If someone offered to pay for private schooling, would you take up the offer?

No, to be exposed to that level of entitlement and so disconnected from the real world is not what I would want for my kids.

Schools like Winchester, Westminster, St Paul's or Wickham Abbey are yes, predominantly well off people with the finances fit fancy holidays and ponies. The vast majority of private day schools however are populated with upper, middle and lower middle class families who have 2 working parents or single parents who scrimp and save to send their dc to the school. Many take camping holidays and simple holidays to Spain or Portugal staying in decent but not luxury hotels. No ponies or private jets or massive estates. Semi's, terraced and detached houses. Parents are teachers, doctors, IT specialists, insurance brokers, small business owners.

So not many council estates but lots of modest lifestyles

Is that really what you think all state schools are like? And all private schools are the opposite?

Probably not in our current circumstances. Ds1 is at a good state grammar and ds2 a lovely primary, and should make it to the grammar as well. If we didn’t have good state schools, then definitely.

Well they are only mixing with people who are wealthy enough to attend private school. That's not a rounded understanding of society.

I went to a state school in one of the roughest cities in north England. I know a lot about social diversity. I can quite honestly say that mixing with my school friends from different backgrounds has had very little impact on my life experiences.

Education in later life, travel and living abroad yes. The people I met at school, not really.

Maybe. My children aren’t school age yet. The state primary school is so close and it’d be so far to get to private schools. I think it matters more for secondary school. Is this going to lead to a further question? With the VAT issue I’m wondering what you’re getting at. Is it about whether people would refuse it on principle?

100%

If I could find a private secondary option that suited my adhd/autistic lad then absolutely, I'm so worried with how he's going to manage high school and navigate new friendships now he's older and the differences between him and the other boys his age are much more obvious. If there was a school full of kids like him where he would fit in without being bullied I would absolutely put him in, but I'm not sure they exist outside of special schools which he's too high functioning for

No.

My PILS did
We said no
It is a matter of principle to me
They all did great at school anyway

Nor do you get a rounded understanding of society if your class is full of bullies from homes where education is not respected, where none of the kids have books in the house, where most of the kids can't be arsed to attend, where none of the kids has any idea about literature, politics, business, the world around them.
This world isn't more virtuous because it's not rich.

Having attended private school myself I would say no. There are so many better things that kind of money can be invested in, even if it just goes into a trust for the child for when they are older. Particularly for a property deposit in the future.

Plenty of people who could afford to send their children to private school choose not to. Plenty of people transfer from one system to the other depending on which is the better fit. Several of DD's classmates used to go to independent schools. As far as I know, there is nobody with billionaire parents at my DC's school. But let's face it, they wouldn't be sending their children to the local independent school either.

Yes. PP saying nonsuch thing as no strings attached. This is a just a made up scenario and as such, in this instance, it would have no strings attached to the offer.

No not in my area because we have good state schools and neither DC are struggling.
But if they were in a poor school then yes probably

Well they are only mixing with people who are wealthy enough to attend private school. That's not a rounded understanding of society.

I suppose what OP is asking is whether we agree with the principle - but it depends. If your kid is being relentlessly bullied at the local state school, you know he could do ok if he had a smaller class and an easier environment - would you really send him in day after day to be beaten and humiliated? For seven years????

But if it's just a question of "My DS is bright confident attractive and I want him to mix with kids of all types" - and the local school is an easy journey and not full of danger. Of course you could say no.

And the virtue signallers who condemn others for making a choice they wouldn't still put down the best school as their first choice, or move house to have "good schools", - because we ALL want the best possible chances for our children.

So it's a silly question really because the choice will always depend on the schools, the children and the individual circumstances.

Yes

It would entirely depend on the schools in the area.

Just because a school is private doesn't mean it's better than the local state schools.

I prefer the richness, competitiveness and diversity of state school.

No.

Life experience of mixing with people who have parents who are not rich enough to send them to private school.

Completely agree

If I could choose the school that suited my child's aptitudes best, then yes, of course.

How a school is funded is not the same as it being the right school for a child.

Why would I deny my child access to the best schooling available for his character and talents?

100% no. Never.