Another private school thread

[nearly4o]

I guess iI am looking for endorsement of our schooling approach as I am from very worki mg class background and private school is a lot of money that could be spent paying off mortgage .

We have two DC. DC1 is nearly 7 and going into yr 3 In September. He is in an infant school now and needs to move anyway for yr 3. He had very bad glue ear which delayed him with speaking and impacted his overall progression in reception. That has been fixed now and he has had speech therapy but he is ~1 ye behind academically more or less. Sometimes we aee the other kid's work through the app and it is light-years ahead of our son. He is getting swallowed up in a class of 30. Has said multiple times when he puts his hand up to ask Qs, no one comes
To see him.

Daughter age 5 in reception. Already reading and writing. No concerns.

There is a prep school close by with class size 15. It is no selective and they have space.

The junior school achieves below average results in reading and maths.

The prep is £10k per year plus uniforms etc

I earn £70k plus shares worth between £15k-£20k per year. Husband is leaving his job in May (he has to) and is yet to secure employment but he will have a £10k a year pension.

Mortgage £1600
Plus usual bills probably £3k per month in bills -

My take home is £4K.

I feel a bit queasy about the risk given husband's job situation. But don't want to fail my child.

He does have tuition currently as well once a week.

Don't want to regret not sending him in 4 years when he is even further behind going into secondary school.

Then obvs the question of do we send our daughter as well?

Thoughts ?

Could you send him for a year or two, so he can have the chance to catch up with fundamentals, but then go back to state thereafter?

DS will be 8 when he goes, so wouldn’t be unfair for DD to wait until she was same age. Also, there’s a difference between treating them fairly and treating them the same.

I’m not personally a fan of lots of private tuition at a young age - it’d be better for him to learn to enjoy school whilst catching up on the things he missed in last couple years, rather than sit fed up and ignored in class and miss out on hobbies to make time for private tuition.

Great news that the visit went well !

It does sound small and head sounds good
Hope you feel comfortable with your choice

They offered a 20% discount for his sister for the duration of her stay at the school. Would it be cheeky to ask for 30%?

We are thinking of moving son in April and moving daughter in sept.

@nearly4o

They offered a 20% discount for his sister for the duration of her stay at the school. Would it be cheeky to ask for 30%?

We are thinking of moving son in April and moving daughter in sept.

You can ask but you won't get it. That's a generous discount for two children. At quite a few schools the discount only kicks in for the third child.

Small schools have small profit margins and many are really struggling at the moment.

You’ve made a good decision. I hope both your dcs will be happy and thrive.
But I absolutely disagree with posters who say if you send one dc to private you must send the other. Yes, if you can afford it, great, but if not, there’s no point denying both. Different children have different needs and will thrive in different environments. My dd would do fine anywhere and can make herself heard in a class of 5 or 30. DS needs a lot more hand holding and individual attention. Giving them the same opportunities doesn’t necessarily mean doing the exact same thing for both.

@nearly4o

Went to visit the school this morning. It has less than 100 students across all pre prep and prep. The teachers were friendly and the head teacher said all the right things about pastoral care.

Is there a way you can check their books to see how financially stable they are? That seems very small? Lots of small private schools are closing at the mo!

We sent both our two to prep. school at a similar age, was the best thing we did for them filled in a bursary application although we didn't think we would be in the running for one but were success full in getting a decent bit off. Many schools also do a discount for siblings. As for uniform. I don't know a private school without a second hand uniform and sports equipment shop. It's the done thing to recycle things in upper class cycles, always has been so no stigma involved there. Everything including lunches, snacks and high tea if staying late was included. Go for it.

The school is part of a wider group of 40 schools

The Ltd company made a loss of 38million in 2020 due to covid. Profit of 1 million in 2019.

I have gone back as far as 2016 where it looks like they were making profit of around 3million each yr.

The accounts seem to be saying that they think they will recover

@nearly4o

The school is part of a wider group of 40 schools

The Ltd company made a loss of 38million in 2020 due to covid. Profit of 1 million in 2019.

I have gone back as far as 2016 where it looks like they were making profit of around 3million each yr.

The accounts seem to be saying that they think they will recover

Do you mind sharing the name of the Oreo school? I only ask as people might know if it and give you honest feedback on whether it's worth sending your kid to?

Or maybe start a new thread on MN with a different user name to get experiences of people who sent their kids there.

I'm a big advocate of sending to prep (if you can afford it, of course). I intend to send mine this year but I did ask for as much feedback and experiences as I possible could.

Another thing you could do is hire an education consultant who can give you unbiased advice on the prep school(s) in your area that would suit your son's needs. I did a quiche google search and this showed up www.williamclarence.com/school-placement/prep-school-placement. Not sure if they're good but I'm sure there are many others out there that you can pick from. It's a one off payment and you can hopefully get more guidance. I did consider using one of them but in the end I just downloaded results and selected the most academic prep, which suits my daughter's personality.

Education is truly the best investment and you have to do what's best for your kids :) we're not particularly well off or anything but we have a small house so very low mortgage which has allowed us to afford prep school. I see it as something that I'm gifting my child and her generations.

Sorry I meant to say prep school not Oreo school lol

@Corcory

We sent both our two to prep. school at a similar age, was the best thing we did for them filled in a bursary application although we didn't think we would be in the running for one but were success full in getting a decent bit off. Many schools also do a discount for siblings. As for uniform. I don't know a private school without a second hand uniform and sports equipment shop. It's the done thing to recycle things in upper class cycles, always has been so no stigma involved there. Everything including lunches, snacks and high tea if staying late was included. Go for it.

Can I ask, what's the criteria for bursary applications? I'm sure it differs from school to school but I was Under the impression it was for people in dire circumstances. I'm by no means that. We're middle income but if we could get a bursary I would try for it. Thank you and pls excuse my bad English I'm not from the UK, this is not my native language.

I would look into getting tutoring instead of private. Serious and focussed tutoring will do more than private. And your buy in with tutoring homework will substantially increase its value.

My kids are at private and then school’s marketing is shit hot and what goes on when your kid gets there is bluntly inferior to the sales pitch.

@littlebitmermaid for our local private schools, the family income needs to be lower than 68k

I have taught in numerous private and state schools. In my experience, SEN can be atrocious in some private schools and often better in the state system. The SEN departments in the private schools I worked in only really catered for dyslexia. Although well meaning, didn't really have a clue. Also I would be really concerned about such a school small, even if part of a group. I have know private schools in similar circumstances literally shut down overnight. They are businesses and can be very cut throat. I am not saying don't make the move- but just tread really carefully and don't be taken in by the private school sales pitch. All that glitters is not gold. There are some really wonderful private schools, but they usually have waiting lists, particularly in the South East.

I have had some direct feedback from the parents who say that the school really does tailor themselves to the children and that they really understand the differences.

Of course there is risk with the 2021 losses tbe school parent company made but still I think we will go ahead.

In the instance that we have to go back to state - the school will have all his friends in it anyway.

Wonderful

No need to comment further … maybe in a couple of years , a review

Good luck op