To wonder if you are against private schools…

I'm not completely against them for everyone if that's what they want to spend their money on, but I am against them for my children, as in this area we have excellent state schools. The private schools here are full of property developers' kids and footballers wives type mums with their bad facial filler and huge range rovers. Its become a status thing over a good education. I wouldnt want my kids solely mixing with people like that. That said, there should be an overhaul of the state system I think, as I am very aware that not all areas have a good state education provision.

What an offensive last comment. I’m sorry for what you went through, worth reflecting whether some of the children could detect your contempt for them and react to that.

I'm a secondary teacher and have worked in both. I was on antidepressants in the local state school because of behaviour and being spoken to like shit. Makes me laugh when people say privately educated kids are up themselves. They're well mannered, considerate, kind kids at the school I teach in and would be shocked at the behaviour and attitude of some of the worst kids at the state. Highlight was once being told to drink a pint of c*m and a kid doing a shit on the stairs for shits and giggles. (Excuse the pun).

I will pay through the nose to send my kids to a school where they won't be mixing with pre prisoners.

I cba to read all the posts.
I teach in 3 private schools and one over-subscribed non-selective state school.

The main difference between the sectors is class size. Any teacher will achieve great results with only 15 in a class.
I see amazing results in the state school with 30+ in the classes, and some very challenging students.
The whole system needs overhauling.

JFC people are allowed to spend their money how they want, we do not live in a socialist country. We live in a capitalist one which is why I am not against the VAT being charged.

My DD15 has AuDHD and the SEN provision at the local state school was shite. The smaller, quiet private school is the right answer for her SEN needs.

I'm a lone parent, I've had to sacrifice to be able to send her there. So many of her peers are also SEN at that school.

So yes I'm supportive of Private schools and I'll do what the hell I like with the money I earn.

I had a very good state education in a country with a similar system to the UK with private schools, and all state secondaries were comprehensive. I am very grateful for that. It meant I mixed with a wide variety of people, some of whom were very different from those I met through my family. I would wish this for all in the UK too.

Here I see extraordinary privilege perpetuated through elite schools, and feel that is wrong. I also see parents struggling, and not always managing to secure a good education for their children, particularly children with special needs who are not well provided for in the state system, and feel that is wrong. I also see and extraordinary variety of different approaches to education outside the state system and suspect that is a strength.

So I'm not particularly against private schools but they should be very rare and less influential, with the vast majority enjoying a good education funded by wider society.

Academically they’d have been a waste of money for me and my eldest son as we achieved top grades in a state comp. They probably wouldn’t have taken my youngest as he has special needs. If just looking at academics, they might be better value for money for children of pretty average intelligence and with no special educational needs.

I am not a fan of buying privilege be that private school or £££ on a house for a good state school as I don’t think it’s fair to disadvantage children who will never get those opportunities. Or how despite only being 7% of the population private school educated people are over represented in universities/good jobs.

More telling even are the copious threads by teachers stating how horrific it is to be a teacher in a state school now, because of kids behaviour. These behaviours are learned from home, abolishing private schools can’t fix bad parenting.

Very well written.

The goal should be to make ALL schools better. Not such a vast divide.

We can afford private and choose instead to send our child to an underperforming school

I would never ever admit this to anyone even on an anonymous website

I'm not against them. My children are privately educated.

But I don't see why they should be subsidised with tax breaks.

This is entirely delusional. State school children and private school children aren’t different species. From DS’s state primary school class of 26 children, about eight went on to one of two private secondaries this year. There is absolutely nothing to distinguish those eight from their peers — two are DS’s friends, whom he still sees a lot of, and they’re nice, ordinary children, just like the other six who went private, and the 18 who went on to state secondaries.

I can understand why people do privately educate if the local schools to them are rubbish, however the people I’ve come across who work at private schools or attend them are rude, snotty, arrogant and talk down to you.

theres a number of privately educated kids on my street (2 of the neighbours work at the local private school) and they’re all not very nice people.

i also know someone who works in the kitchen at the same local private school and she says you ask a child where they went on holiday and they will reply “Oh it was nowhere you would know” 🤣

Yeah you will get someone kids who aren’t like that, but I’ve yet to come across one!

