If you had the chance to put your Dc in private school, would you?

No because I do not believe in children having clear advantage over others.

Mine is at a private prep and will go on to private senior. It’s a no brainier really if you can afford it. In my experience it offers many things that a state school cannot. The behaviour is obviously a big factor, there isn’t anywhere near the level of disruption in a private school. The learning environment is far more pleasant for all concerned.

I was state educated btw and it was dire. I would have killed for the opportunities my child is now getting. He is very lucky and knows it!

She does, but it's ridiculous that at school she has to read at a lower level than she's capable of. And children that have read their school book 5 times at home get a reward on Friday so in order for her to get that, we have to read it, even though it's not stretching her at all.

At the one you teach at.... So no experience at any other private school.

I am employed at my children's private school, so I know exactly what goes on.

We also only employ teachers who are qualified. We have hundreds of applications from teachers for one teaching post. At least 25% of our TA's are qualified teachers who are hoping a post becomes available.

No, there are no private schools in the country that can offer my children what their state schools provide, which is education through their home language.

I did, but it's not a cut and dried issue, there are plenty of circumstances under which I wouldn't have.

Our state choices are very challenging. A classmate of DC's who went to the local comp was bullied for putting in academic effort, doing homework etc. DC needs to be in a focused and studious environment and would not cope well with disruptive classmates, and needs additional pastoral and learning support due to neurodiversity issues.

I don't know what "would have been" if we'd chosen state but I suspect it would have been overwhelming anxiety leading to total school refusal and either no GCSEs or very limited ones. As it is with a supportive indie with an excellent SEN team, we've had some struggles with school avoidance but have been mostly ok and are on track for decent but not stellar grades.

If I had instead chosen to add an extra £200,000 onto our mortgage to move into the catchment area of the outstanding leafy-suburb comp which selects by houseprice I could have bought a similar experience within the state sector but that would have been more expensive than school fees.

Some state schools are excellent, and when we looked around 4 local indies we found one to be terrible, so I would always say it depends on the school and it depends on the child. If your child will thrive in your local state school the money would be better spent on either uni fees or on a mortgage deposit.

Our children were in private school and we reluctantly removed them following the vat on fees issue. I was very upset at the prospect and desperate to try and keep them in / get them back there. They've been in state school now for 6 months and I can honestly say it has been brilliant. Probably helped by the fact that the school they are in is massively under subscribed so we have very small class sizes, but still, I'm very impressed with the progress they've made. I've actually just inherited enough to easily return them to their old private school however we've chosen not to because we don't think it's worth it.

We will still consider private for secondary school (we have separate money set aside for that). However I'll be much, much more selective on the schools we view and how we view them.

Basically, I've learnt the expensive way that private doesn't necessarily mean better!

I did and would do it again. Single sex education for girls statistically proves it academically but for so many other reasons too. You only have to look at the sexual assaults stats in mixed secondary to make it a no brainer.

Surely it depends what the options are? All state schools aren't equal. All private schools aren't equal

Also, IMHO, too many people focus on whether they can afford to pay school fees. You should also consider what else you could achieve with that pot of money

My DC attend a state school. Modern building., Excellent facilities. Headteacher awarded MBE for services to education. Exam results better than closest private school

Granted, the private school offers better trips and clubs. These are undoubtedly a benefit. But, overall, I'd rather save the school fees, arrange our own clubs and save for a housing deposit

You're touchy! I just answered OP's question but you seem to have taken it very personally.

I agree. I definitely would but only if we could comfortably afford it, which we can't...

That might be what they tell you @Sdpbodyand what you see at open day, but based only on the private school I teach at, it’s not true. I have covered classes so often that I have zero experience of. And that’s zero, I don’t even have a teaching degree, so far less than state. The ONLY day all 3 of the teachers were actually teaching the sport they are expert at, was show day.

What's the point in having them? I really don't get it.

I absolutely would have if I could have. Look at the facilities for a start, especially if they love sport. Fortunately mine did alright out of a state secondary. I would never ever have sent them boarding though.
Go for it!

No. Good education should be a right for all children, not just those with parents who can afford to pay

I think everyone would agree with this but it’s definitely not the case here in England, at least (I can’t speak for the rest of the UK).
Not blaming the teachers at all.

