To think State education is really poor?

[Boswelian]

We sent our eldest to a taster day at a private school. He was agog. His school don't allow playing on the grass when it's wet. The private school change them into waterproofs and wellies for break. PE 3x a week. Sport every day. Dedicated specialist teaching in art, DT, languages, sciences etc. 16 in a class instead of 30. The difference in the quality of life between the two school has really blown my mind. The state school is "outstanding". The private school reckon DS is 2 years behind their curriculum. We've been told in state that he's meeting expectations. How is this remotely acceptable?

Agree with this.

Privilege also includes having enough money to move house to the catchment of a good school, being able to afford tutors to get your DC into a grammar. Yet no vitriol against these parents!
You will never get a level playing field whilst some people earn 100K+ and others earn 20K. People will always do the best for their own DC, whether that is giving them a deposit for their first house or paying for education.
If you think social democracy works then I suggest you speak to several friends of mine from Soviet states where the bulk of the wealth is shared amongst the elite and the rest of the population scrabble around for what's left.

Oh there are plenty in the state sector who apply- hoards. No shortage of applicants. But precious places are more likely to go to the privately educated with the same exam results. This needs to change.

Really scraping the bottom of the barrel for scaremongering now. A blog.😂

Because most private are selective, have loads of money etc.

Ignore the bit about two years behind. Its rubbish. They will be ahead but not 2 years ahead - a private school will often have a high proportion of more able or tutored children, and they are not 2 years head of the more able in a state school.

Also an "outstanding" state school isn't measured solely on its academic results. A school can be outstanding with a mediocre set of results if starting from a low base and making excellent progress.

Yabvu as every year lots of state school children get excellent grades and head off to our top universities despite being educated with far less teacher attention and money.

“from Soviet states where the bulk of the wealth is shared amongst the elite and the rest of the population scrabble around for what's left.”

This sounds familiar 🧐

Taken into isolation yes but its not in isolation and more evidence is stacking up. Chances are Labour will try to push this through. There will be legal challenges and the ultimate outcome is not known. It is a real possibility that the VAT policy will bring in £0 but that isn't the point of the policy. The policy is intended to do what you are doing: attack the "elite". It has nothing to do with raising standards in state schools.
Labour should just have the balls to admit this.

In my experience of working in both, state schools are actually more regulated: in both the private schools I've worked in, no one has come to see me teach or checked I'm meeting the standards. I also put a lot of time and energy into making the parents feel as though they were getting their money's worth and replying to 100101847474 parent emails complaining about this or that.
I now work in a state school and although we don't have specialist teachers (which is a shame), I do actually spend more time on planning lessons and academics rather than events and showy stuff.
I agree that children get more opportunities in private schools though but that's because they have the money and resources.
I wouldn't say that the level of education in a state school is poor, it's just they don't have as many resources.

Interestingly (and I know this is just anecdotal) DD's best friend at university was privately educated. She needed a tutor for A level chemistry. DD was state educated and achieved the same grade at A level as her friend. If I had been the friend's parent I would have felt cheated at having to pay twice to get my daughter through A levels.

@twistyizzy "Privilege also includes having enough money to move house to the catchment of a good school, being able to afford tutors to get your DC into a grammar. Yet no vitriol against these parents!"

I try not to direct "vitriol" at anyone-unless by "vitriol" you mean "disagree with." But I am happy to say that in the unlikely event of me being in charge, there will be a radical reform of admissions criteria ensuring that moving house will no longer make a difference to school admissions. And the grammar system will be abolished.

I didn't mean you when I said vitriol. I mean some posters (not necessarily on this post ) plus the divisive language of some politicians etc.

You know my friends then? Their words

Well it was Labour who decided that everyone and their dog should go to university which was a total waste of money. That money could have been spent on schools.

My sister worked in Education for a quango during the last Labour government in Enfield and instead of putting money into helping disadvantaged kids, she was running holiday clubs for middle class kids who had never been on a bus before. The waste was unbelievable.

That is where all the money went. On unnecessary waste.

That’s a meaningless comparison. For all you know your DD’s best friend might have failed her exams at state school and has been well served by going private + tutors.

That aside, as other posters have suggested, private school is about far more than just exam grades. It is about the overall experience. You wouldn’t claim that all holidays are the same despite the fact that everyone ends up back in the same place at home after it’s over:

Labour were the ones who introduced tuition fees and scrapped maintenance grants. So don't tell me that they are all about supporting education.

Tuition fees were needed.

Whatever🙄

A well considered response. You could have saved a few characters and just written “yes”.

Did you or your DC pay tuition fees?

This is very true.

Have you voted Labour before knowing all this?

Yes

Why? Have you?

Yes I have but I am fine with their education policies. Your turn?