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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think that senior officers in the armed forces should use state schools for their DCs

227 replies

soul2000 · 15/09/2013 18:30

I think it is wrong that many senior officers have a perk, that in effect is worth 40-50k pa in benefit in kind. There are state boarding schools, grammar schools and all types of state schools available.

Why should public sector employees, have this ludicrous benefit when there are state boarding schools, and if there was more demand more state schools could open boarding houses anyway.

I think this is a throwback to the 19th century, it is totally wrong in todays world. Today schools are having to make massive cut backs in all kind of expenditure, yet some officers DDS/DS are getting lessons in how to stage the perfect dinner party. This paid for by the struggling taxpayer who is forced to educate their DCs by comprehensive..

OP posts:
soul2000 · 17/09/2013 13:09

There are all types of private schools.

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 17/09/2013 13:11

I get the impression you have no idea what you're talking about.

SoupDragon · 17/09/2013 13:11

And you are simply anti-private schooling.

kim147 · 17/09/2013 13:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

soul2000 · 17/09/2013 13:13

Soupdragon. Do you think i am a SOCIALIST ?

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littlemisswise · 17/09/2013 13:15

Soul why can you not get it into your head that the maximum paid in CEA does not cover the top boarding schools? If Forces children are going there their parents are paying a lot of money out of their own pockets!

soul2000 · 17/09/2013 13:17

It still covers up to 70% of the cost though does it not?

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kim147 · 17/09/2013 13:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

littlemisswise · 17/09/2013 13:23

Not for a school like Eton it doesn't.

littlemisswise · 17/09/2013 13:23

Eton is over £10k per term!

kim147 · 17/09/2013 13:26

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

passedgo · 17/09/2013 13:27

It's for the purposes of stability for the child. It means they can board somewhere if it suits them better.

Give these people, that risk their lives to keep us safe, a break.

Bonsoir · 17/09/2013 13:31

It is an odd idea that people working in the public sector shouldn't use private sector services.

soul2000 · 17/09/2013 13:34

There is confusion has to what the maximum amount that can be claimed with Cea.

On page 7, it is said the maximum for senior boarding it is £6454 per term or £19362 pa.

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kim147 · 17/09/2013 13:36

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

soul2000 · 17/09/2013 13:43

It pays 70% of fees for Eton/Harrow though.

I am not saying public sector workers cant use private sector anything.
What i am saying is when the state is paying, in this case Cea (Where Possible) the allowance should be paid back to the public sector.

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NomDeClavier · 17/09/2013 13:47

For everyone who had posted about the reasons why they chose or would choose boarding school you seem to think it's fine. For all you know they may have chosen Etonian or Downe House. But not every Forces child in a private or public boarding school is being subsidised and there's a fixed sum which cannot be exceeded. The rest is at the parents' door, state or private. This perk simply isn't as big as you seem to think it is.

Calopene's example (if you'd read your own thread) is relevant because it could be an example of someone exploiting the system or it could be a family where one spouse happens to be in the Forces choosing to privately board for other reasons. It's not a perk that everyone automatically gets. Why should they have to use a state funded institution if they can pay for an alternative privately? And even if they are getting CEA and can afford to top up to what Eton costs, why shouldn't they free up a place in a state boarding school for someone who needs it? Ditto someone who chooses Downe House and pays the however much extra for the Pru Leith course.

I think it would be highly unusual for someone to choose those schools simply because they're the best. And anyway their DC still have to get in....

CostaLady · 17/09/2013 13:49

It wouldn't even cross my mind to be bothered about this.

CostaLady · 17/09/2013 13:54

And if I hear any more ridiculous arguments being justified by the use of the word 'taxpayer', I may just have to tear off my own arm and beat myself to death with it.

MrsPeeWee · 17/09/2013 14:01

DH is in the army, not an officer, but we have a lot of officer friends/families - none of them send their children to those schools at all. All of their children are in the same classes as my DS, a normal state school. Grin

To any of the officers sending their DC to those schools, so? Walk a mile in their shoes...

