AIBU to say private school children are much sportier & better musicians?

[Denimrevival]

Just on the back of comparing with friends & family with dc in private schools. The kids & their families are all naturally sporty & outdoorsy anyways but the school provides a vast range of sports with it's own pool & swim team.
Musically their kids all play 2 or three instruments all at least grade 4 or 5..
How do these private schools do the academics, music & sports to such a high standard? Do they also have a very good base if the kids are having sport & music reinforced outside school through their families lifestyles?

This. DDs friend in an independent finished for summer on Friday. I know most private schools finish next week but still. They aren't going back till 6/7th Sept so that's at least 8 -9 weeks off. She also had 2 weeks off in Oct, 3.5 at Xmas, nearly 4 at Easter and the normal May and Feb half terms. She has lessons till 4:30pm everyday though and compulsory clubs till 6pm most days. I much prefer the state school calendar tbh. The private school days are far too long.

I think most finish around 1600 in senior school and 1530 in primary but may have changed

I tutored my 4 dc myself, just bought some Bond books and did them everyday with them. They received subsidised violin/ piano lessons at their state primary and dd3 did ballet,tap and modern ( very reasonably priced) and athletics ( again cheap activity). We are on benefits and were entitled to free school meals at the time ( just earn a little too much now but still get uc and council tax support). Eldest two are Cambridge graduates, ds just missed out at interview ( covid years) and the school have just recommended dd3 apply as she should easily get all 9s next year at gcse.

If you ask dd she say she much prefers longer holidays. Her school day is 8.30 to 5.15 with Saturdays.

That's interesting. My DD would absolutely hate that. I do wish the half terms were slightly longer. I don't feel a week is enough. 10 days would be perfect.

Ds wasn't particularly musical when he started private school at age 11 and was looking to stop violin lessons which he had taken at his state primary. By the time he left the school he had achieved top grades in both violin and piano, the school gave free lessons for the music theory exam so he took that in year 9 and he was lead violinist in the school orchestra. He also played violin in a jazz band! He had a severe speech delay which was overcome by years of speech therapy before he started the school and at his school he ended up taking grade 8 acting (lamda) and got a distinction. He also went from being non sporty to loving rowing and rugby fives. Games was compulsory all through the school and one afternoon a week was dedicated to it as well as a lesson on another day and practice and matches( for all levels) on a Saturday after school. We may be poor but my dc have the confidence to take on the world!

Dd thinks its worth it for the long holidays. She finished yesterday. They also get a huge amount done in the day.

I can believe that. She must have incredible stamina. Is it not difficult to return to such long days after so long off? I guess as my DD has profound dyslexia, I can't imagine her managing so long concentrating.

It's tiring but they seem to cope fine. They have long lunch breaks and a tea break. They all seem to have plenty of energy. She has a really short commute though which helps.

Sounds like a very similar experience to mine!
Loved that we had games every week (probably hated it at the time, especially hockey season!) and weekly matches of netball/rounders against other schools.

I’m very fond of my school days and won’t say a bad word about them. I do put that down to the kind of school I went to. I’d love to send my daughter to the same school when the time comes but we’ll see what the finances say!

Ah yes! The lunch breaks. My DDs friend has 1hr20mins and she manages to swim in that and eat! It's interesting as over the course of the week, DDs friend doesn't have more lessons than DD. It all equals out as they have games all afternoon on Wednesday and no sat school. Not sure how they cover the whole curriculum tbh, their classes are the same or larger than DDs.

Oops! Meant to respond to @Manthide with this

Self selected pushy parents

You don't go to private school if your parents don't have certain expectations of you and the school.

Therefore the school have to provide these opportunities that state school doesn't/ can't.

Some of it will be access to equipment as much as anything.

That doesn't mean they are more talented. Far from it. More trained.

