Do alot of private school students also use external tutors ?

[midgemaisel1]

This is a Private School vs State School plus tutors thread. Posting in AIBU for traffic.

I am in the process of looking at state and private secondaries. My DC are currently in primary state. They are both currently in the middle sets and doing ok.
DC1 is studious (but has mild ASD) and loves science but I am concerned that in a state secondary she will not have the opportunity to do triple science as they tend to only allow those that are in top set. The private school we are looking at allows majority of it's students to take triple science.
DC2 loves Maths but needs structure and to be pushed.

I went to state and private, and thrived in private as the class size is smaller. I'm easily distracted (so are my children), so in state I would tend to do the minimum whereas I was pushed in private school. I am aware that the quality of teaching in both varies from teacher to teacher.

I cannot afford to send them to private school AND pay tutors, so my question is: if your child is at private school, do you feel the need to pay for tutors as well, especially as they are approaching G.C.S.E.'s and A-Level's ?

I don't think it's the private schools not doing enough to get the children through GCSEs, there seems to be a a really high expectation among some parents who want their children to get nothing short of 10 A* so that they can get into the 6th forms of choice where the intake is 40 each year and the number of applicants exceeds 500.

I'm not aiming for 10 A* or anywhere near.
I just want them to have the opportunity to continue to A-Level stage and i'm not fussy about where.
So for example, if you want to take Maths or Science A-Level locally (including state), you have to get A or 7.
For many of the science A-levels they are asking for A or 7 as well.

My 3 DC at private. Eldest did CE and scholarship not ever had private tutoring. Don't know any kids who did/do unless it's music. 1 kid was dyslexic another had sight issues, both were helped directly by the school. One with special tutor (hired by them) and the other with extra time and large print homework. I think if I'm paying for the education I expect not to do any more. School is very acedemic (last year kid scholarship to Windsor eg) but not selective at year 3 entry and day doesn't finish until 5 pm including Saturdays for older kids so extra would be mean!

Lemon
did you have to pay extra for the special tutor or was it included in the standard fees ?

My FIL is a private tutor. The majority of his tutees are in state education and need some extra tuition in the run up to exams. The remainder are home educated

I was at private school & was tutored in maths for year 6 and in French from yr 9-11. My choice both times and we didn't tell people. I think a few people were coached for the KS2/11+ tests but any tutoring in seniors was definitely kept quiet. French, I just wanted to learn ahead & get some 1-1 grammar coaching, the maths- I didn't want to be in the bottom set in seniors, I struggled with the SATs practice and I was so frightened of our dragon of a junior maths mistress I wouldn't go near her so had a tutor instead.

Our private school provides - voluntary! - tutoring for free if they feel the child doesn’t reach their potential. you can take them up on their offer or not - entirely the parents choice

Yes, the top set (Maths) that I am familiar with, current Y11, are all on the Maths A level syllabus now with their tutors.

Daughter did GCSEs last year in private schools - quite a few pupils had additional external tutoring. However my daughter pointed out these were the ones who didn’t make use of the help available eg going to clinics etc. My daughter went to all the additional clinics offered and did really well without external tutoring which we couldn’t have afforded as well.