To ask why you send your children to private school?

[WhatWorks]

Just that really. I think it would be interesting to see the spread and variety of reasons why people make certain educational choices.

For mine, it's about the values at our catchment state school. I am sure that most schools in most areas are quite inclusive. Unfortunately, children at our local school say things like "I don't play with (insert ethnic minority here) children" to non-white children. If they like an ethnic minority child, they tell them "you aren't (ethnic minority), you're white like us." Teachers do nothing about this sort of behavior, so we've gone elsewhere.

So, what are your reasons for sending your child/children to private school?

The latter! 😬

I know this might come as a shock to some, but what happens overall in London isn't necessarily representative of what happens in individual schools in all areas of the country. The diversity in my child's school wasn't the primary driving factor, but it was one of a number of pull factors. I can assure you it has far greater ethnic diversity than all the local state options.

Yes. This is why we use private school.

Our non selective State Option is bad, so bad a teacher that worked there told me not to send DD and it reinforced what I had heard and what I had seen too.
She was offered a Grammar Place but the Grammar was quite a distance away and she was also offered a 25% Scholarship at a Private school I knew quite well that is very very close to us. DS followed her there.
I am actually a Governor at The State one now and while there are some great staff and kids trying really hard they are so underfunded and trying to deal with so many kids with difficulties I have to say it makes me glad we had another option.
DH was anti Private school, he went to an excellent Comprehensive and assumed they were all similar. It wasn't until we started looking at Private and State options for DD that he changed his mind.
Moving house would have cost us more and been more disruptive - we actually live in a really nice area but are a bit of a postcode anomaly, catchment for a better State school stops at the top of our road, lots of building pushed us out but when we moved here we probably would have got that school.

Selective education. Sad but true. Would prefer selective state education but not available where we live. Younger DC not academically advanced in the same way as our older child so would in fact probably not have picked it for them. But by that point we were committed and it seemed unfair not to.

Class sizes and the general feel of the school. DD attends a small, non selective independent with a family feel. Less than 300 kids in total from kindergarten to year 11. She knows everyone and they know her. She is thriving.

Not me but a good friend has 2 in state and 1 in private. The one in private is there because she’s been failed by the NHS. For love nor money could she get a diagnosis or help with blatant SEN. She can’t even get on a list for a private kids mental health as waiting list is nuts. She put the 1 DC in private school because the school and classes were smaller. They were academically able but the school the siblings go to was very large and she wouldn’t have coped. Friend and her DH work a lot of hours to keep DC there and are very worried about any sudden large rise in cost.

I have 1 DC in state and another in private, simply because we took a chance on the test and one got in. The other didn’t but isn’t fussed and goes to a state school many of mates go to. We’re also annoyed with a sudden large jump in fees. You kind of plan for a 2%ish increase a year, not 20% in one year!

There are families really panicking about Labours plans. There are several who are from immigrant backgrounds with 1 child and you can see the’ve thrown everything at that child, catching the bus, no flash cars etc. it’s not exactly an Eton top hat type situation.

Labour are bonkers to progress an immediate implementation without a full impact analysis and a timetable spanning their term in office so people have time to make alternative choices. E.g if their kids are in private primary, they don’t send their kids to secondary private. This will prevent children having to be removed during GCSE years for example as they’ll know they won’t be able to afford the full secondary years with the 20% uplift.

It will also mean local state school can plan and maybe create additional classes to accommodate.

We have a daughter in a single sex prep. For us, the local primary is good but my daughter is so like me and I know where I would have been happier when I was a kid. She is very introverted and possibly a bit autistic or ADD (as I suspect I am) and we feel that in a single sex space with smaller class sizes she has more time to shine, gain confidence and not be afraid to speak up in class.

I am actually more invested in her attending the senior school (it's an all through school) as I really do not want her at a mixed sex school at that age. There are no single sex state schools around here so private is the only way. If she has problems there will bullying or anything like that then we would most likely move her to the local high school (although none of the high schools around here are very good).

Aside from the single sex issue, the school is very friendly and nurturing. It's not a fancy school or one that does particularly well academically, but it gets the most out of the girls and really helps them individually. It's a far cry from the absolutely awful state high I went to, which I wouldn't wish on any child. That school had no interest in anything other than getting a certain percentage of C grades, no interest in making us rounded individuals, no extra curricular's at all, no sports teams, no educational school trips, no career guidance, no opportunities for leadership etc etc. I just think those are basic things that every school should be doing!

DH and I went to private prep and secondary so it just made sense to us/we knew and understood the system and had good experiences

Nicer better behaved children. Smaller classes. Much kess disruption. Higher expectations. Lovely setting with lots of grounds to play on.

The way children speak and behave in private school is a world apart. The atmosphere is quiet and calm, the teachers can just teach.

The children stay younger and more innocent much longer. The teens tend to prefer sport, gardening, reading to "looking cool"

Academic success is celebrated not considered geeky.

It's generally a higher quality way of life and produces children that are polite, well ehsved, well educated not just academically but in soft skills too.

Why is diversity a thing? I live in a white middle class area so I expect the children at the school to be of that demographic without panicking about it?

My year 4 son is in our local state primary. There are 38 kids in his class. They are so awful they made their teacher cry. My son is academic and you bet your bottom dollar I'll be moving heaven amd earth to get him into a privafe secondary!

That's not my experience of the private school kids in my area, they're definitely not more innocent!