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?

So far:
State: 10
Private: 3
Home: 1
Mixture: 3

And hullygylly's 'banana' which I still don't get - not sure if I'm being flamed and am not even aware of it or what!

Actually not as private dominated as I thought.

I teach in private prep so my children are also there (I'd be mad not to at 90% off!) I guess they'll probably go state at either 11 (if they pass 11+) ot 13 though, I can't afford a private school I don't work in!

I used to be very against private. I can see pros and cons to both now.

State then private for 6th form and A levels.

State for us.

I don't like being rude, but I find it very hard to take tiredgranny's completely non-punctuated point seriously .

I have used private in the past. I then went into teaching and as a result moved them into the state sector.

State.

I don't believe in private education. It was something that only the uber-rich did where I lived in Ireland. I feel my education was absolutely everything I needed it to be.

Thank god someone said it, bibbity

3 at excellent state school. Eldest will be going to an outstanding state secondary

We have lived in 4 different countries including the US. Unfortunately it seems that here in Britain people are obsessed with private schools

Private primary - State secondary. I'm actually more delighted with the (ofsted outstanding) state school than I ever was with the private primary.

that's interesting barbie, I haven't seen an obsession with private schools at all. I never met anyone who went or had been to one until I went to university!

Now I'd say that many of the people who use them feel than no other education is acceptable. But by no means all.

What do you mean by obsessed?

Dd not at school yet, but hope for state primary and private (day) secondary if we can afford it.

All state, but very lucky to have excellent local schools. DD1 is at rg uni and DD2 is on track to go also.

If our local schools were awful they would have gone private.

Not got DC at school yet, but likely to be private.

Where we live there is an extreme shortage of state primary places and you have to live within 500m, or be Catholic, in order to get in to any of the 4 schools nearest us. And we don't and aren't.

State Primary, DD has done 2 yrs at state secondary, but has been awarded scholarship, so will be going private from yr9 -13. DS starts state secondary in sept.

Manic, I didn't twig you were the OP there and thought you had had 17 children all educated in different ways..... .

State school all the way here (3 children). Can't imagine ever changing to private to be honest. Having said that, I steadfastly refused free private health care for 12 years, but caved in when the condems took power and that wasn't something I would have believed 10 years ago....

oh and the private secondary is a means tested private school for children 'in need' otherwise it would have been state secondary.

Mix of both for both dcs. Diff mix of primary and secondary state/private too, it was about was would be the best choice for that dc at that time. I worked like a dog to pay for it.

Home Educated 3-originally because they were so unhappy in school, who were not catering for their SEN but it became a lifestyle choice -as it does for so many HE families- and my children never considered going back to school at all.

Just wish I had known that HE is a legal viable option, as I think I would never have sent them....and more especially I wish I had known that autonomous/informal home education is such an enjoyable efficient way of educating children and living life.

State - agree with feckwit about cross section of society.

So, manicinsomniac,tell us the pros and cons of both independent and state!

I have 3 dc and can't afford private but I would LOVE to send them private, I am in an area with good state schools but they still don't touch the sides of a private education.

We can afford 1 child to go private and as my eldest son has SEN we looked into it as we felt it would be better for him to have smaller class sizes. However, we found the private primary schools in our area were unable to help his SEN (language disorder). They couldn't understand the difference between dyslexic children and children with a language disorder. They also thought a language disorder was similar to a speech impediment. I felt he actually got more out of the local state school but with a lot of private specialist help (at over £100 week!!!!).

I am privately educated myself and I know this isn't what you asked but I feel strongly now that the private/state split is very wrong for society. It causes a 2 tier system from an early age.

If there were no private schools and only state, education would suddenly become a top priority to the councils and government! Moer money would go into ensuring the schools were good.

I also don't believe there should be catchment areas where a 2 mile radius around schools overlap. This would stop/limit 'private schools by proxi' where the houses are so expensive only very rich people can afford to live there. I believe they are doing this in Brighton. Where in a 2 mile radius there are 3 or 4 secondary schools. The 'best' school meant house prices were astronomical, the worst school was near a council estate.

All state as private isn't an option financially. I tell them they are as goood as anyone but unless they work very, very, very hard at school the likehood is that someone thicker and less charismatic than they are will snatch important opportunities from under their noses, by dint of having had an expensive education which will give them an air of confidence and entitlement, and probably better exam grades.

Don't think it's a bad thing to encourage your children to want to develop a keen sense of inequality.

Currently, one state, one private. From August I will have three of them at private schools.

We went with our local (good reputation) primary school for 5years for ds1 before eventually getting fed up and jumping ship.

From the point of view of ds1 it is the best move we ever made.