Private Schools

pozalina

VJsmum wrote: »

It is hard on forums (forii?? ooh, just looked it up apparently it's fora)

Ah, evidence that latin is indeed relevant ;-)

peachyprice

LEJC wrote: »

the school my son attends there are four sets of children to a year group..so yes there are high achievers in the top set but there are also children who are lower academically...so dont let entrance exams put you off...typically our top set has 25 pupils and there are between 20-25 in set 2 and 3 and 20 in set 4 ...so the less ablility sets have the best teaching ratios

Wow, that many? I'm shocked, it's the same ratio as the high school my son's go to, our average class is 22.

bagginslover

I've only read through the first page of this, but I have already spotted a few glaring assumptions thatmost people seem to make about private schools (I work in one as a lab tech).

Private doesn't automatically mean selective. My school is a top 5% school, and we are not selective on our entry level at all. Every child does have to take entrance exams, but these are soley to get a picture of the level each child is at so that they can be put in the right teaching sets right away.

Private schools don't guarantee no disruption in classes. For that matter, neither does top ability classes anywhere! I find that our higher ability classes actually contain the more disruptive pupils,they are simply more able to cope with learning round the disruption because they are more able. The lower ability classes also suffer from some disruption however, and this will be the case in pretty much any school I'm afraid. This isn't down to teachers unable to keep control (my head of dept is ex-army, and is very well respected by the students), its just kids.

If you can really only afford 2 years, send him for years 10 and 11. The GCSE years are by far the most important, and disruption aside, he may benefit from the smaller class sizes you get in most independant schools.

LittleMissMPB

VJsmum wrote: »

He wants to be something in Sport - PE teacher, coach, or something vaguely medical (but knows that he is unlikely to make a doctor) for all these he needs to get GCSEs.

From the sounds of it he is a bright lad who just needs a bit of encouragment. How does he know he is unlikely to be a doctor? He still has chance. If the people around him believe in him and tell him he can do it if he wants to, he may start believing it and in turn, apply himself a bit more at school? In year 7 I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do in life, it's great that he knows what he wants to do. If you want to send him to private school, and he is very good at sports, is it the sort of school that gives scholarships?

I honestly think sometimes that just believing in something, and knowing others believe that you can do it, can make all the difference. In his head he may be thinking "I'm not smart enough to be a dr so why bother trying", when all he needs is someone to say "you can do it if you want to".

Is he comparing himself to his sister? It looks like you have made it clear to him that you are proud of him for trying his best, however, comparing siblings in front of them is never a good idea. Don't know if this has happened or not, but thought it was worth a mention.

blue_monkey_2

peachyprice wrote: »

Wow, that many? I'm shocked, it's the same ratio as the high school my son's go to, our average class is 22.

I thought that as well to be honest and thought it would be much less. My DD has 20 in her Y3 class (state school) another class has 10 and DS has 22 - average class size is 16 at our school but for Secondary the class sizes are much bigger so it would make a difference then.

emsywoo123

blue_monkey wrote: »

I thought that as well to be honest and thought it would be much less. My DD has 20 in her Y3 class (state school) another class has 10 and DS has 22 - average class size is 16 at our school but for Secondary the class sizes are much bigger so it would make a difference then.

DD is also in yr 3, 14 in her class, but for core subjects they are setted with a max of 8 in each class, with a teacher and assistant in each.

munchings-n-crunchings

My children, now aged 21 and 15, both moved out of state education at 7.
When my son was in year 8, the private school was just not working for him, so he decided to go to the local state secondary. I now know my son was autistic, but undiagnosed, so it's understandable that this failed. My biggest disappointment with the state school, was that as long as you were meeting the national government required standard, that was all that mattered. My son had far more potential, and that was never realised. He ended up dropping out of school, aged 15 and never sat any exams.
My daughter is currently at a non selective private school, so they have all abilities. She also has autism, but in her gcse's she is getting A*& A's in her modular exams, and the lowest grade predicted is a B/C. She can achieve this from smaller class sizes, the average is about 17, a higher standard of discipline, and the students really seem to understand what is expected of them.

