Is private schooling mainly an English thing, and what does it cost?

[Misoniso]

I’m from NI so the majority of children here attend public schools, I don’t know anyone that attends a private school at all. But I always read about them on mumsnet, is it mostly an English thing? And what sort of cost is it to send a child to a private school? Genuinely curious

My DC cannot go to public school as we cannot afford it. They just attend the local state school within catchment area.

I am from Aberdeen. There are at least 4, within the city ( a city of about 200,000) , and a couple within commuting distance.

Nowhere near as large a % as Edinburgh, but they are decent schools. At a guess in the £15-£20k per year range for day pupils.

I knew someone who attended Rockport in Holywood, but that’s the only person from here I know who has attended private school. I think that’s about £20k for day pupils.

There is only one independent (private) school in NI which is Rockport. It starts at £12k per year for day school P1 and goes up to £42k for international boarding.
The only two grammars where there is a compulsory fee are Campbell College (£4k) and RBAI (£1.8k).
There are a number of preps that are approx £5-7k per year.

Yup. I am surprised about that too re Edinburgh.

Now, given that we are told that private is better than public, I am wondering if there has been any studies done that show Edinburgh is better than other places because of this ?

After all, if it is more than double the national average in numbers at private, then it must be more than double better than anywhere else ?

Yes I’ve heard of them, but in my world it’s niche, I don’t know anyone bar one who’d make that choice for their kids. I’m now reminded I know an adult who went to St Aloysius.

No, you get them everywhere. Why an earth would you think it was an English thing

Don't really know where to start with how inaccurate this thinking is....?!

Yes I’m curious about this - on Mn there are countless threads about should I choose private etc, and really that doesn’t seem to be the system where I am at all, a small section of society will do that, but most people, including lots who could afford it, would not. But maybe it’s just who I mix with and I have no idea these conversations are going on locally. I thought it was pretty clear it was an English thing as England overall more conservative than other parts of the country? I don’t mean to offend either!

I don’t know anyone who attends a private school.

There is one around the corner from us and the fees vary: day rate £3450 per term for reception - £8000 year 11.
Full boarding is from £11349 for Y7 - £13902 for Y11.

more for international students.

Not offended so much as puzzled by your weird anti-information attitude. You don't know something that is a piece of ordinary general knowledge (how a fee-paying education broadly works), you're asking questions that are baffling - how on earth could anyone think that private schooling is just in England?? And you have sounded surprised when people suggest you go and find information for yourself e.g. by looking at school websites.

How do you usually manage when you don't know about a thing? Don't you try and have a good general knowledge and fill in gaps yourself, proactively, when you meet something you don't know?

Mumsnet is not a very useful place to ask basic factual questions, the resource is better for getting a diverse interpretation of facts or people's lived experience of situations.

So have I, although the region I live in the nearest private school is across the boarder.
My children were educated privately in England now in their 30's I rarely mention it to my Scottish friends (or any friends for that matter) but once I was asked and they look flabbergasted. Many comment that I'm the first person they’ve met who has ever done this.
Just quickly looked on the schools website fees now coming in at nearly £63K a year!!!

It's true that in Edinburgh around a quarter of children are privately educated. Two children can set you back around half a million now.

I’m in greater Manchester and there are quite a few private schools where annual fees are perhaps 15/20k. But food and extra curricular and uniform all extra

the vast majority of children go to state schools however

in the south east I’d say there is a higher proportion going to private because of the somewhat higher proportion of wealthy families

Yes, it’s the same in Ireland for private secondary schools (though not primary schools), but if they want smaller class sizes any extra teachers must be funded by the school.

Well it’s definitely not an NI thing and haven’t heard from anyone yet from wales so it does seem more common in England and Scotland based of this thread alone.
Google doesn’t give you the general gist of things the way I’m asking for it, just numbers

I think fewer than 1% of pupils in NI attend fee-paying schools, but Google says 42% attend grammar schools so that may be one reason why there isn’t a demand for private schooling.

In ROI there aren’t grammar schools (well a few have ‘grammar’ in the name but that’s it).
Pupil selection by schools on the basis of academics isn’t allowed. About 7%(?) attend fee-paying schools but they’re at a lower price point than in the UK so much more accessible. The one most local to me charges the equivalent of £4250 a year, though that is on the lower end of the scale here admittedly. Others might charge a few thousand more. Many are located in Dublin and in many areas of the country there are no private schools within a reasonable travelling distance. Boarding is an option but maybe 1% or fewer do that.

I‘m in ROI myself and the state schools are widely considered to be of a high standard anyway.

6.7% or so attend private schools in Ireland. That’s not a high percentage. And a lot of them would be attending for only the last few years of school for the Leaving Cert. at Leeson Street etc.

It’s a similar percentage to those attending in England, though obviously the lower cost makes it more affordable in Ireland.

My very republican Catholic relatives in the States send their kids to private schools.

I don’t know why people are being so dense, OP has specifically mentioned NI where the percentage of children receiving private question is significantly lower than England.

England has much more private education than the rest of the UK, so in terms of the UK, yeah it is much more of ‘an English thing’.

Why are fees so cheap in some countries for private vs England?

Of course not… there are many countries where private paid schooling is the ONLY education option.

If you mean the Old Boys club style schooling that’s mostly British because of our history.

Same reason a meal in rural Philippines is £2 but £20 in England.

In some countries the state effectively pays a fixed amount per child to schools. So the private schools in those countries just charge the additional amount beyond the state funding.

in England private schools receive no (or very very little) state funding.