Private school fees (merged)

Rikki

Private schools will be open for business tomorrow as usual. They don't support the May (Labour Day) Bank Holiday!

So there is an extra holiday state educated children get the private sector doesn't!

emsywoo123

Rikki wrote: »

Private schools will be open for business tomorrow as usual. The don't support the May (Labour Day) Bank Holiday!

DD is off tomorrow as it is a BH and she is in private?!

Rikki

emsywoo123 wrote: »

DD is off tomorrow as it is a BH and she is in private?!

Interesting. It may be age dependent?

The preparatory schools and senior schools mine attended never had May Day holidays.

ldavies_3

:cool: Obviously its each to their own however, you can take a horse to water but can you make it drink it senario..... mmm? interesting!

In my aunt's case, her boys had the best of everything, attended prestigeous schools and came out at the other end ( 15 years later) with literally nothing. no qualifications, social skills or confidence or even the simple ability to get ANY job, never mind a job that justifies spending 200k on the education.

Re boarding school, I could never part from my children. I didnt give birth to them to farm them out into perm educational living... only my humble opinion.

Coupon-mad

emsywoo123 wrote: »

What really annoys me about this thread is that those of us that send our children to private schools have been accused of "snobbery" and yet it is those of you that send your children to state school that have actually been the most unpleasant to the rest of us!!:mad:
Congratulations all of you with high achieving state educated children. I am keeping DD at private school, I think it is worth it, good afternoon!

I thought I was being perfectly pleasant - and I didn't call anyone a snob. I take it though, that I have hit a nerve here - did some of you pro-private-school posters really not even look round any State Schools? I can't understand why not, that's all.

My post above wasn't meant to be aimed specifically at you though, there are many people on this thread who have stated as fact that 'private schools are better' as they save their little darlings from being dragged down by 'dross' - but these posters have never even set foot in any state schools as adults, so how can they know? Are they just believing what they read in the press and tarring all state schools with the same brush just because they have read about one or two which are failing? The same could be said of some private schools of course, and bullying can crop up anywhere.

I too have been on this thread since the first page and feel I have a valid and fairly balanced opinion. I have looked around many local private schools; we had appointments with several Headteachers and looked round some very prestigious schools when our DS was due to start. One of the local primary schools felt right for him, and it was marvellous!

We didn't need to look any further than the local state Secondary schools later on either; there were 2 good ones and our DS chose between them. He is bright enough to have tried for a scholarship for a private school but we chose not to and I don't think he would have been happy away from his good friends anyway.

We simply looked at both options for our children and decided the State system was preferable for many reasons (not just financial).

Good evening!

Mado

!!!!!!_here wrote: »

Which surely says more about the low standards over here. I've got a similar example in fact to back up the point. My stepdaughter did Reception and Year 1 here, then went to live with her grandparents overseas for 3 years. She came back for Year 5 and is about to sit her Year 6 SATs. She is top of the class and has been for a long time...

It just means she is smart...

As far as primary school education is concerned, there seem to be a consensus that children do better when formal education starts later. Therefore the standards in primary education are hardly a valid comparison across different systems.

The point remains that it appears like a lot of parents make up their mind when their offspring is 2~3 and the basis on which they judge the school and how their child will fit is mostly based on their opinion/perception.

It takes a long time to get a good reputation. It takes a very short time to destroy it.

Get involved and see for yourself is my opinion. But I accept that some people have their own reasons for choosing private rather than State. A little bit of "honesty" as to why you should think so wouldn't go amiss....;)

We could probably (at a stretch!) send our 3 children to private school... it would however make life rather difficult. So instead of investing money, I invest my time in their education. I am a school governor to support the school and we try to educate our children at home too. In fact, I'll be off to read bedtime stories (no Eastenders here... even age 10, my DD enjoys a Mummy or Daddy story; we fight for the good books now too...;) )

Dick_here

Mado wrote: »

It just means she is smart...

Yes she is, and course that is part of it. Most of her classmates - who've had seven years education is this country are depressingly backward though. Not that I'm blaming the state school for that, they do their very best with the kids they get, but the parents (for want of a better word) are not people you would want to associate with. And the LO hates the school, despite - or more likely due to - being so bright...

cells

hello ladies and gents,


i went to state school but still managed to do v.well in education. went on to study physics at imperial college of science.

state schools dont limit your childs potential imo. BUT they can definitly put them off education

if you have the money it definitly wount do any harm.

another option is supplimenting their education by teaching them yourself, or fully home schooling them assuming you have the skills and time to do that. books and the net are v.helpfull these days. 80% of my university education was self taught through books.

i would definitly not advise spending 12-15k PA for 10-15 years of education if you have to really save hard for it.

if you are in that camp, it might be better to save really hard but send your child to a state school. when they graduate or get married you can help them by perhaps buying them their first home mortgage free.

oh, by the time some of your children reach 18 they may have to pay for a v.large part of their university education themselves.

cazziebo

Reading through this thread the only sure thing is that everyone's experience is different and you can't generalise. Can I throw in two points of view..

I have two daughters. One went through the whole state system, got accepted for dentistry at a top uni, and got a great job in sales at the age of 17 and did really well. She's now at Uni and doing an Arts degree.

Second daughter (probably more academic) we sent to a private school for a number of reasons. She's not done nearly as well (although good academically) and socially she's not at the same level. She's going back into state system next year.

With hindsight the state school experience was much better. I think dd1 learned so much more about people, life and self discipline than dd2 did. But of course, they are different girls so shouldn't compare.

I certainly don't think it was worth the sacrifices of good holidays, weekends away, and other family events that had to be compromised.

Second point of view as an employer. If I see someone from a private school my first concern is how they can communicate with all levels of employee and customer (very important in what we do). My second concern is how well they manage working on own initiative. I would expect private school kids to get better grades - not because they are smarter, but as a product of that system. The bar is set higher.

A lot of kids actually "obscure" the fact they went to private school on their CVs these days. It's not seen as the advantage it once was.

emsywoo123

Coupon-mad wrote: »

I thought I was being perfectly pleasant - and I didn't call anyone a snob. I take it though, that I have hit a nerve here - did some of you pro-private-school posters really not even look round any State Schools? I can't understand why not, that's all.

My post above wasn't meant to be aimed specifically at you though, there are many people on this thread who have stated as fact that 'private schools are better' as they save their little darlings from being dragged down by 'dross' - but these posters have never even set foot in any state schools as adults, so how can they know? Are they just believing what they read in the press and tarring all state schools with the same brush just because they have read about one or two which are failing? The same could be said of some private schools of course, and bullying can crop up anywhere.

I too have been on this thread since the first page and feel I have a valid and fairly balanced opinion. I have looked around many local private schools; we had appointments with several Headteachers and looked round some very prestigious schools when our DS was due to start. One of the local primary schools felt right for him, and it was marvellous!

We didn't need to look any further than the local state Secondary schools later on either; there were 2 good ones and our DS chose between them. He is bright enough to have tried for a scholarship for a private school but we chose not to and I don't think he would have been happy away from his good friends anyway.

We simply looked at both options for our children and decided the State system was preferable for many reasons (not just financial).

Good evening!

Hi
I apologise for quoting you directly in my post, it was not aimed specifically at you!
I am just tired of defending my decision to educate DD privately. Statistically, there are more state educated children and therefore supporters on this forum, and I see more sensible people in my boat have disappeared off the radar, so I will too!
p.s. I have indeed "set foot" in state schools-I did my teacher training in several state primary schools! Many thanks for implying that I am unable to make a sensible, un-biased judgement about preferred education method!