to wonder why people send their children to private schools?

[TheStripyGruffalo]

People I know have done it for various reasons a) because they want their children to get all A* grade b) because they don't want their children mixing with the people at the local comprehensive and c) because they think it looks good to have children at a private school.

If you send your children private do you mind saying why? I'm genuinely interested (and I'm not a journalist). We didn't choose private schools because we thought our DC would not be comfortable being amongst the poorest families there.

You cannot forbid private schools if we are to remain signed up the ECHR. As long ago as the 1960s (in a case from Belgium) the Court decided that States may not impose a monopoly on the provision of education. Good thing too.

Thing is if your child is naturally gifted them they will probably do well whatever school theyre in.

Private schools do well at getting average children fantastic grades and the life choices that follow.

bertrand

Fairplay, that was a bit of a bollocks post

To answer your question about people moving to catchment, we have one school that's excellent and anybody moving to the area seems to live close to this school and the feeder school.
They'll go to church to attend and there is trouble every year about who gets a place and who is missed out.
In a full school year it's amazing how many children and parents join church groups, the choir, help at sales etc.
I know in some areas it's more prevalent than others from threads on here, we only have the one school where it happens.

In France there are very few private schools.

Because their day to day experience is fantastic. The facilities are outstanding. Not just sport and music but art and textiles too. The comprehensive list of visitors to the school including the prep really is remarkable. Not just authors and artists either. Once when ds2 was in Reception and they were doing the Gruffalo, school had a theatre group come in after they'd gone home then at 7am next morning to literally turn the EYFS area into the 'deep dark wood'. It was magical and they dressed as the characters and spent the day in character. The kids were mesmerised. Cost ££££ of course but he is now 10 and still talks about it. Also,another group transformed the Y5 corridor and library into a Victorian street. They had machines giving off smells and everything.
I teach Victorians to my Y6s. I like to think I bring it to life as much as possible but what I wouldn't give for some of the resources my boys have used and seen.
This is just a small example of what I mean by overall experience. The utterly love school and cannot wait to go every morning.

It does make a difference to achievement. The most able may still leave with good results, but with no work ethic, or any idea what it's like to make an effort. Which means they either are disillusioned enough not to continue with education, or are suddenly forced for the first time ever at degree level to realise they can't just blank out lecturers, whizz through work, ignore revision and still hope to get top results. The very able but not quite as much so won't get those top results of the school is shit.

If everyone feels so strongly private is unfair, then I assume they feel the same about the inequality of comprehensives. In which case feel free to join up and put your children in the worst you can find to improve them. But till you are prepared to sacrifice your own child to the greater good, don't take the moral high ground about those of us who aren't prepared to put our kids in them either.

Sorry, that was to Leavingsosoon.

People send their children to private schools because:

1. They are elitist (Tory voters) and believe that the richest people should get the best of everything.

1. They want to buy their child lots of wealthy, well-connected friends to help them in their future career.

Most people I know who go private have not really thought about why.

They could simply not conceive if sending their kids to state! Even a private day school is quite a daring move (compared to a proper public school)

Sending their kids to a comp would simply be inconceivable.

Lurkedforever - what you describe isn't borne out by the figures. DC from state schools do better at university, not worse.

From personal experience I'm always bemused by the comment that pupils from lower achieving state schools will somehow be overwhelmed by going to university. I'd say it's the opposite, they'll be the ones who make the most of whatever opportunities are open to them.

"no one wants their child to be in a class with the mad the sad and the bad".

How fucking insulting.

My dc's go to a state primary in a very deprived area where nearly a third of the children are on free school meals.

These children are neither mad, nor sad nor bad. They're just kids whose parents are poor.

IguanaTail - there are masses of private schools in France!

Buying into a good catchment area certainly happens

So does renting for a year or so it was assumed by two estate agents that's is what I was doing but if catchment area was taken into account

Made no difference as the school is so over subscribed that ds didn't have a chance but he got into a school that must have a bigger catchment area and was so different in standard

Thing is if your child is naturally gifted them they will probably do well whatever school theyre in.

Not necessarily. If they become bored and disengaged they can simply switch off which is what had started to happen with our then 6 year old. We moved her to an independent school where she was expected to work to her potential rather than 'she's doing what we expect her to and we have to concentrate on the lower performers'. She loved the challenges she was given.
We wanted our DCs to do the best they could because of their education, not despite it.

Mini

You can be 'fucking insulted' if you choose to be, except I didn't say 'the poor, the mad, the sad and the bad' now did I?

