to ask if you use state or private education

[manicinsomniac]

Sorry, I know it's a little rude and personal but I only ask because I think that only 7-8% of the children in the UK are privately educated yet on mumsnet it seems to be massively higher than that which I find interesting.

So, if I'm not being too unreasonable to ask, do/did/will you use private or state education for your child/ren?

Well yeah sure of course they can, the difference is that state school is being paid for by the masses so it should be blooming fantastic.
I disagree that it's usually the children/parents I think it's the lack of responsiveness to individuals needs the school I am thinking of is in a carchment area with premier league footballers living in it but still children slip through the system. It's a shame.

If you have a selective school it is going to get good results. And I don't mean traditional academic selection. And school where parents have to jump through a hoop to get their child is is, by definition, going to have "better" results, because interested involved parents produe better results. It doesn;t matter what the hoop is.

If there were 6 primary schools in a town and one said that before a child got a place the parents would have to learn to juggle that school would have better results than all the others, because the parents would self select.

So all private schools are de facto selective. because the parents have the money to pay the fees AND have not just sent their child tot he nearest school. This is why faith schools get better results - nothing to do with God - it's just the particular hoop parents have to jump through.

In the small town where I live there is one primary school that has better results than all the others. It is outside the town and there are very few children in walking distance. So parents who choose it have either to drive their child there or put the child on the bus. That's the "hoop" for that school.

To be honest I find the idea of just 5 A-Cs as a target to be terrifying. At my school (private) if you didn't get atleast 11 A*-Bs something had gone wrong.

I stand by it:
smaller classes
better facilities
less violence (atleast none in mine - girls)
I studied latin, politics, economics, biology and chemistry all for A level - show me a state that could provide that.

SO my DCs will go private.

1 in private, to be 2 in september, will be 3 once number 3 is old enough to join them!

Dh has always told me HIS children would be private educated, it's a tradition and LAW on his side. I don't object, we can afford it, and I am not overly encouraged by the comps in our area!

I am sending my dc to a private school in September

I was state educated myself in a poor area - with the expectation that I wouldn't achieve. I did actually go on to university and am now in a senior management position. It was a struggle to get there. I would not want my child to have the same experience as I had.

DD goes to an independent prep school. I expect she is likely to go to independent secondary later on too.

Chosen for a while range of reasons.
Very happy with my choice.
No need to justofy here.

(our eldest is in juniors at mo, so comp is a while off)

You are right if you take the children if two Doctors and they come put with anything less than 11 A's something has gone wring you have the raw material so IRS up to the school to fcuk it up rather than 2 shop assistants children where they never stood a chance and to get 5 C's out of them takes hard work and talented teachers I guess.

Sorry predictive text not my spelling, promise.

State school here, and no grammar schools in our part of the world, so non-selective throughout.

I do believe in the importance of a good state school system- though to be fair, we couldn't pay fees whatever our principles, so a bit of an academic question. Also not in a position to move into a more desirable area. And my faith is the wrong one for the faith school.

But we're quite happy with what we are getting.

clubasuarus, how old are you?

My DH has all your A levels ( and pure and applied maths) and went to a sink comp.

Not all private schools have great facilities. Our local prep borrows the state primary's swimming pool and playing fields. My youngest has 16 in his state school class.

Less violence????? Ye gads, you really must meet an old public school boyfriend of mine who was so badly beaten at school by the boy he fagged for he has the scars to this day.

Sweeping generalisations are not helpful. Like I say, each and every school is different and should be judged on it's own merits. I know more ill educated, unqualified public school kids than I'd like to.
Doesn't mean I don't use private ed but I have no illusions that they are better on the whole or better for every child, 'cos they ain't!

we all know having money can buy your child great exam results which equal good places at university.

so i imagine most would pay for private education if they could afford it.

I wouldn't southeast unless we encounter major problems at state schools I wouldn't consider it unless it was something DS was desperate to do. I was given the chance to apply for a scholarship and didn't want it, I still managed to come out of school with straight As/A*s.

I agree PeppaPigHonk that you should not generalise - all schools are different and there definitely are bad private schools.

That said, I can say that taking a straw poll amongst dh and some of my friends who have experienced private education (as aside from my experience where it was unusual for anyone to go to university) - there seems to be a strong emphasis on a desire for children to do well (providing it is the right school) .... I had to struggle to get to where I am today - and I will walk over hot coals before my child will have to deal with the same

peppa i'm mid 20s. There was not a single incident of violence at my school the entire time I was there - a girl once slapped another girl in a half hearted way jokey and it was as if she had stabbed her it was taken so seriously.

As said before, 4 netball courts, olympic swimming pool, 6 lacrosse pitches, massive gym, music centre etc so good facilities and my largest ever class size was 19.

I didn't make generalisations. If I could find a state that provided the above I would send DCs there. Unfortunately I doubt this is possible.

What about those who have chosen to use the private sector - if it was a choice between grammar/secondary modern or the comprehensive system, what would you choose? Just wondering if everything was "state" how it would pan out...

There are lots of generalisations on this thread. I also don't think it is v helpful to quote A level results.
ishani- your comment about children of two doctors getting 11A made me giggle as my DC are the children of two doctors. However, my father's father worked on a telephone exchange and his mother (my GM) was a school dinner lady as well as bringing up a large family and he (my father) won an Open Exhibition to Cambridge. Sadly, I think this is far less likely to happen today :(

To answer the OP's question, my DC go to a state primary. We can't afford private education at present, the state school are all well above average here and the DC are very happy at their school. I wouldn't send my DC to the local pre preps even if we had the money although there are very high quality ones if I was prepared to travel 30 minutes or so.

State - both DH and I went to state schools and did very well fine for ourselves. Strongly believe that it is the home influence that is far more important than throwing money at a situation.

I think some people can get caught up in living in an expensive area, having to have well paid, high pressure jobs, then feeling they have to pay for private education - so it is all a bit of a treadmill. We made a deliberate decision to have one child, later in life so we'd paid off the mortgage, work for ourselves and live in a rural (cheaper housing) area so we have time and energy to give to our DS.

State. In London. And we could afford private. Does this make me a rubbish mother? (I rather think it does, if some of the earlier posters are to be believed.)

depends whether you're a doctor or a shop assistant....

private and boarders

loobyt why is it not helpful to quote a level results? I'd say they are rather important. I know I wouldnt have come out with 5 a levels (full a levels, not AS) plus the usual IT, general studies crap was it not for my private education and university competition is even greater now than it was when I applied

Scarlet: I'm an even worse parent, in that I've chosen a work area which at the moment means I can't afford private even if I wanted to, thus Sacrificing My Children For My Own Selfish Gratification.

And I'd choose grammar over comp if had to go state.

You mean you'd choose grammar if your children passed the examination.