My dc have been in state and now in private. Parents, grandparents of children who have only ever been in private have no idea what is going on in state schools.
I know people who have never set foot in a state school. They have been happy to vote Tory because they do not experience the shit show of many public services . The inequality breeds further inequality.
I am very fortunate to be able to afford private- I wish an excellent education was available to everyone. I am also very happy to pay more tax if state schools are improved as a result.

To be fair, that is the same as most of the state schools. The state village primary I went to had white people from very similar socio economic backgrounds all from the same small catchment area. The London state secondary schools I worked in were not particularly diverse. One E London school I worked in was all girls, 98% same religion and virtually all from the same ethnicity. When I worked in one in SE London it was a similar situation: small catchment, faith school (so same religion) and single sex.

My youngest DS went to an independent school because they tend to be smaller and quieter so they're good for autistic children.

The head teacher was a very down-to-Earth man from Leeds who openly said that he believed that all children should receive the education and pastoral care that his school provided.

I do think that parents in my situation (scrounging money from family through desperation) should get the money back that the government have saved to put towards the fees.

Additionally, parents of children at private school have more resources than those of state school - money, power, status, connections. Those people have the most influence in the world. But they have no motivation to use that money, power, and influence to try and fight to improve education for all as they just send their own kids private.

I don’t agree with the simplicity of people saying “same level of education should be available to all” it isn’t at all that simple! Or that black and white even.

Lets for example look at it this way: child A goes to local state primary school in a class of 30, the teacher is overstretched because he/she has to teach 3 kids with EAL that cannot speak a word of English, 4SEN kids with needs, 2 kids kicking off and have severe emotional needs, etc etc. the teacher cannot stretch the most able kids or even work with the average kids as her attention is on all the others. No matter how amazing the teacher is there is no way they can deal with them all. Teacher will leave the high achievers alone as they “just get on with it without causing issues”, the average kids just get on with it too.

Child B: the school is private and has an entrance exam at (4+ or 7+) so already the students entering will have to pass this so this means the disruptive kids won’t pass, they will have to understand English to be able to complete the papers at 7+ and at 4+ they will need to communicate during the assessment day so no EAL, the kids entering will have to understand and access the curriculum so already the standard of the lesson is a better environment for learning. Teacher can focus on all kids equally, the teacher in this scenario may not even be a better teacher but is able to teach better and class will do better as the environment is drastically different.

so my point Is the quality of education is not important - even crap teachers will do amazing if environment is right.

I need to add so much and make other points but I don’t have time right now. Hope people can understand my ramblings. And just to add I have nothing against EAL students, I myself am a second generation whose parents spoke no English when they came here!

I wouldn't send my kids to one, but I respect that some people can afford to and want to do so. Nearly always for positive reasons, because they think it will give their child a better chance of success. I'm of the view that everyone should have an equal chance. But I would never pass judgement on someone's schooling choices.
I'm very anti boarding schools. But again I accept they exist. I would probably vocalise my negative view on that a little, in a respectful way. But more trying to understand their motivation.

Not against them as such but could just never afford one for my children. However I am paying for private GCSE maths tuition for my son who struggles in this area and have to say he is flourishing. If I could afford a private education on par with this quality I would move my children in a heartbeat.

Well seems those people who have issues that private gives kids too much privilege have nothing to worry about. A waste of money and state schools kids are doing better.

I see no reason then to abolish private schooling.

The ‘real world’ is entirely constructed to benefit privately educated darlings with RP voices. The doors magically open for them. Of course your kids have been successful - it wasn’t by chance … 🙄

The growing problem with state schools is poor parenting. Kids starting school in nappies is one example of this.

Who wod be a teacher in a state primary or secondary? Not me!

Well one reason is right there in your post OP. The idea of some 7 year olds bring 'in awe' of the education other children are receiving has no place in a society I want to be part of and actually upsets me. The sheer unfairness of the inequality of opportunity, that means no matter how much the 7 year old you could offer, you'd never be able to compete on a level playing field with children who's parents bought them advantage. I don't want to live in a society where the positions of power and influence are disproportionately occupied by people who's parents may have have paid to elevate their mediocrity. I want all children to have a fair chance.