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?

A child willing to learn will likely get the same results regardless of what school they attend.

My children attend state schools and it's a brilliant school. There is lots extra curricular activities for them to choose from all paid for by the school and it is actively encouraged.

They also have forestry school, not limited to KS1 and not that it makes it an outstanding school, they also have wellies and waterproofs so they can play on the grass when wet.

Sounds like your private school doesn't offer anything that our state school does not provide, except a lighter wallet!

I think if you get lucky in state then it can be really good. Even with the lower per pupil £, of course they’ll be differences but cohort is a big part of it and there are plenty of invested state parents (in many areas)

Do you think that all the middle and upper class people who became doctors and lawyers “wanted something badly enough they’d work for it” to the same extent?

Obviously private school is better in lots of ways. But don’t drive yourself into the ground earning enough to send your kids there thinking it’s the key to their happiness.

Small class sizes and wellie walks are great if your child gets on well with the other kids. But small class sizes also mean less choice of friends. My DC was much happier in a larger state class than a smaller private class.

I work in state primary. Chn are welcome to bring wellies and waterproofs in.

@overthehill5 I don't know the definite answer to that because she has left the school and I have no access to the timetable.

I have just asked her however and she reckons she had 25 lessons a week. 5 lessons a day (3 of them being 1 hour long and 2 being 50 mins long). Then in year 10 and 11 they had the 2 extra lessons per week, so in those years there'd be 27 lessons a week.

What an daft post. OP your small village state school in a wealthy area can't be a bench mark for all state schools lol, if small it's prob even more underfunded than bigger schools. The private school has sold you the marketing lines full on!
You can have all that as long as you pay £25-20k a year. The two year line is tosh. Maybe your child just isn't very bright

Longer than the usual! So 2 days they finish at 4.10 rather than 3.10. 6 lessons those days instead of 5.

State education is incredibly poor. We have no money at all.

Apart from the 16 per class I can't see how any of that is so superior. So they can play football on wet grass? Wow great... Our state school has specialists teaching most subjects.
I personally think my kids are getting a great education at their state schools. We couldn't be happier.

How insulting to teachers in the state sector! My children are in state schools and are having a wonderful experience so far! Their teachers work damned hard!

@overthehill5 what is the relevance of this line of questioning? I don't understand why it matters?

Or any lot stay in power.

Because if state schools are like private schools...what would private schools then charge for?

You get what you pay for....same with everything in life. It will never be equitable.

I teach in a state primary and have done for years. One year, when we went from five classes to seven (expanding village school) I had 18 in my class, all bar two from very lucky circumstances with very invested parents.

The progress those children made was eye opening. You just cannot replicate that with 32 in a small classroom, 11 on the SEND register and several with serious home/safeguarding issues. I know this, because this is the cohort I had last year. Same school, same leadership team, me an even more experienced teacher.

Sadly, everything comes down to class sizes and funding (or lack thereof).

Oh dear, another thread on this.

When - please when - will the state school die-hards admit just how many fucking terrible comprehensives there are? We all know it. Why not admit it?

Fee paying schools (in the general absence of grammars) are a percentage choice for parents who can pay and who care. That’s the bottom line.

The gamble is paying a ton of money and ending up with nothing more than Local Doubtful Academy down the road could have have done. I wasn’t willing to take that gamble. But I don’t criticise anyone who does.

Blimey! An hour. 3 x per week is 5 X hour lessons and 2x per week is 6x hour lessons. Plus tutor time either end of the day etc as normal.

The problem is that people do not see education as a privilege any more, they have become consumers, where "the customer is always right". This has seen the erosion of the "service", if you like, and the outcome.
As for the poster who slandered the current government about devaluing education, I would point you back to the 1970s, where the then Labour government did away with grammar schools, which did, at the time, enable a certain degree of social mobility through education.

I’m a professional from a working class background with 3 degrees but WTF?!? 😂 Your response doesn’t negate what @bossybloss said at all. They’re absolutely right.

It's the opportunities and the facilities that are superior at private schools, not just the teaching.

I'm state educated, by the way.

Not all comprehensives are terrible, not at all

We had a sort of selection by house price with parents paying to live close enough in tiny area

You get parents who care very much, and good teachers

I know you said many not all, but just to give some comprehensives credit

Having had fairly extensive experience of both state and private sector schools I can safely say there is no comparison. The average private school is light years away from the average state school.

That is not to say that all the pupils are more intelligent or even that they all get better grades as that clearly isn't the case. What is true though is that the overall experience for children in private schools is on an altogether different level.

As with all things which cost money it all comes down to personal choice. We decided that the £220k it costs to send our DC to private school for 14 years is a better investment than buying a bigger house. Others may make an alternative choice and that is of course fine.

The only argument I struggle with is with those who claim they would rather save the money and use it to gift their children later in life in the form of a house or cash. That to me is a very defeatist attitude. The average private school pupil will earn far more additional lifetime salary to more than compensate for that. I earn well over 6 figures and estimate that over half of my peers on similar salaries also went to private schools. It is probably worth noting that none of us knew each other before working together so the notion that career success for privately educated kids is down to nepotism is not something I've ever experienced.

I think behaviour is a huge thing. We have such extreme needs to deal with everyday in my state school with so little money that it stops us from teaching as we want to. That's not even counting all the other SEND needs etc. My sister teaches private. Disruptive child = kicked out so other parents don't withdraw their child (and their fees!)

What a load of tosh! Tarring all comprehensives with the same brush! Snobby cow

I had a student who came into my form from a private and his parents said he was "2 years ahead" and he was consistently getting 100% in his assessments across the board. So I do believe there may be some truth to it. That being said, my classes on average are 32 students large, some at 34, with over 25% now SEND on average slowing down the pace of the lesson with behaviours they genuinely can't help (which I'm sympathetic to as a mum of a ASD/ADHD child). I bet I could get my students up to that standard if my class was 15 students large and the resources they have. Music only has 1 teacher so he has a double class (60 students) to avoid constant long term cover. We can't recruit in my subject so there are students I have taken over this year who have had 2 years of constant supply and have massive gaps in their knowledge that realistically will prevent them from being able to take GCSE unless they I significantly increase the pressure. That pressure will require solo learning because I only get a 30 min lunch, whereas our local private gets 2 hours, so fewer opportunities to support struggling students and still take care of my own mental wellbeing.

I don't think private education necessarily means always better, but we shouldn't overlook the impact of smaller class sizes.