To ask if you would send a child to a private school only for primary?

[Completelyhypothetical]

The reason I would consider this is because with wraparound care included it would work out the same price as state school plus childminders and or after school clubs.

However would it be then emotionally distressing for the child to be withdrawn?

This is a hypothetical scenario by the way!

There’s no way I could afford it beyond year 2 - the fees are £16,000 a year for juniors, rising again for senior.

Oh you mean only for infants? That makes sense why so cheap. No I wouldn't personally.

Well then, don't do it. It would potentially be very difficult for your child to be taken away from his friends and plonked somewhere new, larger and unfamiliar, surrounded by established friendships. The first 3 years of school are very play based anyway - more about developing socially and emotionally so I struggle to think how a private school would be so much better than a state, and any potential slight benefit does not stack up against the possible set back if moving after 3 years. Plus you can use the money you save by going state (now we have confirmed it is indeed cheaper even with wraparound) for enrichment activities like holidays.

Plus you might not get a place in state going into year 3.
Another consideration - assume your state is in walking distance and private school likely a bit further away? Having their school friends within walking distance is an incredible benefit. I didn't realise how good that was until he started school and has at least 2 playdates a week at friend's houses. Far easier when they're one road over! And walking to school is ace.

If it is only for infants, and the state schools are all-through primaries, research which state schools typically have places in Year 3 ... then compare those schools with the one(s) you would get a place in for reception.

Private school for 3 years followed by 'whatever school is undersubscribed' is VERY unlikely to be better than 'decent state primary all through' UNLESS your local primary is very poor.

You need to do the whole of primary or don't do it at all.

I could understand it for the whole of primary and then trying for a good state secondary but I wouldn’t do it just for infants.

I wouldn’t do it just for infants , it needs to be until 11 or not worth the bother especially as you will be relying on a space becoming available at a suitable and decent primary .

our DD has been at state primary but is going to private secondary in September. we have great primaries but our catchment secondary is awful and the others are oversubscribed so not a chance of getting in out of catchment. I can see far more benefit of secondary private education over primary but I think if you start in primary you have to see it through, it will be so tough on them to change. As an aside, are you sure you ve done the maths correctly? the school DD is going to charges 11k a year for junior fees, and that's lower than average, I can't see how wraparound care can cost that much? ?

ooops just seen op has agreed it's not actually cheaper! still think its more worthwhile for secondary though and the change to state would be tough. I am overwhelmed by the difference between state and private and she's not even started yet! !

Yea

Your posts seem confused, first you categorically say that the private option is the same cost as the state school for primary, that you say it isn't, then you say you're only talking about up to year 2.

Is this an actual problem you are facing?

I would, the children often do their 11+ and go to grammar schools. If that's something you're against, I still would. Having a good education during that age is still super important and the kids that went to my secondary school from private, were often in top set and did well in GCSEs.

Oh, so not for primary then? Just until the end of KS1? Then no, I probably wouldn't do that. The child then has to be removed from their class and placed in a state school half way through. The only time I would do this is if the schools were actually separated as infant and junior and the infant school was a shit Ofsted rating and the junior school wasn't.

seriously, I wouldn't. DS works in education and deals often with private schools. She said a huge amount of teachers (at least in the cheaper schools) don't have any teaching qualifications. She recently had a case where the teacher didn't even have A-levels. Apparently, it is much cheaper and more profitable for private school to employ unqualified staff

This is not at all usual.

Yes. It’s really common where I am at the moment actually for children to go to the grammar school after prep (or rather part way through). It won’t traumatise them unless they have no resilience whatsoever in which case it will be a good opportunity to learn. And ignore pps comments about him being teased at his desitunation school. It’s better that he learns how to do things properly and gets teased than he doesn’t learn at all.

@TildaTurnip the most inspirational and excellent teacher I had at school didn't have QTS. However, she had a PhD had lecturer at Cambridge and Harvard and despite my dyslexia she inspired a life long love of literature in me.
My DD is at a private school and yes not every teacher has QTS when they arrive, but her school selects individuals who are passionate and inspirational about their subject. They all are the enrolled and complete their QTS.
Going back to the original post in pre-prep and junior the combination of wrap around care ( 7.30am to 6.30pm), school lunches and clubs being included was only fractionally more expensive than state. But to get DD to those clubs I would have had to reduce my working hours and so decreased my income. I got a discount on the holiday scheme that school ran so that was actually cheaper during state school holidays.
The numbers did add up in my case.

I’m not saying independent schools don’t employ teachers without QTS but the post I quoted implied it was common and that is not true, especially in pre prep/prep.

If the private school is only an option until the end of Year 2, then I’d be wary of going private unless you’re in an area with lots of separate infant / junior schools.

If most of your local state primary schools are for Reception through to Year 6, then when you look to move your DC at the end of Year 2, you’ll essentially be stuck with whichever schools have spare places as your choices. These will not necessarily be schools you’d have had a good chance of getting into if applying for normal Reception admissions. They may not be schools you like or schools near you.
So IMO it’s a bit risky going private for primary school if you know you can’t financially keep them there until Year 6.