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 17/09/2013 14:17

Put it this way, soul2000 - if you were in the Armed Forces, and were living with all that that implies (foreign postings, high risk postings, separation from family etc), and you had the opportunity to send your children to a much better boarding school than you could afford on your own, wouldn't you go for the best school you could?

I have been watching the programme about Harrow that is on Sky1, and I would love to have been able to offer my dses that quality of education, along with all the extra activities and benefits that Harrow offers.

Isn't it human nature to want the best for your children?

prissyenglisharriviste · 17/09/2013 14:25

Ah soul, bless you for being so woefully ignorant.

My y8 was in her 7th (state or free local international) school (and her younger two siblings obviously following in her footsteps) as we chose to keep our children with us. We have lots of friends of all ranks who chose continuity of education over keeping the family together, but the choice isn't easy for anyone involved. Every child needs different things - some children struggle hugely with moving. (There is a whole cohort of research on armed forces children and education - there's a much higher likelihood of sen etc, and a much lower likelihood of any issues getting properly assessed, diagnosed and supported, due to the fact that when you get to the top of the assessment waiting list, you are moved 250 miles, and get out back at the bottom again). Schools are finally realising this and now have to report their levels of armed forces children, and the army families federation and ssafa have been working towards allowing armed forces children to 'port' statements of special educational need, for example, rather than have to get reassessed everywhere they go.

My dd2 has cerebral palsy. No boarding school will touch her. Want to know how easy it is to move abroad with a child with a disability and set up new health and education? Bwahahahaha ha.

Oh, dh got himself blown up, as well, when we were overseas. Wasn't expected to survive, so we had all that hoo ha.

There are a myriad of reasons why armed forces families choose continuity of education for their children. All armed forces families, not just senior officers. A Sergeant and a Brigadier have the same basic decisions to make. Can I bear to be without my kids? Am I being selfish to drag them around the world with me, when I have no choice where we will go, and how often? Am I damaging their education by doing so? (When we turned up in one particular location, I was told 'well, you just have to think of the schooling as an opportunity to star in a movie for a year - they won't learn anything, but it's a fun change'...

Oh, and wives who don't work? dear soul, please do take a look at the huge body of research that exists around spoue's careers of serving personnel. RAND is a fine place to start, but Kings is more UK centric. A little like continuity of education, there's no such thing as continuity of career (or indeed of spousal education - try finishing a masters when you get moved every year) when you can get moved at any point.

In short , you know not of what you speak. So, shush, really. You're embarrassing yourself by continuing to display your ignorance.

littlemisswise · 17/09/2013 15:52

DH is going overseas tomorrow for four months. He is going to a relatively safe place. DS1(18) has just applied to join the Army. He went to state school, as did DS2 (who wants to be a nurse). By the time DH leaves he will have done 30 years, if DS1 gets in he could do the same. DBIL has done almost 30 years in the Navy, DN went to state school.

Most of the Forces children I have met have gone to state schools.

DS1 went to a party one of his friends from school had last weekend. I asked him what it was for, he said "X has just got his dates for Afghan. It's a just incase he dies party!" X is 18. It made my blood run cold. His dad was Army too. If he wants to put his kids into boarding school, if he has any, when they are old enough I don't begrudge him a penny.

Retropear · 17/09/2013 16:14

Applauds the last two posts,sums it up really.

I'll never get my eduction back,ever.Happily I did ok but not as good as I could have done and only because my mother was a teacher.

As a teacher and now as a parent it has brought it all home to me how much harder it is for forces children and families.

Tbh boarding school fees aren't enough imvho.

Sweetsweep · 17/09/2013 16:40

Is your real beef about public and private.

The forces are public funded so they should be using public facilities?
They are "owned" by the state, so they should use state facilities?