There is a scheme for financial assistance, although I can't recall the name, to help children through there final GCSE years, if the parents find they are struggling with the fee's, and if towards this time, your son really wants to stay, and I feel that's the way you have to enter this process, then the school may be able to offer some form of assiatance to enable your son to stay.

What suits one child, may not suit another, and if your daughter is achieving well, then start looking at why your son is not fulfilling his potential, and what changes can be made to enable this.

My daughter was told in primary school, if she wanted any form of gcse grade, she would need to start 1 to 1 coaching at the start of year 6. Now, although her lowest predicted grade at a B/C, she enjoys her lessons, as teachers have been creative in their teaching of the subject.

Regards

Munchie

youngmummy

VJsmum wrote: »

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I am sure that is true in some cases, but the same could be said of any school - he currently walks past the smoking kids on his way to school and my daughter often talks about 15 year olds coming in with hangovers and one who is pregnant.:eek:

Thanks again for all the comments (I am starting to sound like a broken record:D)

FWIW - he went to the tutor today and quite liked the way the maths was approached, so we shall see.

i think a tutor may be a financially better opition hun, he will be in school till he is 18. enless you move him to another school for the last 2 years, but i dont think pulling him from piller to post is a good idea as this can be traumatic for children at any age,
as to regards your child/ren walking past smokers.. my local priviate school has a unknown record to have a higher rate in drug use than state school. as regards tennage pregnancy that can happen to anyone how ever shocking it may seem, i was brought up in a priviate property till my parents devorced when i was 14, both my parents worked hard, i had a priviate tutor from year 9 - 11 .. but i fell pregnant at 15. im 19 next month, starting a psychology a- level in september and OH is training to become a fully qualified police officer as well as holding down a full time job.

what im trying to say is what ever anyones age or background things happen life isnt perfect, teenagers fall pregnant planned or unplanned, some teenagers do drugs, drink alcohol, but its people that are quick to judge rather than discover the underlying problem that make it worse, weather your child goes to priviate or state school these things happen, and as a parent you might not even know. i think you need to reallythink through your options before jumping to a decision. as over all we cant make our children do anythink and what ever school he goes to and the end of the day he will be the one choosing what path's he takes in life all we can do as parents is offer our advice because even whe you teach them "right from wrong" even though they know its wrong they could till take the "wrong" path,
everyone has diffrent experiancies with state and priviate school, it's what you think is best for your family, i hope you reach a decision and good luck
one thing i forgot to say does your sons school have a pupil support worker that you and your son could work with to get him extra help or what ever he needs ??

sorry that i waffled on and if i went off subject, i apolagise x

patchwork_cat

VJsmum wrote: »

but he hates school, has asked to be home tutored (which isn't an option, I wish it were). It is a dilemna - especially as i am struggling morally with it too.

I feel that this should have been in your first post as IMO this is the most important fact. If this is the case then you have to look seriously into moving him, all the options.

If he say wanted to be a PE teacher what A level grades will he require? He will probably need 5 A* - C GCSE's inc English and Maths as in a lot of degrees the GCSE's aren't really important as long as they get the above ( medicine, law and dentistry being the excceptions).

LEJC

typically our top set has 25 pupils and there are between 20-25 in set 2 and 3 and 20 in set 4 ...so the less ablility sets have the best teaching ratios

blue_monkey wrote: »

I thought that as well to be honest and thought it would be much less. My DD has 20 in her Y3 class (state school) another class has 10 and DS has 22 - average class size is 16 at our school but for Secondary the class sizes are much bigger so it would make a difference then.

Sorry I didn't clarify my sons age ....he's 13 so I'm quoting class sizes for year 8...He will be going into year 9 next year....so I am quoting senior school...

When he was in primary..again independant private the class size was capped at 20 for all years but some of the early years classes had as few as 10...