I have pointed out throughout that it's a rather unpleasant state of affairs for the parents who's children wouldn't dream of misbehaving but don't have the luxury of money to educate their children privately. They just have to put up with it.

Ds has just started private, and I did it for many reasons. My local state is outstanding, but he was going to be in a year of 60 with 4 teachers - when I dropped him off he would have to go sit on the carpet with 59 other kids. It terrified me that he would be swamped. His current year group has 14, and there are 2 TAs alongside his teacher in there permentanrly.

Also, I am a lone parent. I feel like I fucked up giving Ds the start in life that he got. My brothers privately educate their kids and just for once I didn't want to be the black sheep of the family with Ds being looked down on by the rest of my family.

Also, Ds dad would not have paid for me to move to an area with good schools, but he will pay the school fees in place of maintenance. Financially, this way, Ds gets more (even though im perma-broke!)

Oh, and last thing - flexibility is brilliant. I drop off at 8am and later on I can pick up at 6pm for no cost. They have a friday night fun sleepover for kids to board and it's only £25 extra (obviously when Ds is older!) which means that later down the line I may be able to reclaim a social life.

I think that's the reasons so far. I love Ds school. Its perfect for him and he's blossoming. It comes with massive sacrifice for me, but it's do-able and I am relieved all the time for that.

it definitely makes a difference to achievement.
If your peers are engaged and wanting to learn rather than disrupt and torture the teacher, you will gain a much better education and do better, obviously.

mini
Unfortunately in some schools the children are mad, sad and bad.
My ds1 had to attend such a school. There is a huge difference between schools in the state sector.
Your children go to a very good state school where they can gain a place through selection. Not all schools are like this and some just have to go to the poorest schools where parents don't give a shit, children behave appallingly and nobody gives a damn

"But till you are prepared to sacrifice your own child to the greater good, don't take the moral high ground about those of us who aren't prepared to put our kids in them either."

Oddly, the areas with the best comprehensives are also the areas with the highest number of children in private schooling.

I work in an "excellent across all categories" private school. My DC go to an outstanding nearby comp. There doesn't seem to be a big difference TBH. The comp probably has better, state of the art science and art facilities (rebuilt during the building schools for the future programme), and the private school more outside space an on site sports facilities.

I could afford to move mine to the private school but don't feel the need.

DH and I visited our local state schools, and several private schools within easy travel distance/time, and made the decision to send our son to one of the private schools as we felt it was the best fit for him.

"Unfortunately in some schools the children are mad, sad and bad."

No - they're not.

They may not be properly engaged with the educational process, but they're NOT 'bad', they're not 'mad' and they're not (mostly) 'sad'.

TBH the 'saddest' children I've ever met have all been in private schools (I was privately educated so I'm speaking from experience).

Self harming, depression and eating disorders are absolutely rife in some of the highest achieving private schools.

I'd make the amendment that some parents don't give a shit and some children behave appallingly in the interests of fairness, NewLife - I taught in a really dire school as an NQT - it was utterly shite - and we still had plenty of perfectly pleasant, polite children.

However, we did also have some who wouldn't have been out of place in a travelling circus and of course that's the crux of the issue: if you've got a class of twenty five students and twenty are behaving just fine, thank you very much, but five are throwing things out of the windows, attacking the other students and locking the head of MFL in a cupboard, how much will the other twenty get out of the lesson?

I was privately educated as well and while I agree private schools do breed their own types of middle class problems for the (mostly female) students, they are nothing LIKE the problems at Grime Street Comp!

sadik yes, the ones that go do well. I'm just pointing out as high achievers they are still disadvantaged by having been at a crap school. What about the ones that don't bother? The kids that go on to a-level from my local are about the same as some comps have going on to uni. Getting something like the stem grades at a-level for competitive courses is possible for the most able from dual science still, but what about the ones that are still high achievers but not so able they can just catch up on what they missed in a matter of weeks at the start of y12? Catching up on 5years of latin or classics at the start of y12 must be a bastard unless you are incredibly able at languages.

I pay for my childrens' education because I am able to send them to the schools which suit them best - which happen to be two different, but equally selective schools - both within walking distance. I do not believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to education, and the private system, particularly in West London, has many different sorts of schools which cater to different needs...if you can pay for it. Advantage certainly is not on my agenda, and I have no plans to remain forever in this country, and definitely do not intend for my children to remain here for A levels, let alone university. I wanted schools which have as little government intervention in their studies which offer well rounded and rigorous course of studies in an environment which best suit their personalities. Luckily, I have the means to pay and have the variety of schools available to make such a choice.