Private school vs state school

kendun

Moving house would probably work out to be similar to the cost of private education (at today's fees). The differences being that with moving house it's more of a long term affordable mortgage, whereas for schooling I'll need to save up before hand to ensure that payment of fees is sustained. I think the fees are around £3200 per term, so it's 3200 X 3 X ?7 years( age 11 till Uni) for 2 kids fees alone......mind boggling sums for me at present

Despera

I have been thinking about private education also and while currently we could afford the fees for both our children, it does terrify me that once I start paying for it I won't be able to go back to state education.

On the other hand, my children got places at state schools rated by Ofsted as outstanding but I cannot say that I am entirely confident in these schools. They barely have any homework, I have no idea what they are doing all day, my son's handwriting is still terrible even though he is in Year 3, he is not progressing as well as I would want him to and all his teachers ever tell me is what a wonderfull boy he is. He is very happy there though. And we did go for a more expensive house for the sake of the good catchment area.

So if that is an "outstanding" school then what "good" and "satisfactory" schools must be like? And our county is considered one of the best in the UK for schools.

So for now I am inclined to at least consider private education for him when he is due to move to secondary. At the moment the local private school for boys is £4,500 per term in fees only.

JC9297

Despera wrote: »

I have been thinking about private education also and while currently we could afford the fees for both our children, it does terrify me that once I start paying for it I won't be able to go back to state education.

On the other hand, my children got places at state schools rated by Ofsted as outstanding but I cannot say that I am entirely confident in these schools. They barely have any homework, I have no idea what they are doing all day, my son's handwriting is still terrible even though he is in Year 3, he is not progressing as well as I would want him to and all his teachers ever tell me is what a wonderfull boy he is. He is very happy there though. And we did go for a more expensive house for the sake of the good catchment area.

So if that is an "outstanding" school then what "good" and "satisfactory" schools must be like? And our county is considered one of the best in the UK for schools.

So for now I am inclined to at least consider private education for him when he is due to move to secondary. At the moment the local private school for boys is £4,500 per term in fees only.

How much homework do you expect 7/8 year olds to get? Yes many private schools might give more, but I think most state schools would usually only give one piece of homework at the weekend, to consolidate work done in class or perhaps a bit of preparation for the following week.

The school presumably thinks that your son is making satisfactory progress, schools usually pick up very quickly children who are not progressing as much as expected. Is his handwriting illegible or just a bit messier than you would like?

sahara007

kendun wrote: »

Farnworth - near the hospital, probably closer to Great Lever rather than actual Farnworth. Think it's Harper Green school.

Hi

My 2 eldest sons are at St James CofE School and Sports College which is near you. I have found it to be an excellent school, my 16 year old has just got his GCSE results and did well - in fact many of them got A* -C grades, the recent GCSE results are on the following Bolton News page.

We had the same dilemma as you about private vs state but with 4 kids private school isn't an option. 2 of my nephews go to Bolton School (junior boys) and I have to say that my son and daughter who go to a state primary school are excelling them in reading, writing and mathematics.

We moved from Great Lever to another area of Bolton when my oldest 2 had got into St James and the younger 2 were starting at primary school, the primary school they are at is excellent and offers a lot of extra activities, having said that the oldest 2 went to a primary school in Great Lever and did very well too but we do input a lot into homework, educational books etc.

Forgot to add the amount of money my sister and brother in law have to pay for Bolton School uniforms is so expensive - they have to wear socks only in the school uniform which are about £8 per PAIR, they need 3 - 4 pairs of shoes (outdoor, indoor, trainers and white sole plus football boots etc)

Despera

JC9297 wrote: »

How much homework do you expect 7/8 year olds to get? Yes many private schools might give more, but I think most state schools would usually only give one piece of homework at the weekend, to consolidate work done in class or perhaps a bit of preparation for the following week.

The school presumably thinks that your son is making satisfactory progress, schools usually pick up very quickly children who are not progressing as much as expected. Is his handwriting illegible or just a bit messier than you would like?

They don't get any homework at all. Not even on a weekend. That's kind of a school policy and it has nothing to do with performance of individual children.

As for my son, satisfactory is not quite what I expect from him. I know that he progressed better and showed higher results when he was in the infant school where they did have homework, even if it were Maths and spelling once a week. His handwriting is not illegible but messier than it should be at his age.

onlyroz

What about state schooling backed up with private tutors if necessary?

Gillyx

You could always ask the teachers if there is any literature you could buy, you could use out with class with your son? If he had any homework you'd spend time with that, so you could use that time to do other stuff?

balletshoes

Despera wrote: »

They don't get any homework at all. Not even on a weekend. That's kind of a school policy and it has nothing to do with performance of individual children.

As for my son, satisfactory is not quite what I expect from him. I know that he progressed better and showed higher results when he was in the infant school where they did have homework, even if it were Maths and spelling once a week. His handwriting is not illegible but messier than it should be at his age.

Despera thats not unheard of in schools across the country. We were talking about this at work last week in fact, and I was gobsmacked to be in the minority of 20-odd people who did actually have homework every week, from the first year of primary school. Some had no homework until they started at middle school, some had no homework until high school!

And of course theres always the argument put forward that kids shouldn't have homework anyway because the school should be able to teach and re-inforce their teaching in school time (not my opinion, but certainly an argument I've heard before now).

Sammy85_2

I think at primary school the only homework we would get was on a friday, to learn spellings or times tables for monday. It was when we got to secondary school it got bad, upto 3 pieces of homework a day.

JC9297

Despera wrote: »

They don't get any homework at all. Not even on a weekend. That's kind of a school policy and it has nothing to do with performance of individual children.

As for my son, satisfactory is not quite what I expect from him. I know that he progressed better and showed higher results when he was in the infant school where they did have homework, even if it were Maths and spelling once a week. His handwriting is not illegible but messier than it should be at his age.

I didn't mean that they consider his work satisfactory as opposed to good or excellent, rather that he is progressing, i.e. moving up through the levels, at the rate expected.