to ask if you can afford a 'private' school in the UK but have chosen to send your child/children to a state school why?

[Foreverexhausted]

My three year old DD has just started a nursery attached to a fee paying school. I chose the nursery because it is by far the best nursery in the area but unfortunately we can't afford to send her to the school itself as fees are £15k per year per child and we have two children.

We have friends who could afford private schooling but their children are in state schools and then others who can't afford it but are just scraping by because they like the status of children attending a private school.

Me: Really am pissing off now!!

@Nightmare: My friend lives in a part of London known for being ethnic and recently pulled him out of public school...

Juuust in time

Late to the party and I will probably be hugely flamed for this but what the hell. My friend lives in a part of London known for being ethnic and recently pulled him out of public school

Yeah you'll probably get "flamed" for being racist. What a shocker.

Nothing gets people going like the private school debate.

Not got time to read debate. DD is state educated. I don't see how moving her to a private school would harm the state sector. Ridiculous notion.

It's not really ridiculous hairy. Many of those who privately educate have admitted it does, though they may or may not feel any guilt about that.

My DD is a baby so she is not in school currently but, when she reaches school age she will be sent to a State school. I am a strong advocate that all children should have an equal chance to obtain a good education and am wholly against private education as I think it’s massively unfair and I say this having the resources to send my DD to a private institution. I don’t think my child should be academically advantaged over the less fortunate just because I am lucky enough to be able to afford private education.

@Didsomeonesaybunny you are in the thinking that private school is a better academic education. It isn't. It's what suits an individual.

To paraphrase Graham Norton- rich people should pay their taxes willinglybecause they'll still be rich, and the country will be a nicer place to live.

By definition there must be some marginal category of would be rich people who are only just missing the bar of “rich” wherever you might set it by the amount they pay in tax - and given the distribution of incomes this group will be the larges group among the rich or nearly rich :p

“Late to the party and I will probably be hugely flamed for this but what the hell. My friend lives in a part of London known for being ethnic and recently pulled him out of public school”

Yes because it’s so well known that the “non ethnics” of Wales or Norfolk or somewhere similar are positively thriving in comparison, with no behaviour issues at all.

Maybe you would call my DC “ethnic” too - in their London independent most probably are.

It’s not about ethnicity - it’s social deprivation and parental attitude.

"it's what is suited to the individual" is a bit of a cop out concept though isn't it when some individuals might be entirely suited to a particular private school but not be able to go.

I don't see how moving her to a private school would harm the state sector

Clearly state educated

Because I wa state educated and my friends (Russell group 95% privately educated 3-18) are no better qualified than me nor happier. However (massive generalisation coming); I never have a any feelings of underachievement that I see said friends grappling with. Compared to my peers I massively overachieved academically and without any pressure to do so. Hence working in chosen field having done chosen undergrad and post grad. I guess what I’m saying is the ‘achievements’ in life (for me now) seem to be happiness and contentment - and those are just as attainable coming from state v private. Lastly. I know me......my expectations would massively rise if I saw those cheques leaving my account each month. DH is also successful and left school at 16 (versus me leaving uni after six gruelling years) so he wouldn’t have had gone down that route either. Horses for courses. This is just one story. Do what make your feel happy.

Didsomeonesaybunny
I am a strong advocate that all children should have an equal chance to obtain a good education and am wholly against private education as I think it’s massively unfair and I say this having the resources to send my DD to a private institution. I don’t think my child should be academically advantaged over the less fortunate just because I am lucky enough to be able to afford private education.

Very contradictory to the many posters on here who agree that state education is just as academic and probably even better than private. If state education is just as good and they will all end up at the same universities, then why worry about people who are willing to throw their money to pay for a service which they could receive for free? Surely this shouldn't be an issue?

Also, as you can also afford private school but choose not to, I am assuming that you will then have a very sizeable disposable income which you will then spend on enriching your dd and giving her experiences which may make her stand out from some of her peers. There are many kids who are state educated who do not have the benefit of attending music and sports lessons, trips to the museums or go on very luxurious holidays. Your dd will have access to those t privileges but please correct me if I am wrong.

Yes @longestlurkerever but the question was if you can afford it and pp can afford it but is sending DC to state education, so not a cop out in the context.

Meh yes and no. The pp you were responding to didn't want her DC to have access to education that was denied to others. Yes there will be other advantages open to privileged children who attend state school but perhaps education, like health, is somewhat apart from other extras

Good point @longestlurkerever

At the last count 3/4 of the secondary schools in our County were “failing” Why wouldn’t we go private?!?

I am just fortunate enough to send DC to private school, I see it as fortunate as it opens up vast opportunities not necessarily academic opportunity.

So in your county, instead of the 79% Ofsted Good or above which is average for England's secondaries as a whole (more primaries are good or above, hence the 89% of all schools being good or above), 75% are RI or in Special measures?

Or are you using negative Progess 8 as a measure of 'failing'?

Yes, I think people's definitions of "failing" can vary hugely. For some posters, state schools are either "failing" or "leafy". Not sure why OFSTED don't adopt them as descriptors.......

Our main sticking points were taken straight from the Ofsted report. Notwithstanding the distance issue (we would have probably made that work for a good school) the things from Ofsted that mainly concerned us (other than the big “special measures” tag!) were:-

*incredibly high staff turnover which resulted in disruption
*comments surrounding year staff not able to work together and not adequately meeting all children’s needs through their planning.
*due to the high proportion of EAL children, the report noted that such effort was put into teaching English that all other areas of the curriculum suffered.
*very poor SEN department.

Yes, Bert. There i also a peculiar circularity about some of the arguments:

"Private schools offer a better all-round educational experience than state schools"

"Actually, IME state schools, especially supplemented by community-based extra-curricular activities, give an equally good, if different, all-round educational experience for my child."

"No, your view doesn't count, because your school and your extra-curricular provision is good, so your view that this experience is comparable to that available in many average private schools is invalid."

"Why?"

"Because your experience is good. It can't be counted, because your school is good and your extracurricular opportunities are good. Your views only count if both of these are bad."

"???"

Can I just divert the discussion with a rather extreme example.

My local comp is dire. It is known as Yob Central.
It has over 400 empty spaces
it went for two terms without a single permanent science teacher
the results are academically atrocious
even the vocational courses are not well taught
BUT
Ofsted will never slag it off because its a new build school run by a favoured academy chain
and those two facts are also why 400 local families send their kids anywhere else

If we all sent our kids there its results would MASSIVELY improve
BUT
when the school was handed to that chain against the will of EVERY parent in Catchment its fate was sealed

Ofsted is pretty meaningless when a school only has the pupils of parents who do not care

but the key point is that private schools have little impact on 90% of the population
proper, equal funding of state schools would make fee paying irrelevant for all but snobs

sadly it will never happen in the UK

Fuck me @Ta1kinpeace I was with you until you called me a snob