To think State education is really poor?

@anotherside nonsense in your opinion!

My niece attended a state school, listed as 'good'. Additionally there were a few unruly students who disrupted the class, the school dealt with those students well and it never affected my niece, like I say, willing to learn is also key to a good education.

Received mostly 9s and is now a doctor but I suppose you would just assume based on her results and career that she was privately educated!

So in your opinion you would think she went to a private school?

Because they can hide behind anonymity on the imternet. You can bet your bottom dollar that they wouldn't have the guts to speak to someone like that in real life. Sad really.

😂😂 You’re basically admitting that you and your friends are all only on 6 figure salaries because your parents paid for private school. Congrats! I hope you feel really proud of your personal achievements.

@overthehill5 not if you believe some posters on here because private school kids are all self entitled wankers 🙄 who, I presume, walk around with a big sign around their necks proclaiming that they went to private school just so you can identify them as such. Luckily this means you can also avoid them because their main aim in life is to not mix with plebs and commoners.

Back on planet earth no-one actually cares where anyone else went to school and the 2 rub along quite happily in life and work without the subject ever coming up.

@GoGoGo2.. Sadly those "loosers" are probably dc who were told they were naughty and thick at primary school.. They may have undiagnosed dyslexia and couldn't read like their peers and forced to read via phonics.
They may have dyscalula or adhd and couldn't sit for long and told off for being naughty.. These dc become disenchanted very quickly and then have low self esteem.
When you have missed all the basics in English and maths and don't have the executive function on how to learn, what else are you supposed to do in class. When you have no understanding of what going on and you have been told you are thick and naughty?

For those that share how well they did years ago in state schools, me too, but behaviour of kids has gone south.

@overthehill5 perhaps, I don't know.

But what I do know is that their results are "well above average" in the national stats released last month. So they're doing something right.

They definitely don't take time from science, but I'd be prepared to believe music and drama are not given the same considerations by the head. There are also fewer subjects on offer at DDs old school than there is at DSs school (but that is to the total detriment of their results across the board...which are "below average")

@Timeturnerplease

The progress those children made was eye opening. You just cannot replicate that with 32 in a small classroom, 11 on the SEND register and several with serious home/safeguarding issues. I know this, because this is the cohort I had last year. Same school, same leadership team, me an even more experienced teacher

That’s the truth. State, generally speaking, simply can’t compete with private. However, of course state schools can vary widely in terms of their intake etc.

I’m a high school teacher in an inner city comp. Our students P8 is one of the best in the county so we obviously do the best by our students.

As a side note, I do some private tuition. Having tutored students from both sectors, I can say that in our region at least, I would feel very let down, given the quality of my subjects teaching in the private sector. Waste of money

@Wheelz46
A child willing to learn will likely get the same results regardless of what school they attend

That’s clearly nonsense. The school environment - including peer group, class discipline (or lack of it), school ethos and student expectations, class size, extracurricular activities etc all make a huge difference.

The difference, in senior/high school,vis having more kids and parents that don't give a monkeys at state school who cause the hassle.

I would say our state school has possibly better teaching and facilities. But the teachers are having to work damn hard against the losers who want to cause hassle inside, and outside classes.

If your child is resilient state is great,.if not go private.

Privilege attracts and augments privilege. In education you either get it in private schools or you get it by using state schools and buying the extras that come with the fees in private schools. At least in the second scenario, children get a wider social experience.

I had a student who came into my form from a private and his parents said he was "2 years ahead" and he was consistently getting 100% in his assessments across the board. So I do believe there may be some truth to it. That being said, my classes on average are 32 students large, some at 34, with over 25% now SEND on average slowing down the pace of the lesson with behaviours they genuinely can't help (which I'm sympathetic to as a mum of a ASD/ADHD child). I bet I could get my students up to that standard if my class was 15 students large and the resources they have. Music only has 1 teacher so he has a double class (60 students) to avoid constant long term cover. We can't recruit in my subject so there are students I have taken over this year who have had 2 years of constant supply and have massive gaps in their knowledge that realistically will prevent them from being able to take GCSE unless they I significantly increase the pressure. That pressure will require solo learning because I only get a 30 min lunch, whereas our local private gets 2 hours, so fewer opportunities to support struggling students and still take care of my own mental wellbeing.

I don't think private education necessarily means always better, but we shouldn't overlook the impact of smaller class sizes.

What a load of tosh! Tarring all comprehensives with the same brush! Snobby cow

I think behaviour is a huge thing. We have such extreme needs to deal with everyday in my state school with so little money that it stops us from teaching as we want to. That's not even counting all the other SEND needs etc. My sister teaches private. Disruptive child = kicked out so other parents don't withdraw their child (and their fees!)

Having had fairly extensive experience of both state and private sector schools I can safely say there is no comparison. The average private school is light years away from the average state school.

That is not to say that all the pupils are more intelligent or even that they all get better grades as that clearly isn't the case. What is true though is that the overall experience for children in private schools is on an altogether different level.

As with all things which cost money it all comes down to personal choice. We decided that the £220k it costs to send our DC to private school for 14 years is a better investment than buying a bigger house. Others may make an alternative choice and that is of course fine.

The only argument I struggle with is with those who claim they would rather save the money and use it to gift their children later in life in the form of a house or cash. That to me is a very defeatist attitude. The average private school pupil will earn far more additional lifetime salary to more than compensate for that. I earn well over 6 figures and estimate that over half of my peers on similar salaries also went to private schools. It is probably worth noting that none of us knew each other before working together so the notion that career success for privately educated kids is down to nepotism is not something I've ever experienced.

Not all comprehensives are terrible, not at all

We had a sort of selection by house price with parents paying to live close enough in tiny area

You get parents who care very much, and good teachers

I know you said many not all, but just to give some comprehensives credit

It's the opportunities and the facilities that are superior at private schools, not just the teaching.

I'm state educated, by the way.

I’m a professional from a working class background with 3 degrees but WTF?!? 😂 Your response doesn’t negate what @bossybloss said at all. They’re absolutely right.

The problem is that people do not see education as a privilege any more, they have become consumers, where "the customer is always right". This has seen the erosion of the "service", if you like, and the outcome.
As for the poster who slandered the current government about devaluing education, I would point you back to the 1970s, where the then Labour government did away with grammar schools, which did, at the time, enable a certain degree of social mobility through education.

Blimey! An hour. 3 x per week is 5 X hour lessons and 2x per week is 6x hour lessons. Plus tutor time either end of the day etc as normal.

Oh dear, another thread on this.

When - please when - will the state school die-hards admit just how many fucking terrible comprehensives there are? We all know it. Why not admit it?

Fee paying schools (in the general absence of grammars) are a percentage choice for parents who can pay and who care. That’s the bottom line.

The gamble is paying a ton of money and ending up with nothing more than Local Doubtful Academy down the road could have have done. I wasn’t willing to take that gamble. But I don’t criticise anyone who does.

I teach in a state primary and have done for years. One year, when we went from five classes to seven (expanding village school) I had 18 in my class, all bar two from very lucky circumstances with very invested parents.

The progress those children made was eye opening. You just cannot replicate that with 32 in a small classroom, 11 on the SEND register and several with serious home/safeguarding issues. I know this, because this is the cohort I had last year. Same school, same leadership team, me an even more experienced teacher.

Sadly, everything comes down to class sizes and funding (or lack thereof).