Private school fees (merged)

thanksalot

emsywoo123 wrote: »

I am utterly confused as to wether you are pro or anti private?

It hardly matters. (but I read it she is pro-private )
What bugs me is the lack of "intellectual honesty" of some people who put their kids in private education.
I value the fact there is a choice. But the justifications for sending your children there often sound very biased to me.

I have 2 baby sitters; one in state education the other private. Both have lovely manners. But the state educated one (from a good comprehensive) is by far the brightest.
My niece is in a private school; I can assure you she is not academic. But my SIL is much happier for her to be there.Fine. Her money, her choices.

Lunar_Eclipse

thanksalot wrote: »

From age 2 they know which are the clever ones??????

Yes, apparantly. Although in most schools, children would be assessed in the December before they start. So for my eldest she would have been 3 3/4. Interestingly, they are careful not to test reading.

Without getting too personal, and by way of a small example, both my children had fantastic speech by the age of two. They had a wide vocab and spoke in sentences. Not unusual, but at the top end of the scale if speech was put on a scale. They both started reading and writing at three. Again they had friends who did this (they were the ones reading Harry Potter at 7) but they also had friends who hadn't decided which hand to hold a pencil in. I do not make judgements of any children for any of these differences. And I should point out that I did not do any of these things with them at home! I am a 'let's go to the park and get mucky' kind of Mum. Anyhow, from my own experience of the many many children I have met (yes there are exceptions), it is evident very early on. Now whether it stays this way I have no idea. But I suspect it does for most kids.

In reality, it means schools could miss some late developing potential (for want of a better phrase) BUT good schools usually have more applicants than places available, so they can be picky and sadly don't worry about missing the odd bright spark.

Dick_here

Are there any teachers from private schools on strike today ? I doubt it. That's because they are responsible people and actually care for the education of the children they teach.

Lunar_Eclipse

thanksalot wrote: »

It hardly matters. (but I read it she is pro-private )
.

You're right. I'm probably 'pro' both or neither to the same degree.

I haven't ever visited a school (state or private) and thought 'wow, I'd love my girls to come here' which I think is really really sad. I used to love school as a child.:o

Lunar_Eclipse

!!!!!!_here wrote: »

That's because they are responsible people and actually care for the education of the children they teach.

Ouch. Get ready to duck.:D

setmefree2

!!!!!!_here wrote: »

Are there any teachers from private schools on strike today ? I doubt it. That's because they are responsible people and actually care for the education of the children they teach.

I'll think you'll find that it's because it's easy to sack a private school teacher - who don't even have to be "qualified" teachers, by the way *cough*

benood

borntobefree wrote: »

All the research shows that pupils with supportive parents will achieve the same outcome in either sector. So I can't understand why you would pay good money for an outcome which is exactly the same, that's all? You seem to justify sending your children to private school on the basis that you did not want them to be in a class with "badly behaved chavs", I merely pointed that this was abit of a stereotype that isn't based on reality (and furthermore is offensive) .

OK, I concede the "chav" comment was not best phrased. My point is that I would prefer a class which had fewer disruptive elements and I believe that this is on balance, for the reasons stated, more likely to occurr in a fee paying environment. There is a fair bit of evidence showing that disruptive environments do hamper learning.

Furthermore you seem to have jumped to the conclusion that we are privately educating our kids - far from it they are at a local state primary - but we notice that little by little parents are pulling their children out to go private - we are saving to ensure we have the option should it be necessary so our children can achieve their full potential. I also retain a high degree of skepticism about statistics purporting to show equivalence of outcome between state and private. That said a good state school is certainly better than a bad private school.

Whilst this thread is controversial I'll turn up the heat with this gem: girls will achieve better in the state sector while boys achieve better in private single sex schools. Discuss. Of course this has enormous money saving implications - make sure you have more girls than boys.

Dick_here

benood wrote: »

Whilst this thread is controversial I'll turn up the heat with this gem: girls will achieve better in the state sector while boys achieve better in private single sex schools. Discuss.

How about state single sex schools ? Are they preferable to state mixed sex schools ?

Dick_here

setmefree2 wrote: »

I'll think you'll find that it's because it's easy to sack a private school teacher - who don't even have to be "qualified" teachers, by the way *cough*

Yet they still manage to turn out kids who consistently score more highly in exams. Maybe qualifications aren't worth that much after all... :rolleyes:

meester

3plus1 wrote: »

I went to a state primary school that was quite frankly rubbish, but it didn't do me any harm. When I went to a private secondary school, I was one of the brightest kids amongst my peer group. When we got streamed, I ended up in all of the top sets for each subject. Not trying to show off, but trying to point out that primary school really isn't that important.

It depends. My wife is foreign. She finds it more difficult than some English mothers would do. My son was at state school up to year 1, and he was a long way behind when he started at private school. The standards and expectations of the state school (due to parents that don't care, the large influx of Polish kids, etc.), were a very long way short of those of the private school. If he had continued until 11 at state school he would have no chance at private secondary school. Others might find it differently. If you are living in a lovely middle class village with a good primary school and motivated parents then the private school is not going to be as much of a difference over the state one (although you still are unlikely to get all the facilities, opportunities, music lessons, etc., that you get at private school).

In the inner city/poor areas, it should be number 1 priority for concerned parents.