Would you send your child to a private school?

JC9297

Accountant_Kerry wrote: »

geoffky, what age was your daughter at? I am conscious that if we wait until senior school she may well not want to go because her friends from state school probably wont be going, but I am hoping by starting at the youngest age possible this wont be an issue.

anybody have any alternate theories to mine on this?

My son went to state primary and if we had left the choice of secondary school totally up to him he may well have chosen to go to the school that most of his friends went to. However we (unlike his friends) live in the catchment for the top state school in the city and chose for him to go there. We did worry a bit if we had made the right decision, what if he didn't settle or make friends (only one other boy from his primary school went with him). We needn't have worried he's doing great, has loads of friends and loves it.

What I am saying is children can go to separate schools to their friends even moving from state primary to state secondary, or between private schools. People make new friends all the time moving between schools,colleges,university, jobs. Most of us don't just have a group of friends we made at five, and sometimes it is good to have a chance to start afresh with people who don't have preconceived ideas about us.

I also think it is quite common for people to choose to send their children to a good state primary and then go private when they move to secondary.

Hermia

clearingout wrote: »

IN answer to the question about whether co-ed or single sex is better, I think it's generally agreed that girl's flourish better in single sex schools but boys need girls around to turn out OK! Says it all really!

I went to a girl's school and think that is why I have done so well academically despite being from a poor background. I went to a college to do my A-levels and it really shocked me how differently the girls from the single-sex and mixed schools behaved. The girls from the single-sex schools spoke up more in class and were not frightened to disagree with the boys. The girls from the mixed schools were far more submissive and just allowed the boys to talk over them. It was weird to watch, but this was 13 years ago so hopefully girls are more assertive now. My school has a boy's schools next door so we did mix with the boys at break times.

silvercar

Accountant_Kerry wrote: »

geoffky, what age was your daughter at? I am conscious that if we wait until senior school she may well not want to go because her friends from state school probably wont be going, but I am hoping by starting at the youngest age possible this wont be an issue.

anybody have any alternate theories to mine on this?

Both our boys went to different secondary schools than the crowd from their primary school. Our elder was quite enthusiastic about the move and looked forward to his move. Our younger was very upset and gave us a lot of grief until he went to the school for a day in June. It was difficult and he was annoyed with us and upset at school. Once he had been at the school for the intro day he was a lot better, having met other children in the same boat.

For his first year at secondary school he told us he was happy but would have preferred to have stayed with his friends. Only by the following year would he acknowledge that he was actually better off at his new school.

Accountant_Kerry

I wouldn't want to force her to a school she didnt want to go to as i think this would negatively effect her experience, so really i want to make her want to go to the school of my choice! sneaky i know.

themull1

No I wouldn't, i think if you've got a bright child, they will do well at State school. My two are.!

jcr16

My husband went to a private school.

His parents moved when he was 6 to bristol and the school in his catchment my hubby went to, but after 1 term his parents said he really wasn't getting a good eduction. so he moved to a private school. a few of the others in his class did also. the education was fantastic. Hubby did really well in his exams and it gave him a good base to work from. he is now a fully qualified sparks and has a very good job. he could of course become a great sparks with a state education. but at the time the private education was the best for him in the area in which he lived.

we now live in a horrible area but the school our children attend is fantastic, and it now hard to get kids into thew school without living in the area. where we live much depends on the school.there is only one other primary school i'd want to send my children tho, but it hard getting into it. even those who live in the area struggle to get a place, my mil garden backs onto the school and even if we lived that close it wouldnt gaurentee a place. but if these two schools weren't avaible then i would consider private. hubby and i firmly believe a good education is important.but your child happiness is also important. you have to have a good balance.

bonty44

As I now have 3, I can't possibly afford to send any of them privately.

Also, I teach in the State Sector and I can hand on heart say that 99.9% of teachers do the job because they love working with children and want each individual child to do their very very best.

I am very lucky that DS1 and DS2 both attend an excellent Primary School which, despite the fact that they work the children very hard and it sometimes seems that they don't have a lot of fun, they are both making excellent progress.

However, I have to say that I think anyone can send their child to the best fee paying school in the country, but if parental support isn't there, then there's only so much a school can do. To rephrase, you don't have to send your child privately because a child from a home where the parent(s) show(s) a keen interest in the child's learning, who reads to them, plays games with them, etc., is getting a much better grounding than a child who doesn't have that support ... does that make sense? HTH

Accountant_Kerry

my worry about state school is that i went to a state school and i hated it, junior school was great i was challenged and enjoyed it, however at secondary school i was not challenged and became very bored and disruptive culminating with me refusing to attend from year 10 onwards, despite my parents best efforts, social services etc i still wouldn't go to any school. in year 11 i attended the local college to do my gcse's. i then didnt go to university until i was 22.

if my daughter takes after me she will need to be highly stimulated and i think only an outstanding school will be able to do this.

geoffky

she is now 12..we could not afford it when she was younger although we have had her in education since she was three,,,good luck.
She did not choose a school that her friends go to ,,,she has to get a bus at 7.50 for schools starts at 8.45 and she is one of the few from round here that goes,,so i knew she never made the choice because of friends going there but she has made new ones so much as our house is like a youthclub at weekend with sleepovers,,,i never know how many kids are in the house!!!

Racheya

I think if I could afford it, I would. I know the nightmare of going through state schools and while a part of me thinks that I've managed so far without needing fancy-pants private education, I'm also aware that I would have probably become a better, more confident person if I'd grown up in a more academically orientated and more 'well rounded' school.

No matter how much I find private education to be a bit of a repulsive idea, I would want only the best for my children. Of course, if it wasn't possible, then I'd try my best to get them into the better state schools.