To think instead of paying for DD's schooling we could give her 250K cash for her 18th birthday?

[LondonMan]

DD is about to turn 3. I have looked at on-line info for local state schools and don't like what I see. For three of the nearest primary schools where I've managed to locate statistics, two have over 90% of children with English as an additional language, and one over 80%. The schools all have bottom or (rarely) second-from-bottom quintile performance in all subjects, in Ofsted reports. All local state schools are likely to be similar, because they are teaching the same demographic, children of local social-housing tenants, mostly Bangladeshi. (From long experience living in the area, virtually all non-social-housing parents leave the area once they have children.)

We don't want to move because we are near DW's job.

DW is hoping to get DD into the 14th nearest state school (which is only 0.7miles away) using their religious criteria. That school has excellent Ofsted results, "only" two-thirds of pupils have English as an additional language, though apparently one third arrive speaking no English at all.

There is also a just-opened foundation secondary which might be an OK option later.

I suspect we won't get into the good state primary school and will end up private all the way, which we can afford. There is a top girl's school nearby, and the fees are actually slightly less than the 15K a year we spend on nursery care at the moment.

I've calculated that if we don't send DD to private schools for 13 years, and invest the money instead, with average luck (5% return) we'd be able to give her about £250K cash instead.

The title question is mostly rhetorical. I expect that DD will not end up in the sub-par schools, whatever we decide. I'm just a bit bemused by the situation and thought I'd give you all something to comment on.

[Pigsmummy]

Ipare PIL's a pain in the ass?

[seeker]

The OP's wife is an EAL adult. Oh the irony!

[LondonMan]

Yes..they are likely to perform badly because the children live in social housing?

In reply to you and everyone else who has been offended by the social housing reference, I will repeat and add to what I explained earlier:-

1. the relevance of all children in schools being from social housing is that no-one who is free to move sends children to these schools.
   
2. I assume the reason the schools are all bottom quintile peformers is because the intake is difficult, i.e. mostly don't have good English. I suppose it's possible that the 13 nearest schools just all have crap teachers though. (Disclaimer, I only actually looked at the nearest seven before giving up hope.)

[Shakey1500]

Well, rhetorically I would say that giving the equivalent amount (that private education would cost) as a cash lump sum is, on face value (excuse pun) a sound idea.

I think an individual determined to succeed in life/chosen career will do, regardless of state or private teaching.

I would probably give it them at, say, 25 rather than 18. Give them a few years to forge a career and learn the true value of money (rent/mortgage/bills) so that it may be spent more wisely than a piss up in Ibiza I would have done at 18

[cory]

If you are worried about EAL children I would steer clear of private schools. Some of those can be very mixed indeed

[manicinsomniac]

City Girls is a fantastic school but I don't know if you can register this late can you?

[manicinsomniac]

Personally, I think a good education is the best thing you can ever buy your child.

Many people can get that for free but, if you can't, then pay for it, your money will be better spent than giving an 18 year old a fortune.

[raisah]

My dh was brought up in a council estate by a single mother (shock horror), all five kids worked their backsides off to get to university. All five are now professionals who can speak a variety of languages & are very successful in their careers. They got where they are today because they had nothing growing up & it gave them the drive to do better. Dont just look at stats, look at the people behind the stats. They too want a good life / education for their kids so dont look down at them just because you have the cash to buy your way out.

[LondonMan]

I mean E1W is my postcode, in case that's not obvious. Maybe someone knows a good state school other than the one I know.

[LondonMan]

Hackney is a tricky one

I'll out myself a little more and say not Hackney, E1W.

[LondonMan]

Not that it's a foregone conclusion they would have DD. There are entrance tests.

[LondonMan]

its naivity to assume that all private schools are good.

I agree, but I believe this one really is good. Since I've partially identified my location by mentioning Canary Wharf, I might as well specify: City of London School for Girls.

[sparklekitty]

My first ever

Hope your DD grows up to be less ignorant than her parent(s)

[LondonMan]

So where exactly do you originate from? Do you work? Could you homeschool?

From a former colony, English is the only language that I'm comfortable with. DW is from a different former colony and was educated in English but it's not her first language.

Retiring this year.

Home schooling is a possibility, but not sure I've got it in me.

[DeskPlanner]

Ooh, my second , and I can't even be arsed to read the thread.

[Tweasels]

EAL doesn't mean not having good English.

It means when they were babies and learned to talk, they spoke a different language. They may have only spoke that language for a year or they may even have been bilingual from birth.

I work with loads of EAL children. Some have picked up English through immersion within a year.

[Schnullerbacke]

I can see why you wouldn't want to send your kids to a school where over 90% of the kids attending have English as a second language. Ew, your precious kids could be in the same class as my kids are, who somehow have managed to be top of their class despite not being native speakers.

And heavens forbid they may learn about other cultures and traditions. Gosh, couldn't have that! I wonder how my poor kids manage to have friends across the school and across the cultures. Maybe you ought to look at results and how well the school is doing instead just looking at the % of non-native English speakers.

Idiot.

[seeker]

EAL simply means that English is not your mother tongue.

Which I would have thought would be sensible to find out for yourself before you started throwing ignorant opinions round......

[LondonMan]

EAL pupils get specialist support certainly (well they do if the school is good) but this is not to the detriment of the others in the class. Total immersion is often the best ways for children to learn a new language, especially in play-based learning such as Reception.

How does immersion work if 90% don't have good English? Although I may be wrong in assuming that"not having good English"' is what EAL means.

[AvrilPoisson]

I don't think you can put a price on a good education tbh.
What is there to debate?

People on MN often trot out the line 'oh I went to a rubbish school, I still got into a redbrick and got a good degree, job etc' yadda yadda. Well, times have drastically changed. Schooling is very different to 20, 30, or more years ago. At least it is in the maintained sector.

I think parents will have a shock over the next 10 years, as GCSE is changed back to a linear exam, and A level too. Schools are going to struggle to get children through with high enough results to meet the criteria for their next stage. 2014 is going to be a horrible, tense year for all concerned.

Then of course, there is the non existant job market. People no longer are retiring, positions are not being freed up for those entering the market at the bottom end. If you think the youth unemployment figures are worrying now, give it a few more years when things will be completely terrifying. It will become dog-eat-dog as Y13s don't make the grades for university (or decide 'fuck that, I'm not paying what is effectively a graduate tax for the next 30 years' and don't even apply), and start to take the jobs that would previously have gone to those that aren't 'academic'.

I really, really worry for those children inY7, 8, 9 currently.

[HomeEcoGnomist]

Boarding school
Then you don't have to move anywhere, since your home criteria are so important

The way that university education's going in this country, I think state school may be a distinct advantage in applying

[FarBetterNow]

There was a school swop years ago on tv.
I think it was Millfield private school in Somerset and a state comp in Hounslow.

It was very interesting.
Yes, the private school students were, on the whole, arrogant and were quite shocked that the comp kids were way ahead of them in maths and science.

[LondonMan]

EAL is a fact of life in a diverse city like London but the vast majority of children will speak fluent English.

TBH I would have thought most of Bangladeshi children would have good English, before I read that so many had no English when they arrived at one particular school. I'm projecting from an experience with a different ethnicity, but I wonder if lots of children are sent to Bangladesh to be raised by relatives until school age. Or maybe they are raised by grannies here who have never learned English.

[LondonMan]

I think the OP could invest the money saved from school fees in a buy to let. It would ensure that her daughter has somewhere to live when she is 18. A buy to let definately gives at least a 5% return.

That is exactly what OP's DW would like to do!