during the day