Is this a typical primary school day / experience?

Same.

State never delivered what we got/get at public school. Which is fair.

We left England at Christmas after nearly 20 years to get a better work/life balance and a better school for 3rd child. We have dual citizenships and can re/settle under EU-rules.

Dc3 attends an good international private school for 20% of UK prices.

State schools around us were dire - hard working good teachers but so many disruptive (and violent) SEN children.
And it wasn't a particular bad area.

You could hire an after school nanny to ferry the kids to extra curriculars/swimming etc if you wanted to for a lot less than private school

30 kids in a class is the norm, disrupting pupils is not always the case but can’t be ruled out because the state sector can’t pick and choose.

paper books, have them locally, also plenty of school trips, Forest schools are popular here too, clubs daily you pay for ditto after school care. Sport twice a week is the norm. Food varies between schools, I sent packed lunches because i didn’t trust my dcs school. No you won’t get as much teacher contact nor 1:1 for dc in school but that can be compensated for at home. 93% of dc are state educated and many do very well

Our state primary has all of these except -

8:45 start
Class of 22 not 12 (but does have a teacher and a TA)
After school club runs until 6:30 not 5:30

We do state + top up (inc some extra tuition for KS2). We manage by one parent being very part time.

I'm amazed all these people saying can get same at state! I've taught 15 years across different counties and most of those things are not the norm! Most of the classes i have taught recently have 30 (or more) kids in. Current school is first one in ten years i've had a full time TA (stretched between 3 SEND chn who really need a 1:1 but have been allocated 2 hours of funding a day each). 1/3 of my class has an SEN or mental health need. Clubs run til 4:15 or you pay for after school club. Stay at private!

My dd is about to finish her reception year at a very good state primary.

• starts 8.20am, senior teacher always waiting by the gate to greet each child by name, and expects to be greeted back by the child

head teacher is always on the playground in the mornings, will greet everyone who passes. Start is 8.30, gates close 8.40.

• writing, maths, phonics etc in his class of 12 children that has 1 teacher and part time TA

22 kids in DD’s will rise to 28 I think next year. One full time teacher plus full time TA. they break into smaller groups for phonics and maths.

• calm class environment, no disruption

Fairly calm (I’ve helped out at forest school and swimming), I think this is down to luck in terms of what type of kids happen to be in the class.

• forest school once per week, including things like making a campfire

DDs school has this.

• learns to read with actual paper books! No tablets. The teacher or TA reads with him most days

paper books and no tablets but is listened to by teacher or TA once per week. Library visit and choose a book to bring home once a week.

• sports 3x per week, including swimming, dance and PE

No formal PE in reception but they do various things like dance, sports day, yoga, activities just not formal PE. That will start year 1 twice per week. Swimming once per week summer term only.

• club until 4.30 every day, things like art or sports

clubs start in year 1, I think there are approx 10-15 to choose from, languages, LEGO, art, hockey, football etc. they run till 4.15 or 4.30 I think.

• after school care til 5.35 if you want it. Colouring etc

Before and after school clubs till 6 with crafts, table football, games, light tea (or breakfast) etc. approx £9-14 depending on length of session.

• a lot of contact with the teacher. If I ever have a question I can email her and she replies within a day, or can meet with her, or she will proactively email me to check something or make an observation (eg she wrote to suggest he might be ambidextrous)

we haven’t been very proactive in contacting the teacher as we’ve had no issues but I know you can speak to her on pick up or email. Not sure how quick she can respond though.

• lots of outside space so the children help occasionally in the vegetable garden etc

• good quality food, cooked on site

• 3 school trips this year

I think it’s down to luck and the area you live in but I’m super happy with the school and wouldn’t want to pay for private unless I really felt it provided something massively extra or was necessary for that particular child. I went to private school all through and had a good experience but can see that my dd and DS (currently at state secondary) are getting something that I didn’t have which is more parental support, more independence (go on the bus, have local friends in DS’s case) etc.

Oh and classes of 30 (infants) and 32 (juniors)

Agree with this. You’re paying for less disruption due to smaller class sizes and potentially the flexibility to get rid of difficult kids ? Sports might be limited to 2x a week with less variety and specialism. Wrap around care available. Trips quantity nothing special.

I know teachers who have worked at state and private schools and they've generally said there's no difference in teaching or the day to day, but private schools have a LOT better extra curriculars than state and smaller classes.

So it's up to you - you could spend a lot less than 20k a year to give your kids good extra curriculars outside of school time.

Also, there are dire state schools and state schools that send a third of kids to Oxbridge and far outperform private schools across the country. So it's really hard to compare them, it's more about the quality of the school than just whether it's private or state! There are some really shit private schools and some really shit state schools (and the opposite)

I’m a teacher in a primary academy.

Yes to:
greeting at door
paper books (we also have Chromebooks & online books are available but 90% of reading is books)
clubs available - craft, cooking, sports, tech, dance
after school club until 6
direct message with teacher (response within 24/48 hrs)
outdoor space (green/playgrounds/jungle gyms/pitches/pond)
food cooked on site

Main differences are:
class sizes (usually 28-30, although c.22 for maths/english)
1 TA per 90 chn
multiple needs within classroom which can cause disruption at times
no forest school (we used to have one)
food quality not great
trips mostly cancelled due to coach costs - we are doing one trip on the tube this year + all children have had a small group enrichment trip
PE once a week + activity hour

That sounds similar to my DCs state primary...main differences are that PE is only twice a week and there's only 1/2 school trips a year.

Bigger classes, and not so much sport and after school club is a paid for extra, but otherwise pretty much the same.

Most kids do extra clubs, swimming, tennis, footie, rugby, drama as extra outside school. My son was struggling academically (later diagnosed with dyslexia) so we paid for tutor.

