Is this a typical primary school day / experience?

[ThinkingIsAllowed]

My son goes to private school and I can't decide if it's worth the money. Could he get this experience at a state primary? He's about to finish Reception.

• starts 8.20am, senior teacher always waiting by the gate to greet each child by name, and expects to be greeted back by the child
• writing, maths, phonics etc in his class of 12 children that has 1 teacher and part time TA
• calm class environment, no disruption
• forest school once per week, including things like making a campfire
• learns to read with actual paper books! No tablets. The teacher or TA reads with him most days
• sports 3x per week, including swimming, dance and PE
• club until 4.30 every day, things like art or sports
• after school care til 5.35 if you want it. Colouring etc
• a lot of contact with the teacher. If I ever have a question I can email her and she replies within a day, or can meet with her, or she will proactively email me to check something or make an observation (eg she wrote to suggest he might be ambidextrous)
• lots of outside space so the children help occasionally in the vegetable garden etc
• good quality food, cooked on site
• 3 school trips this year

It seems like a good school but we pay a lot for it and if we can get this experience outside of the private sector that would be good!

Thanks
no
she said
you will have £20k a year to make up for …..all the stuff not in Indi
ie
£20k saved because she’s not paying for Indi

To everyone saying a nanny would be cheaper, is this something you've tried? I cannot make the maths stack up?

IF I worked FT and needed the school pick up, drop off, after school and into the evening for clubs covering (most finish after 7pm but would start before I could get back to take them) I'd pretty much be needing 5 hours a day/25hrs a week minimum. Which over term time alone, would cost £15k pa. Then there's the cost of the clubs (ours come to about 4k) plus covering fuel cost for a nanny. When you factor all that in, private school does seem to compare more favourably.

No she implied you’d have an extra 20k to play with by choosing state over indie, not that the extras would cost that much

My son's state school:

• Starts at 8:40, headteacher greets everyone at gate
• Class of 22, 1 teacher and 2 TAs. Mixed aged classes except reception and year 6 - DC is in a mixed y3/y4 class
• Some class disruption from 2-3 children, seems to be handled reasonably well
• No forest school, beach school once a week for one term a year
• Reading from books not tablets, now reads once a week at school was more in KS1
• Sports 2x a week, swimming from Y3
• After school care only until 4:30 - paid. Sports after school once a week - free. Breakfast club from 7:45 - free, Inc food.

• Teachers are responsive via Dojo or at pick up. Will flag problems etc
• yes to outdoor space and lots of eco activities
• reasonable food cooked onsite
• Lots of trips, at least 5 this year, some paid some free

Like others have said there is so much variation though

This is literally exactly the same as my school. However I work in a tiny rural school so this experience will be rare.

@totootwo exactly. Assuming £25 per hour for 5 hours per day for 30 weeks per year, plus cost of the clubs themselves, it's the same price as private school. Having multiple children could make the nanny option cheaper, but one nanny can't take multiple children to different clubs at the same time, which then makes private school the same price as a nanny again

A lot of that is standard in state school. My DC is in Reception, he is greeted by his teacher every morning, she is very responsive to emails, they are doing phonics, literacy and maths. They are learning to read with paper books. They have a nature area and do forest school. There's also a large field and 2 large playgrounds with climbing frames. There is after school care.
The only things not available are class sizes of 12 and swimming. My DCs class is 25, the neighboring state school we looked at had class sizes of 20.

Class size is the main difference. My daughter is year 5 now but in reception she:

was greeted by the teacher before entering the class
did maths phonics etc in the mornings with one class teacher, one full time TA and a class size of 25
did have some disruption. Some children had behaviour/learning issues. School dealt with them as best they could-doesn’t seem to have negatively impacted her. She understands some children have different needs and need extra support.
They learnt to read with paper books.
PE twice a week. Swimming is a term block from year 3 plus. They need extra swimming lessons outside of school to learn to swim really.
no extra curricular in reception. More in year 1/2 onwards. In juniors she’s had things like football, netball, gardening, crafts etc but they’re on rotation.
after school club available till 6
food is not cooked on site but delivered from somewhere central. It’s free for all primary age children and she seems to like it
school is responsive to emails. They send photos etc home in the infants using an app
her school has a large yard and huge field but we are not in a massively built up town so there’s loads of space. It has a forest school area and they have forest school sessions for every year group.
they do school trips- residentials from year 3 onwards. Otherwise maybe 2 a year to local places with things happening at the weekend too ok occasion (performing and sports)

I do forest schools weekly, I cook with my class each week and we go out and about weekly. Could be a walk to the park, could be the library.
Some of my class swim weekly, they are in ks2- cost covered by school, other year groups can opt in and would pay. I teach PE weekly and offer horse riding- this is at extra cost. I have some who have a trampoline session.
Phonics daily, 1:1 reading 3 times a week. Always books.
Clubs are at lunchtime: we offer one most days.
I update parents daily with photos and commentary linked to learning targets. I email at least two parents per day as needed. I know them all by name and they all know me.
SLT meet and greet and support going home.
Holiday club will run for three weeks over the summer.
Class size of 10, there are 5 adults including me.
We are a state specialist school for children with severe learning disabilities. I honestly don’t know what if costs to fund my children, but it is (mainly) free to each child who needs us.

Mine both went to state primary and eldest is at private secondary and they are worlds apart, especially in terms of class size, availability of teachers (due to lower pupil numbers per staff member, not better teaching), sport and extra curricular. However, my youngest is at a state secondary (different needs) and able to fill most of these gaps with money save.

A few things :

The OP references her school's after school club finishes at 5:30 - so I was assuming that she/her DH are able to pick up then. So she wouldn't need until 7pm covering.

Usually not all extracurriculars are included in school fees anyway - e.g. instrument lessons are all extra charge usually, so I think you might be double counting?

Yes, multiple children is where you would really see the savings. You would need to think through the logistics - but depending on what clubs your kids want to do and their timings, a nanny might be able to do multiple drop offs/pick ups in an evening

@iniati I do get what you are saying but I think these elements are so marginal. 3.5 hrs a day would still cost a minimum of £10k pa. I accept there is economy of scale for multiple children, should the stars align scheduling wise. But a nanny is still a significant cost depending on fees and age of the children (pre prep is about this figure in fees). That's before you even get into the convenience of everything being in one place and the value that has. I think you're right about music tuition being additional and take your points.

I just think there's likey a very good reason a lot of working professional families pick private school and it is because state school doesn't cater to their needs.

My child competes at private schools in one of his sports. As fantastic as his primary is, and as invested as we are with his extra curricular, what the private school children have in terms of training and facilities just doesn't even compare and they generally place higher than the state school kids.

On paper it would seem my child's primary experience is very similar as they offer loads. But in reality it really isn't.

Apart from swimming and class size, you’ve described my DC’s CoE VA primary school.

I’m not in a 50+ hour role any more. I found that as I got more senior in my career the flexibility increased and I can fit it all into a normal working week whereas a couple of steps below where I am now I worked the longer hours.

The flexibility is the key thing for me, my company is genuinely great at not caring how or when I work so long as I get the job done and am available for teams and customers when they need me. The trade off for them is that I wouldn’t risk a move until DS is maybe in year 9 and needs me to be available a lot less.