If you had the money to, would you send your children to private school?

[lomp]

And why?

Well, that depends. Is the question, would you include private school among things you would provide for you children if you had limitless resources or, would you rather send your child to private school or give your kid a £200k house deposit?

I would for these reasons.

No.. I had/ Have money.. we don't believe in any schools.
Worse than prisons most of them.

Yes.

4 DC. 2 went through state grammar and 2 are educated privately. One of my DC is not particularly academic and is mildly dyslexic. Local secondaries are in RI. I work in one and I am so glad my DC does not have to navigate this.

No. I don't think the education is better, it's the connections and status it provides. I want my child to have a broad social experience with people from all walks of life and I don't want to reinforce the idea that it is fair that people can pay for a better start in life. I'm confident my little boy will thrive because he has supportive and curious parents, a healthy and diverse social circle and because of his own personality and hard work.

I never thought we would, but my 11 yo is off to an independent in September. In the past few years I have worked in secondary schools in a variety of capacities. I regularly see classes taken over by bad behaviour and teachers literally managing behaviour rather than teacher. I also feel our local state school have become disciplinarian places, isolating children for minor deviations, while teachers talk to children with zero respect. I get that this may reflect the lack of respect they are given, but it's not a situation I am prepared to put my child in. The teaching may not be better, I do know his teachers won't be constantly dealing with bad behaviour, they have time to focus on what they actually there for, and my son will be a lot safer in school.

to be clear, we live in a relatively affluent area and the local schools are good, but the challenges are real and the schools don't cope well.

We live in a deprived city centre with either grammar or awful state schools. DD1 got into grammar. DD2 was thankfully a low birth year and got a place in the neighbouring borough an hour journey away. Otherwise absolutely we would consider private school.

No. Why? Because I believe that private schools perpetuate inequality.
However I'm also honest enough to say that we had decent state school options and both DC were/ are top or second set in their large and very mixed city comprehensive so avoided many of the issues that would have made learning and achieving harder. So I have sympathy with parents who make that choice in areas where state education will absolutely not work for their child.
I still have an utter loathing of the old boys network which is flourishing in this country though...

No would rather save for private health care for them.

No. Admittedly I’m a bit of a champagne socialist but I do really believe that a comprehensive system benefits society and that more would be invested in education if the rich couldn’t buy their way to success i.e. smaller class sizes, better sports facilities & coaching, extensive tuition in classics and modern languages from primary age etc

And just to be clear, my child has a very diverse social experience outside of school.

Yes.

Absolutely. Way too old for school age children now. I am in Scotland.
The standard of local secondary education near me is setting children up to fail.

Yes. My DD has ASC and as a teacher in the SEN sector I can see how very limited the resources are and there's very little support for all so those with additional needs are really struggling in some state schools. I would send her to a SEN school. I have seen a few lovely ones in my area and without an ehcp we wouldn't afford it. She is still only 6 and we will start applying for the EHCP next term.
Anyway I cannot afford private school so I'll just have to see what happens ☹️

Absolutely not, but i suppose I might feel differently if I lived in an area where state schools were really dire. I live in south London with many excellent primary schools near by, and also within reach of a number of grammar schools; some of the state secondary schools are ok as well. My daughter was offered the maximum scholarship at two prestigious private schools but she had always wanted to go to the grammar school where she ended up, and she couldn't have got a better education no matter how much we had paid for it.

This.
If private schools (or “independent schools” as those who condone them seem to be calling them) didn’t exist, state schools would be far better funded.

In a heartbeat, I live in a deprived area and my local secondary school teachers spend most of their time firefighting over teaching.

Unfortunately I’m a POVO.

yes, I did.

I really hope you're right but you've just massively slagged off the parents and personalities of the kids who do go to private, so thanks for that. My kids have lovely personalities and great manners..which is why they got the shit kicked out of them at the local comp. I am engaged and academically minded parent but my oldest, even at private, is struggling to make good grades because kids don't always turn out how you hope. At least in private though he is in classes of less than 20 and he attends lunchtime clinics pretty much every day for additional support.
As for diversity..they attend alongside international boarders from all over the world whose cultures and languages are celebrated and incorporated into the school. I see no advantage in them rubbing shoulders with the violent thugs they were in class with before. They are fully aware they are massively privileged and are doing their best to make the most of what they've been given. As ever on these threads, the sweeping generalisations about private education and the kids that attend make the discussion meaningless.

Yes - but DC secondary went downhill while they were there - and can't keep staff at minute though did by skin of teeth get out of special measures.

It's not doing anything well and no sign it will do more than window dressing and blaming type of kids they get for continuing dire results - ignore long period where under previous head and team they did really well.

@FourEyesGood ..could you explain that one? Leaving aside the legalities and difficulties of "abolishing" the schools ..does that then include private music lessons, tutors, sports coaching etc? How would doing that suddenly inject more money into the state system? And please don't say pressure from the top people..they'd just send their kids abroad anyway. That argument is highly insulting to the 93% of parents who do send their kids to state..do they not care enough to make a fuss? How would abolishing private schools directly fund state school improvements?

I would if I could afford to. The smaller class sizes and less behaviour firefighting would be my reasons. Thankfully, DS is starting at a grammar in September. He wasn’t tutored.

I went to a shitty state secondary school in a deprived area of inner London. It was awful. Chaos.

I’ve got one of these - a quiet, middle ability child. State primary is fine so far, although complaints about being overlooked because the teacher has to focus on more disruptive/less able kids have started to creep in (yr 4). Catchment secondary is in special measures so private is looking like the only realistic option 😬😂

I see no advantage in them rubbing shoulders with the violent thugs they were in class with before

@BibbleandSqwauk
I worry about this when we're at the school stage. I think private school hopefully avoids this sort of thing, but then wonder don't you just get a different kind of bullying at private schools?

I know you said they’d just “send their kids abroad” but yes, it absolutely is about pressure at the top - and most wouldn’t send their kids abroad. If the people who have the power to change the funding were made to use the same resources as the rest of us (and that includes healthcare), things would start to improve pretty rapidly.

I don’t see how you can find it insulting. I send my kids to state school, and I teach in one. It’s not about not caring enough to make a fuss (we went on strike last year for fairer pay for teachers, after all) - it’s about the lack of power we have, and the fact that the people at the top don’t care because it doesn’t directly affect them.