Private school fees (merged)

posh*spice

meester wrote: »

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.

Yeah this bit here...:o

Dick_here

posh*spice wrote: »

They don't. That's the point - it's background that matters not the school. A kid with the right background will achieve well in either sector.

So you don't think that a child will do better in a classroom which isn't constantly disrupted by feral kids ? Get real.

Rikki

!!!!!!_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.

They also do all their teacher training during the school holidays. :T

posh*spice

!!!!!!_here wrote: »

feral kids ? .

OMG unbelievable:o

posh*spice

Rikki wrote: »

They also do all their teacher training during the school holidays. :T

Would those be the school holidays that go on or months and months.....I can't understand why people pay good money for their kids to be continously on holiday.:rolleyes:

Rikki

posh*spice wrote: »

Would those be the school holidays that go on or months and months.....I can't understand why people pay good money for their kids to be continously on holiday.:rolleyes:

Yes but the children have school six days a week. 9am till 5pm during the week and 9am till 1pm on Saturdays.

Time spent in the class room is considerably more than state schools giving them longer holidays.

LillyJ

!!!!!!_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.

erm I think you will find it depends on which union they are in. If they are in the NUT then yes they will strike.

Fact is a large number in private schools aren't even qualified teachers and so would not be in the NUT.

Lunar_Eclipse

benood wrote: »

girls will achieve better in the state sector while boys achieve better in private single sex schools.

Not true. Sectors aside, boys do better in mixed schools and girls in single sex schools. The advice from senior education advisers has been along these lines for a long time. Usual (generally speaking) caveats apply.:D

suzybaby2001

emsywoo123 wrote: »

ah now to look at the flip side.........are state school children not able to mix with more affluent children? surely state children are only mixing with a segment of society.
And to be honest, I am not that worried if my 4 year old is not exposed to some of the things I hear about in state schools. And yes, I know that comment makes me sound like a snob, but I don't care. It means I am doing the best I can to protect my daughter.

Hello,
I've been off work sick for the last few days and have been following this thread//heated debate with interest. I didn't want to jump in to all this, but I wanted to express my experiences on this subject. I say experiences as I am in no way prejudiced about what school/background people come from.

I had a state education all the way through to university (graduated 3 years ago), and I was lucky that my schools were ok in my area, however I had a rough time with bullying etc etc. The first thing I'd like to say is that I think school is what you make of it, I managed to thrive academically in a class where frankly there were some horrible kids whose daily purpose at school was to bring the bright ones down to their level. The streaming system helped to keep the "workers" together to some extent.

I went on to do A levels and secured a place at Durham university to study biomedical science. Now this is where it started to get interesting! We were thrown into the mish mash that was halls of residence and from day 1 I realised I was the outcast, coming from a state school and everyone (and I do mean everyone) was from private schools. The first question I was repeatedly asked was "what school did you go to", which I didn't expect and was rather taken aback at!

There were a number of other things that happened during my first few weeks in the halls...
I was ridiculed in the shared kitchen in front of everyone when people asked what my parents do (my Mother was a housewife and my Dad a joiner). It was deemed that I was from a deprived household, when in fact we had lived very comfortably. I was just thankful that it was not common knowledge that my fees were being fully paid for by the LEA!

I was good friends with two of the girls, one of which was on the same course as me. We realised that she (who'd been to private school from nursery) had been given a lower offer than me for the same course, it was almost as if the university didn't even want me there!

I remember being on the phone to my Dad one night, upset about what people were saying to me and he broke down and said he felt a failure because people were behaving in the way they were. I'll never forget that as it upset me so much to hear it.

Anyway, myself and my two good friends all got the same degree classification at the end of uni. I really think that a good state school can be as good as a private school, and I'll leave things there. We're all toddling along in the "nearly new graduate" rat race with similar jobs, no one is particularly doing any better than anyone else in our little group. I hope i don't cause offence to anyone by telling my story but I just wanted to share this.

borntobefree

!!!!!!_here wrote: »

So you don't think that a child will do better in a classroom which isn't constantly disrupted by feral kids ? .

I am almost speechless. This is a horrible way to describe any children.:mad: Are you a troll as you seem to have little to the debate?