St Marys Calne

Day children pay so much at boarding schools because they are often getting everything a boarder gets bar the physical bed at night. So if boarding fees are pushing £34k pa before extras the cost of the bed is £10k a year. This makes the 24k charged to day pupils look cheap.
I don't know what day schools you're talking about but the only one I know anything about is charging £22k+ pa.

So what makes 'state' school teachers so bad? That they have to be qualified with a PGCE? Why would any school employ a young, enthusiastic,qualified teacher? Oh no it would be so much better if it was some middle aged Oxford graduate who couldn't get on a PGCE course!

You can kind of see why the Big Name Day Schools are well-known, given that their fees are circa £13k p.a. That'd be hugely attractive I'd've thought!

I know little of this 'other' world; but it was my understanding that you either do 'day', 8.30- 4.30pm?; Long day, 8.30-9pm inc evening meal and prep; or Boarding (even then, weekly or termly!). I feel 'sorry' for boarders at day schools, esp like The Leys which makes a big deal of its 'long days', where DC who do this get the 'advantages' of boarding without the separation from family as mummy collects DC at 9pm to come home and sleep in the family home. But I didn't know that Day pupils at boarding schools get 'hit' so heavily! Why?

And sorry for derailing the OP!

Actually Abra1d St Marys charges £24K for day children. Tansie £24k+ for day children attending mainly boarding schools is pretty normal I'm afraid, these children are often doing everything boarders are doing apart from sleeping there, many arrive before 8 am have breakfast at school and leave after 9 PM and even go in on Sundays.
Boarding fees and fees charged to day children at boarding schools are often broadly similar (and outside of the reach of your average family) regardless of whether it's a big name or somewhere few have heard of.

St Mary's is a boarding school, Tansie.

The word 'state' was the trigger for my response, Danty; I'm sure you'll recognise that using that word in a statement that implies 'inferior' is at best insensitive; at worst, elitist and patronising.

Personally I am amazed that fees of £24k - odd a year can be charged for day pupils. Why would anyone pay that sort of money?! Yes, I 'get' Eton; I get Harrow, I get Cheltenham Ladies, I get Wycombe Abbey, but Calne? Seriously? I am definitely missing something. And, in doing so, I recognise that the flippancy with which (some) private-paying parents dismiss sub-standard state teachers; we, the unwashed, may not know that 'in the correct circles', St Mary's Calne is 'up there'.

As you were.

From a parent who understands the problems there and shares the same concerns, to avoid misunderstanding, I think the point being made is that parents paying over 30k a year expect experienced teachers with a track record. It would be logical for newly qualified teachers who join to start teaching the young year groups to gain experience before being given key GCSE and A level years to teach. This is not happening. No other school would be so flippant, and especially not one charging over 30k pa.

No! Not state school teachers, surely!

I didn't understand that standards had fallen that low...

Going downhill rapidly. Private tutoring the norm. Look at results carefully - bright girls being let down. In the good old days teaching was great but those teachers have left and replaced by young state school teachers.

Might be worth pm ing posters on this thread in case it is relevant.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/2176113-Wiltshire-girls-school-Are-any-other-parents-worried-about-the-standard-of-teaching-at-a-small-girls-school-in-Wiltshire

I got the impression that it was stronger in humanities than science at least at A level.