Regular forest school and great ptfa organised activities, including class/parent organised annual weekend camping trips.

Kids enjoy school and happy. Saved lots of money! No brainer for me if you have good primaries near by.

Sounds very like some of the small Welsh rural schools I worked in during my career. Music and performing arts were also very important and we regularly took part in Urdd competitions at local, district and national level. Offered lots of after school activities too.

Our local forest school do school pick up for outdoor after school 3-6. Gymnastics my son goes at 4pm because 1 day a week myil picks him up and takes him. Scouts is 6.30pm, so is football, tennis is Saturday morning as is my daughter's drama class

State schools vary hugely but honestly, at my children's:

• 2 year wait list for after school club, for a fee (and then it is just stick all kids in hall with colouring sheets)
• hardly ever heard read and although they have accelerated reader in KS2 there is one tablet between 60 so they hardly ever log the books they have read of do the quizzes
• food is processed crap, also really bad at catering for allergies we discovered.
• teacher greets children as they come in classroom (but no parent contact)
• teacher is there at pick up as long as you dont work and pick up at 3.15. We dont have email addresses so because I work I've met DDs teacher once this entire academic year. No email contact allowed either.
• forest school once a half term in infants
• 31 kids in class, DD says it is loud and chaotic. She doesnt learn much because the teacher is so busy dealing with disruptive children.
• obsessed with phonics

They do have a fantastic play area though.

Ofsted rated 'good'.

I live in SÉ and our suburban state school is very typical:

8.40 start,3.30 finish

Forest school - yes all children have a weekly session and there is a dedicated Forest school teacher who also looks after the pupils gardening club and the huge school pond/wildlife habitat area. Free.

School trips - at least two per year, small fee (about £20each; more for the residential later in junior school). Panto and other random dramatic groups visit during the year esp at Christmas)

Breakfast club optional (7.30am) for a small fee
After school club £7 until 4.30 then price increases if you want to stay til 5.30 or 6pm.

Clubs - lots and many run several times a week to cater to different age groups eg chess, gym, football, drama, athletics, tennis, choir, cooking for older kids, art, French - small fee about £7 per hour. Some are free eg cross-country kids go offsite to compete.

Music - third party provision of Rock Steady and violin or piano - kids are allowed out of class for lessons. Market price.

Bikeability class: free: open to year5 and year6

Tech: all classes have Computing/IT lesson every week with a dedicated teacher. and there are enough computers for every child to use one each. No tech is used for learning to read but a large interactive screen is sometimes used as part of group work

Contact with teacher: as much as you want or need. Very proactive

Green space: loads

Swimming: none onsite at this school, only one state school in my town has its own pool.

Food: onsite caterers; a huge let-down unfortunately

Class size: full. So 30 in infants, 32 in juniors.

Disruption: not really a problem here but ds hasn’t got to y5 or y6 yet. Other state school my dd went to had dreadful discipline problems.

My DD has just moved to state from private due to her school closing. We can’t tell the difference and wish we had saved our money!

The things that are different to your list at DS School.

Start at 8:40 unless you pay for breakfast club. Greeted by a staff member.

1 term each of dance and gymnastics, swimming only in y3 and occasionally after.

Class of 30 but every child in a reading group and maths group of 10. Mix of paper books and tablets.

Some disruption (DS class had an unusually large SEN cohort)

Clubs on some days e.g. chess and pottery.

1 trip per year.

I consider us very lucky with DS school and I’m not sure it would be worth paying the difference.

DS 5 has just finished reception in a private international school.
8.30am start, greeted by teacher
19 kids in a class, 1 teacher, 1 assistant
Phonics lessons
Weekly music, PE, Stem, art, trip to primary library choose books
Forest on site - visit 3x times per week
Swimming lessons
Class is chaos due to number of SEN kids including my own.
School lunch- fillet of hake, dauphinoise lol. My son refuses to eat it obviously. Not sure what 5 year old wants that.
Choice of 20 after school activities at this age.

Our DC reception is fairly similar. Class size 14, paper books, forest school once a week - den building and firepits (this is run by an outside company who come in). They don't do swimming until year 4 I think but otherwise sports lessons have a lot of variety. There's a huge field and wooded area with a veg patch and a large climbing frame/obstacle course/sand area and pond.

The behaviour is generally excellent, all the kids seem calm and content.

No after school club so that's a shame for us definitely.

In a way we get a near-private experience for none of the cost. I don't doubt you get more from a private school but there are definitely some great state schools. Tends to be little village schools in my experience but it's probably extremely location-specific.

My child gets exactly that at a small state primary in London, except that her school day ends at 3.30.

8:40 start, senior and class teachers there to greet.
30 in the class. Lovely teacher and and equally great full time TA
No idea how calm it is but they’re good at routine and keeping them in order!
Forest school - yes
PE - yes plus they send them running round the field at random times.
Weekly school library visit and they take home 3 paper books a week
After school care - yes
plenty of Outdoor space - yes
1 x school trip which cost £25 this year )reception)

This is pretty much what our primary school was like…

Ours is similar apart from the class size. They don't do forest school but do go to the park over the road which has a little woodland area. They do swimming (they walk to the local private school for lessons) for a termly fee of about £30. They have free sports clubs available couple of days per week, or you can pay for after school care until 6pm. I think the cost is about £2, haven't used it in years. They have real books (it may help that the school is one form entry so receives the least council funding in the town so they haven't been able to afford loads of fancy tech!) albeit they were lacking books this year so I donated loads of ours that my kids had already read.
It is a very peaceful school, no huge behavioural issues, both my kids are doing well academically and passed the 11+. And as it is free we have more money to do things as a family