If someone offered to pay for private schooling, would you take up the offer?

[janiesmith10]

If someone offered to pay for private schooling - primary and secondary - would you take up the offer? Freely paid for. No strings attached.

Yes. Even though my kids go to a great state school, the connections and facilities in private school would mean they had far more experiences and opportunities, even if the education was equivalent or poorer.

No. We can comfortably afford private school and choose not to.

No. 1) I’m anti-private school and 2) I don’t believe in living outside of your means or being supported by other adults, especially for luxuries.

Not round here, we don't have any mixed sex options and everyone I knew who went to our local girls school came out very weird, in various ways. But if there was a private school I liked then absolutely for secondary. Don't think it's worth the money for primary.

Yes 100%

Only secondary mind

Probably. Fortunately all 3 of my kids were very academic and all got top grades at state school

If my daughter wanted to go, yes. She's very happy being home educated, but if that didn't suit her, a private school would be the next best thing.

I would give it a go - but also note the extras are a lot.

The private school I sent my children to added extras without consulting me. If they're behind in English - they'll get extra tuition and you will be billed.

Absolutely everything else comes at a cost. That adds up in itself - they'll make you feel like you don't love your child enough if you don't pay for any extra.

I wouldn't have swapped my children's state primary school if someone paid me to. It was everything I want in a school. DD is now in a state sixth form college which is, again, better than the available private options for the subjects she is studying, so no for that.

I would consider it for DS if it was a genuine case of a no strings offer. But I'm not sure if I would take it up. He is a clever, confident child with a strong friendship group in an excellent comprehensive school, so the benefits of a private school would not be huge, and it would be a case of genuinely weighing up the pros and cons of each school, and I'm not sure which would have the edge.

If I worked long hours and had to travel a lot, I would probably have a different answer. The opportunities for wraparound care and flexi-boarding at the independent schools nearby seem to be their biggest advantage over the state schools.

No, fundamentally against my principles.

My mum offered when DD was struggling at primary school but I worried about her transitioning from private primary to state secondary so I declined.

In the end we did end up moving her to a private school at the start of Y9 but by then we had enough money to pay the fees ourselves.

No.

Depends on the private school. I'm vvv happy with state primary school. I wouldn't want my dc to go to the closest private school even if it totally free. There are others ill be happy for dc to go too if free.

No because my kids are very happy at their state school. But if you'd asked me as either of them were about to start secondary I'd have jumped at the chance. Out of fear really that they were about to get a lesser experience than friends kids who were going to secondary, or fear that they'd fall in with a bad crowd and change. I'm very relieved that those fears turned out to be unfounded so far but I was genuinely worried before they started.

*lesser experience that friends kids who were going to private secondary I meant! Sorry!

Nah. I'm not sure they're good value for money, even if it's someone else's money. The kids I see at the local independents haven't achieved tonnes better than mine at the very average comp. And the school-based extra curriculars can't be all that, because they buy in the same out of school extra curriculars that I do. I'll take the cash equivalent .

Depends. Mine are Uni age and above now so not relevent but looking back on their school days, they went to a mix of Independents, state primaries and selective state secondaries. All were good schools but honestly, here where we are, the state schools were better. The Independent may have given them a head start though, in terms of small class sizes, and that possibly have helped them overall, though it is apparent they are all academically high achieving so may have happened anyway.
I’m not ideologically opposed to private schooling (and one was educated almost entirely abroad, so had no choice) but I’m also not opposed to paying higher taxes either, to ensure public services are fully funded for those who can’t afford it. We’ve been a highest rate rate tax paying household for years now and never really done much in the way of tax minimising.

100% no. Never.

If I could choose the school that suited my child's aptitudes best, then yes, of course.

How a school is funded is not the same as it being the right school for a child.

Why would I deny my child access to the best schooling available for his character and talents?

Completely agree

Life experience of mixing with people who have parents who are not rich enough to send them to private school.

No.

I prefer the richness, competitiveness and diversity of state school.

It would entirely depend on the schools in the area.

Just because a school is private doesn't mean it's better than the local state schools.

Yes