Private / Independent schools

gundo

I've actually worked in private education and public education and yes the teaching couldn't be faulted in private ed. but the state of the buildings and some of the facilities were woeful. Basically someone's paying £20+k a year so their kid gets taught in wooden sheds. I went to a state comprehensive (and up North not in the leafy Shires, and at least my science labs were in a proper building not a shed and they were well equipped (it's now a school that specialises in drama - go figure!).

I'd agree that if your child is struggling due to dyslexia etc. that private is the only way to go as the teaching was superb and the classes are much smaller but be aware that some of the smaller schools don't have a lot of money so some the facilities may not actually be as good as state schools.

cupid_s

Noctu wrote:

P.s. It's funny how 2 in the top 3 schools in the country for GCSE grades are comprehensives!

But if you look at how many are independent (i.e private) only 2 in the top 10 are. The others may be selective but you don't have to pay to go there.
Incidentally my secondary school is in the top 10.

Mrs_pbradley936

I live in an area which has the borders of Epping Council, Harlow Council and East Herts Council all coming together. Who you pay your council tax to says where your children can go to school if there are more children than places. Almost every year the local paper has stories about children not being able to go to their nearest school (which is very good) and having to go far away to a school which is not as good. Some years when I suppose the school can deal with the intake all is well.

I also know of one man who rented a flat in the catchment area of a good school so that he could show he paid council tax, utility bills and so on until his daughter was accepted. When she was in he “moved” back to his own house!

Mrs_pbradley936

This is a common topic here is a post I put on a thread a few weeks ago:-

Yes I have some experience of this topic. When my son was due to start school we lived in London and the state schools were 30 odd to a class. A local fee paying school had 12 to the class plus a teaching assistant. It was a no brainer. However time went by and we moved to Hertfordshire, the state schools there are great so we moved him and saved ourselves a fortune. He sailed through GCSEs, A Levels and university. You have to look at the social mix of the other children and if they are surround by adults who work and have mortgages you will be fine. When we lived in London the adults in the children’s lives did not value education and had no aspirations. I think this is what Fiona Miller means when she touts Redbridge as a great area for schools.

lynseyf

I disagree with the posters who say that if your child is bright they will do well anywhere. I was fairly intelligent as a child and was completely bored with school up until I did my Highers (Scottish). I found everything very easy and got top results ( 7 grade 1s) in my Standard Grades by only reading my text books the night before.

Because I was doing so well I was never pushed to do better and I know I could have done better at my Highers with a little more work. I still got excellent grades which most people would be proud of but they were not the best I could do. Having survived until 16 getting excellent results with no work I found it very difficult to suddenly have to work to get the same excellent results for my Highers.

I had the same problem at University and acutally failed 4 out of 6 of my second year courses. Becasue I was doing so badly I stopped going into Uni which compounded the problem. I basically spent all of my third year catching up what I missed in 2nd year. I still got my 2:1 in a Science subject froma good Uni but I have the niggling feeling I could have done better.

I would say its more about your childs attitude, which you probably won't be able to assess properly until they are secondary school age. If they are competitive and want to be the best they will do fine at a GOOD state school. if they are more laid back and a bit lazy, the extra push that private education gives may make all the difference.

conradmum

The most important thing is to find a GOOD school, and try to ignore whether it's state or private in making your decision. Private does not equal good and state does not equal bad. My sons go to one of those state comprehensives that are in the top 3 for GCSE results in the country. This school is NOT selective. In fact, the children have to take an IQ test to ensure that the intake covers the ability spectrum within a normal population. They just have to show a science/technology bias in their ability, no matter how bright they are (it's a technology college). It's simply a fantastic school (in every way, not just results) and I'm so grateful they are lucky enough to go there.
And it doesn't cost me anything. Education isn't one of those areas where you always get what you pay for.

ruthyjo

I'm interested that so many people are posting that if a child is motivated and able they will do well anywhere. This was certainly true of my DS1 who got his SATs level 5 for maths at the end of year 3. On paper he was the most academically successful child at the school by a long way. He was also miserable, disruptive and hated school.

It's only since going to an excellent independent school for year 6 that he has felt happy at school and consequnetly in life, been stimulated and stretched academically. He was at a beacon first school and had he continued through the state system I'm sure he would have achieved very good exam results. However I haven't sent him to an independent school for better exam results or a nicer accent - he's gone purely because I want him to have a happy childhood that isn't dominated by anxiety about school on both of our parts. I did lots of research, including investigating many alternative state schools, to identify the best school for him and it was an independent school. He thanks me almost every day for letting him go and he is massively happier now than he has been since starting in reception.