I took ds aged 9 to open days at two reasonably local private schools just to see what he thought of them. Ds had had a lot of difficulties with severe speech delay, bilateral sensory processing disorder and he didn't learn to read until he was about 8 because phonics did not work for him. I was worried that he would be bullied at the local upper school. He loved them both and as he was quite behind he agreed to do Bond books everyday starting with the youngest age group going to 11+. It was a lot of work on both our parts but he was determined. He sat the entrance exams to both schools and both offered him full bursaries. I don't think I'm a pushy parent but if they want something I'll help them achieve it. Ds had an amazing time at school and achieved so much - we are on benefits and he cycled 9 miles each way, rain or shine as we couldn't afford the bus fare.

Kids from wealthy families do better at activity which requires money - hold the front page. And kids at schools with better sports facilities and more sport on offer do better at sports. Honestly, who on earth could have predicted that? 🙄

I agree. My son has the same violin teacher at the private school he is now at as at the state primary he was at - by total coincidence as they are geographically quite far apart. The difference is that when I go to concerts at the private school the kids sit still and pay attention. At the state school some could be really disruptive. His class sizes are bigger at the private school too but he says all the kids want to learn and know there will be big trouble if they are disruptive.

All schools are different, but our school has around 36 teaching hours a week (including sport, but music lessons and extra curricular activities are on top of that). Our local state school has 25 hours. Even with the extra 5 weeks holiday a year, there is still a vast difference in teaching hours over the course of a year. It’s the equivalent of several weeks extra teaching a year, even taking account of the long holidays.

I know not everyone agrees with longer days and it wouldn’t suit every child.

I work in a private school.

the first thing to note is that the teachers are exceptional. Often university professors rather than career school teachers.

and of course the resources are almost unlimited.

and they study from 8am until 6pm every day. From 3pm in our school it’s all extra-curricular activities.

but the main thing to note is that actually it’s really common for private schools to produce very poor exam results overall because the kids aren’t particularly smart, they’re just wealthy.

You said all for free- is it a state school or a private school but clubs included?

My daughter went to ordinary primary school, where she began learning the flute. She continued through secondary school, where she took Music A level, and gained grade 8 flute exam and went on to a music degree at Uni. She is now a secondary school music teacher. She pretty much has to fight for everything for her department as it is not given the same respect as ‘academic’ subjects… How anybody can say music is not ‘academic’ escapes me… she had to work bloody hard on music theory!!!

I went on a scholarship to a private boarding school for sixth form. It would not have been an option if my parents had to pay all fees. For me, the opportunities that were available to me were greater, the class sizes were smaller. We did longer days - 8.30-4.15 and we had to participate in a extra
curricula activities. I chose netball and choir - but I had my horse at school with me too and this formed part of my lesson timetable. We did prep Monday-Thursday 7-9 and had teachers on rotation for prep duty. This meant I had access to 1-2-1 help with work.
without a doubt I would send my DC if I could afford it/ if they were able to get a scholarship. I don’t think it means better results, but has much better opportunities.

In terms of inherent personality traits, of course it’s not true. In terms of the opportunity to develop musical & sporting ability, clearly private schools facilitate that in a way state schools don’t - just as they’ll drag children to vastly higher grades than they’d ever have achieved in even a good state school 🤷‍♀️

I am certainly not lying about the 2.50pm as I time mmy drive to the post office with work things day after day to get down there before then as that is when it gets busier! However I agreetht is one school - a fairly failing one in outer London and we are surrounded by state schools in our area that do very well - QE Barnet (state) eg is not that far away
I agree private schools have longer holidays. They do have to provide their buildings whereas state schools are given them by the stae (or church if C of E) I suppose a comparison might up the state school money a bit to cover that aspect rather than just compare funding per pupil with the school fees.

Probably a few factors, the main one being funding and therefore the ability to afford specialist staff. State schools have had their funding cut to the point that they can't afford TAs or resources, teachers are exhausted, let alone be able provide any decent "extra curricular" provision, or specialist teaching in normal hours.

Teachers work less hours in state schools?!?!?!? Omg I've heard it all now.🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Correction: there are LESS Teachers, the workload is unmanageable, they're dropping like flies in many schools. In a private school, they can pay for enough teachers to provide top notch education.