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?

My dc is predicted 9s at GCSE in a 'good' state secondary. Very happy with that. The teachers are generally great, I support at home too and encourage learning.

Tyres are important. Spectacularly missing the point. But check them regardless,

I have a diesel Golf estate, on a 2008 plate with 160,000 miles on the clock. It's economical at 35 mpg locally,in a hilly area. It gets 45 mpg on the motorway, and I really don't care that it has scratches on every corner and that one door doesn't lock at all. It is the last car anyone would steal. And where I live, it looks totally fine.

Indeed. God it’s awful when we smell them.

@CurlewKate and @opticalconclusion it's the sanctimonious "we know better" from any direction that peeves me, but I am too old to care any more.

Well quite.

Spend £700k on your kids’ education but drive them around in a death trap.

Kindly, you are clueless. Hand holding is exactly what goes on in the state sector. It’s often the only way for brighter kids to reach their potential and for weaker kids to pass. Pizzas and bacon sarnies ordered in to encourage them to turn up (a very effective method actually), being physically collected at the end of the day to attend extra sessions, taken off timetable for whole days to run workshops, extra sessions before school and at lunchtime, huge amounts of planning to have modelled questions for every grade for just about every question we can think of that might come up in the exam, Easter sessions, the list goes on. I can only speak authoritatively for one core subject but this is going on in many, many schools ( for me personally in London annd Manchester) And yes, we do it for classes of 31. It’s this sort on input that caused us all to breathe a massive sigh of relief when coursework was abolished. In the private and grammar schools I’ve worked in, this level of intervention is entirely unnecessary and so does not happen.

TBF, the bacon sarnies were always the reason why Friday morning meetings at my work were so well attended.

That sounds nice. So refreshing as compared to the private schools here in London

Yep and that's the point, most private schools are like DDs ie not super selective and serving local cohorts. Outside of London there are few DC from ultra wealthy families.

What’s with all the shit car competition?! Is having a shit car a moral virtue?!

The super rich are at the private schools though you can’t deny it! That said it’s quite fun when your kid befriends them and can use their pool etc

I think Labour focused on Education - it was far more SEN friendly and the curriculum was accessible (in my subject). You also tend to find that greater community/health investment tends to trickle down into the classroom 🙂

And Labour haven't been in control of anything for the past 14 years ... and look where we are now. It's sad.

Yes, I was so hopful when Tony Blair said "Education, education, education" and then totally wasted the opportunity.

But at least his son made millions from his mistakes, so it was all alright in the end.

Not sure how that is relevant to the last 14 years?

Apparantly so. We’re supposed to ignore the £15k minimum per child paid in fees and how crap state education (that the majority use) is supposed to be.

But hey I have a dent in my car. No privilege here.

I’ve got a new Mini. I love it.

‘Actually I’d much rather have a doctor not born into privilege and who had real life experience’

Do you think shit doesn't happen to rich people? No illness, cancer, disability, miscarriages, dementia? No car accidents, partners having affairs, gambling addictions, drug addiction, bankruptcy?

Because the last Labour goverment spent tens of billions expanding higher education when that money should have been spent on schools.

As Tony Blair's son realised, what we needed was young people studying while they were working, not going to 3rd rate universities to get worthless degrees and getting burdened with tens of thousands of pounds of debt.

I went to university in the 1980s and realised it was a waste of time for me and many other people even though I loved my time there. I would have been much better getting a job after A levels and doing a degree or apprenticeship while working and that was without all the debt.

If I could see it, why couldn't Tony Blair? Instead he did the opposite.

Yes, this goverment should have done it when they first got in to power, but it was difficult to close down all the 3rd rate universities with all the job losses that would entail.

Yep but others don’t have privilege, contacts, knowledge of systems,money or access to private services to ease the shit. It’s also well known that the less well off are more likely to have struggles.

@IMustDoMoreExercise

Careful. Soon you’ll be called a snob or worse for using the term ‘third rate universities’..

YABU. Schools are in a shocking state because of deliberate policies and managed decline over the last 14 years of conservative government. They've been defunded just like everything else to reduce taxes for the richest in society.

22% of medicine and dentistry undergraduates are privately educated. If the figure of privately educated applicants of one third is correct, privately educated pupils actually have a lower chance of being accepted on to a course. They’re only over represented because they’re more likely to apply.

I am the only one of my friends to send their kids to a state school. They all stayed in London / Suburbs.

Their schools are generally better in terms of sport. Academically, not so much. They all pushed them (at private) on through the reading books so they could say "she's 3 years ahead" but my friend was saying they have had all the parents in to say that there is now a big focus on comprehension and vocab as it transpires pushing the kids on at a junior level, leaves large gaps by secondary.

She was raving about this thing called "VIPERS" the private school are introducing. Our state school has been doing that (and I think it's a Government term) for years.

Yes our state school isn't perfect but it's completely dependent on the school in question.

I know. Labour wanted a level playing field so that everyone could go to university, not just the top 5%, which was great in theory, but in practice it has turned out to be a disaster for everyone and for the country as a whole.

But at least Tony Blairs son made millions from the policy.

15k is less than one person on minimum wage earns. Are SAHM equally as privileged as they could work in a low level job and fund a private school place.