There can't be one right answer in the state versus independent debate. I recommend that you research the schools that it would be feasible for your child to go, including independent schools if you are prepared to accept you may have to pay directly for your child's schooling. You will know your child best and be able to tell which school will suit them best.

Welshlassie

I started in private school because my parents wheren't happy with the state schools in the area. Here I had elocution lessons and as a result spoke properly. The school was ok (from what I remember - I was 7 when starting in state school), but not that much different in the teaching methods from state school. There were more after school activities that I joioned in with and the classes were smaller.

After spending the next 8 years or so in state school my mother commented one evening about how I was beginning to sound "common" in some of my phrases, I was mortified, not because I wanted to sound posh, but because a "common" accent by me grates on me and I couldn't bare the thought that I sounded like that. As a result my parents sent me to elocution lessons privately. I attended these for about 18 months and found they improvement my confidence as well as my voice.

I now regularly have comments on not having an accent at all (I'm Welsh) and how beautifully I speak, but without sounding posh. I think it was definately worth it especially hearing how my sister speaks - she is 2 and half years younger than me and didn't have very long with the elocutioon lessons in the private school so they obviously didn't stick

After alot of waffle my point is you don't need to send your children to private school to have elocution lessons, you can pay for the privately, which also means they get one-to-one tution and certificates of progress. I followed the LAMDA awards system, getting distinctions to Grade 5 Verse and Prose and Grade 6 Acting.

gelato_cat

Just because you don't use RP doesn't mean you don't speak properly! I think it's a common misconception that anything spoken in a regional accent is "wrong". Before anyone says anything, accent is different from dialect.

Suze

Welshlassie wrote:

I started in private school because my parents wheren't happy with the state schools in the area. Here I had elocution lessons and as a result spoke properly.

gelato_cat

Not sure. Probably just a bad habit. His dad's from Essex

I was sent to the private school because I had always been bright at primary and my parents didn't think I'd do well in a state school. We lived literally opposite the local comprehensive and I had to look at it every morning at 6.30am when I was getting ready for my long journey to school. I didn't like that one little bit.

I didn't mind the school though. One thing that struck me was that not everyone was like me ie there because they were bright. I was on two bursaries and a lot of the girls' parents were paying full whack - the kids had sh*t for brains but it didn't matter cos they had rich parents. Classes had 25 kids in also.

Although I was bright and had been the brightest in my primary (not boasting, just stating a fact), I found that when I reached secondary I was a small fish in a big pond. As the primary had not stretched me enough, I found that I was average in my new school. When I was in primary, I never had to revise for tests and consequently never really got into learning by rote. When I reached secondary, I found it really hard because there was suddenly loads more to remember and coupled with the fact that I knew I had a long way to go before I reached top of the class, I didn't feel great.

I probably did better in my exams than I would have if I'd gone to the comp, at least at GCSE. A Levels were hard and I would have struggled wherever I'd gone. I actually think some of the state sixth form colleges were better than my school and had a better choice of subjects (mine just did the "traditional" ones - I did four at school and then went to night school while I was at uni to do two subjects I really wanted to do at school :eek:).

One of the things I didn't like was that because people came from far and wide to the school, most of my friends lived far away and I never saw them. And I never saw my old primary mates enough to stay in touch either. Also, because the school was far away it wasn't practical to get involved in after-school stuff.

My schoolmates were by no means squeaky clean. Some of the girls at my place smoked, drank, had boyfriends they had sex with (two girls in my year got pregnant, along with one in the year above who is now a single mother of three), ended up in trouble with the police (one I remember drove a getaway car when her boyfriend robbed some place), did drugs, skived lessons and all the rest of it. I never saw any drugs being dealt, but then I never saw any at primary either (I think times have changed in that regard).

My school used to sting the parents for everything. My tuition was mostly paid for, but most of the little extras weren't. We had to pay for the materials when we did craft lessons - and all the uniform. I remember it cost about £100 for the lot - doesn't seem like anything now, but in 1989 that was a lot of money (would probably cost at least £300 now). You weren't allowed to buy generic school shirts or jogging bottoms either - they had to be from the school shop and were extortionately priced. I also remember that they used to give milk for free at morning break but then started charging - and then they started charging people who brought their own packed lunches!!! No joke!

Not sure if I'd send my own kids private, to be honest...

Suze


Just my 2p worth...

I know what you mean about "haitch" - I hate it too. However, my bf went to private school and he says it - he won't listen to me when I correct him either.

Milky_Mocha wrote:

Really? Ok so its not a state school thing. I wonder where that came from.