In what respect is Private better than state education?

happygardening
your son will receive a fantastic education that will open doors that my kids will never know of
but chances are they will all hang around together outside the abbey on sunny Saturday afternoons eating Reeves cheese straws!
If I had the money to pay for that school I would consider it. But I don't.
And if I was like my friends at the gym with husbands away on business the whole time I'd consider boarding. But I'm not.

Do private schools in Scotland still have to do CfE?

I'm even going to comment what ever I say those deluded soles in state ed.will continue to tell me that whatever my DS receives at his top boarding school their DC's receive at their state comp. And when all else fails will resort to criticising me for boarding my DS.

Private is only available to those with a spare £25,000 per child per year before tax.
It therefore excludes more than 80% of the population
whether or not they are bright and interesting
ALSO
schools vary SO much that only people who have worked in schools of all sizes and styles all over the country.
which my DH has
and his view is that it utterly depends on the individual area and the individual school but generally an excellent comp that leaves money free for other things is better than private
:-)

One difference that is often overlooked is that the pupils are not herded about like sheep and told to run to the teacher every time there's an incident. At a good independent school the children are taught how to resolve conflicts themselves. They are generally treated like mini adults, given responsibility and shown respect.

The children at my DS's old comp, by contrast, were very passive, and the system very authoritarian.

Another key difference is the atmosphere of study and culture. Several of my DS's teachers have PhDs in their subject. All of his teachers come across as bright, intellectual and cultured.

I also agree with AMuminScotland - it depends on what is on offer where you are.

None of the primary schools where we are have any playing fields at all whereas my sons' prep does & the school has 3 full time sports staff. My oldest son has been playing in music concerts from Y1 (recorder and now flute) a couple of times a year, plus singing in the school choir (rehersals x2 per week) - the school has 2 full time music teachers.

Both of my boys are summer birthdays so I think the smaller class sizes have allowed them to get the attention they need. It makes a difference if there are 15 children with a teacher and a TA.

The OP misses the point into many ways. You seem chained to results and that is only a tiny part of an independent education.

As other posters have pointed out already, I think it depends on the school. In my experiences the benefits of independent primary were a more varied curriculum, more trips, more fun stuff and more attention. On the downside in our particular case the teaching was appalling. My DD1 was only about level 3 in maths when she left at 11 (she is predict A/A* in her upcoming GCSE). We only experienced one year at independent secondary for one child and the pastoral care and discipline left a lot to be desired. The state secondaries my kids go to now range from generally superb to good, the state primary that my youngest child went to was fantastic. It totally depends on the school. Some independents are great and some are not - same with state schools.

Freedom from the national curriculum and SATs
Focus on education rather than exams
All extra curricular onsite and within the school day
Absolute insistence on impeccable manners
Latin and French from an early age
Specialist teachers from year 4
Chronological history rather than all those meaningless projects
Rigorous teaching of grammar
Expectation of reasonable competence in a couple of languages by 16, even for the non-brilliant
Development of reasonable social competence even in the very shy
Boarding

What the OP describes, moreover, isn't really reliance on the state sector; it's state sector heavily supplemented with tutors and extras. This is just another method of accessing private education

It all comes down to what you as an individual family think makes a good education.

Freedom from the National Curriculum is a major point (but that also puts the onus on you to check what they do actually offer and to what level they deliver it - exams? leavers' destinations?)

Also to consider:

Class size
Specialist teachers at prep age
Provision for sports, drama and music
Facilities (eg labs at prep age, open space and sports, on site pool)
Co-curricular activity

It depends - I don't think that private education is better than state education overall. But in some places and for some people the available private education is better than the available state education.

Freedom from the national curriculum (although that's more of an issue at primary age)

You pay for one thing IMO discipline, the children cannot get away with monkey business, distracting other children, low level distruption and they are made to do their best.
I have a child was is bone bloody idol but she does her homework every night because if she doesn't she'll stay in at lunchtime and complete it, there is nowhere to hide