There you go OP
A well thought out and reasoned argument against Private Education

"yeah but Finland, - and also Eton"

We send ours to a private prep.

It is so much more than academics for us.

Small class sizes, sets for maths, English and phonics from Year 1.
Swimming weekly, forest school weekly, sports 2/3 times a week, art and music twice a week.

Access to most of the musical instruments, LAMDA etc at school so they don't have to do it outside of school.

From Year 3, all of the sports are taught by specialist coaches. For Year 5 & 6, the netball coach plays in the Super League.

There are 200 different clubs on offer each week for all of the children, 50% free 50% paid, like sailing, karate, tennis, art clubs, drama, gymnastics etc.

Wrap around care including breakfast and a snack from 7:45am to 6pm inc in fees.

Children are read to daily for 10 mins minimum, with a new book sent home every day in Reception to Year 2. There are specific reading TA's whose job is to read with the children, change books and to take small groups for additional support.

Termly, they have 4 chances for you to come in to school to see their work, interact with the teachers, watch assemblies, take part in their topics.

They go on at least 2 trips a term, with 2 outside companies who come in for their topic work.

Teachers hold monthly drop ins from 4-6pm to discuss any problems.

You have the email address for your class teacher so can email any queries and get a reply within 12 hours normally.

What my children and I have access to, will be far far more than most state schools.

I’ve taught in both. It’s the private school I’d rather leave, the entitlement of some of the parents and children is horrible.

No. Good education should be a right for all children, not just those with parents who can afford to pay.

Finland has very few private schools and an excellent standard of education for all children, irrespective of their parents' income/wealth.

Plus the famous private schools such as Eton and Harrow seem to produce self-regarding, entitled wankers with no empathy who often end up running the country.

Op start a thread or read the 100s on here about a teacher wanting to leave state educating and then you will have your answer.

You clearly could not afford it. You have no clue about private schools. Today it is the best place for a child wanting a good education, safe environment and all the opportunities . have you read a single thread on here about the state of state schools at this moment????

Absolutely agree
For some reason making sweeping generalisations about Private schools, their pupils and parents is ok but not if we do it the other way around.

Also, this is a useful phrase for all the CFs, ‘We are very happy with our choices thank you’ in a no more nonsense from you tone of voice. Repeat until they go away. I am not militant in the slightest but the fact that people feel entitled to tell me how I should or should not spend my hard earned cash makes my blood boil.

Yes, I did it. My quiet daughter absolutely thrived in small all girls classes after being completely overlooked in a mixed class of more than 30. I also quietly marvelled at the cheek of people who thought that they were entitled to tell me how wrong I was while they happily used the private healthcare that came with their jobs. I would most certainly do it again.

Yes, both my DS have moved from state primary to independent secondary.

Few reasons. Oldest has moderate SEN which was glossed over at primary, never got any additional help as he wasn’t ’the worst’ and scraped by in ‘meeting expectations’. Their age groups were high birth rate years in this area and primary added extra classes, with no additional SEN funding. This area has higher than average SEN anyway and very few children get any help. This would have followed them through the local state secondary.

Local state secondary has a progress 8 of -1.2 for boys (used to be worse when we were looking at applying). Lots of problems with behaviour, attendance, requiring improvement for 10+ years. My DS are mixed heritage from a demographic where boys do particularly badly in London schools so may have been even worse outcome for them.

Younger DS has some moderate physical disability and got mixed up with some difficult characters at primary. A few were permanently excluded towards the end of Y6 but all of them got places at local secondary anyway which would have been a nightmare for DS. He’s very sporty and never got a place in any teams at primary as there was one team for every 120 boys. He's on loads of teams at secondary as it’s a much smaller school.

Both are doing really well at their independent, they both left primary with an attitude of disliking school and doing the bare minimum. Covid lockdowns affected them both a lot as their state primary did no online learning. They’ve changed so much at secondary, youngest especially is very happy, he’d hated primary for the last 4 years. Wish I’d moved him sooner.

If there was a good local school that could have supported them both we would have opted for that. Not everyone is that lucky.