How bright are the kids at yours child’s private school?

[Notinlalaland]

Just that really.
Considering sending DC there for secondary school but concerned he’ll struggle to keep up if all the other kids are super bright.
Currently in state primary. Doing average in most subjects except maths (below average).
So if he went to private he could well be bottom of class if everyone is much brighter.
In state secondary he’ll probably be middle of abilities.

Also I think it’s worth remembering that for selective private schools that the children there are the brightest of those whose parents can afford the fees not just the brightest iyswim. Both my dcs are at an academically selective school (ages 7-18) and when I volunteered to help listen to reading in the juniors I was surprised by the range of ability - definitely wider than I expected although all children there are pretty bright.

There are always non selective private schools. Roughly which part of the country are you in?

As everyone says the private schools vary hugely with how selective they are.

A friend of mine wouldn't even consider a state school (both her and husband are high earners). Her DS really struggled at his private school and it wasn't a super selective either. He possibly would have suited state better (who knows) but she wouldn't have sent him to one.

Depends on the school . My neighbours kid was privately educated but as thick as ... 4 GCSEs first time, 2 extra on resit, passed 1 level in art.

Absolutely dc attend non selective prep and although many senior settings have entrance. Not all around here do

Although we are north

Seems less so according to friend in the south

Exactly this!

Ds and I bumped into his teacher in an unusual holiday destination one summer. Cue lots of jokes about from the man about how far he needs to travel to get away from ds!

We’re in north west.
So I had misunderstood the entrance exam as being selective.
Thanks for clarification.

I’m confused-are you saying it’s nit selective? Do you mean they have their own entrance exam?

The school has the 11+ but the results are used for streaming rather than entrench or not. Unless i’ve Misunderstood?

There are certainly non selective private schools- I work in one! My ds is at a non selective prep school and going to a different private school for senior years, a lovely school and yes again it’s non selective.
Oh and ds is pretty average academically, in fact he’s weak in maths and will probably move down a set in September. No he doesn’t feel like shit about it, he recognises that’s just life.

The school has the 11+ but the results are used for streaming rather than entrench or not. Unless i’ve Misunderstood?

Well, I suppose nobody on here is possibly going to be able to tell whether you’ve misunderstood without you telling us the school!

Why don’t you ring and ask them?!

Hmm, this is the exact reason we didn't chose private for DS1 in particular. He is a bright boy but lacking in confidence and we thought that to be top of a perfectly good state school would be far better for his confidence than middle to bottom of a private.

And we were right. He is in yr 9 and thriving and now accepts he is bright, something he could never do in primary.

FWIW I work with a lovely chap (solicitor) who went to Charterhouse and because he was not super bright now considers himself thick. Which he isn't at all.

Its all about perception OP.

Pretty evenly spread st DS's. He is doing much better today than he was at his state school, we think, due to v small class sizes and not being surrounded by little shits intent on disrupting the teaching.

He had to do an exam but entry wasn't dependant on him getting any particular mark.

It depends on the school; some private schools in the UK are the best in the world, some are prob just like the local grammar.

Point is that sent-private DC tend to do waaay better in exams and univ entrance, so they'll always look brighter.