What would convince you to send your children to private school?

[MistyFied]

Ok, I'm applying for a new job and it's in a private school. The main objectives are to recruit new pupils (from age 0 in nursery to 18 in 6th form) and to increase donations from alumni and parents alike.
I know some people would never ever go private and that's fine but what I would like to know is are there anythings private schools could, or should do, that might make some of you consider it for your children?
Thanks for your help!

Hmm - you'd have thought they'd have taught me to spell though...

good faclities science labs , sports etc .small class sizes good after school clubs.

If had the money would have sent ds2 without even thinking of the moral side of it day pupil not boarder becuase for him it would have been right for his personality and his academic side.But for ds1 no it would not been right

The way me and DW evaluate schools is to ask he following questions:

1. If we have a bright child does the school get a goood number of its 6th formers into Oxford/Cambridge. Forget A level results they can be fiddled - Oxford/Cambridge entry is still the gold standard?

1. If we have a sporty child does the school have great sports facilities and does its pupils get into county/regional/national teams and do they have the coaching staff to match?

1. If we have a musical child do they have an orchestra and choir that wins competitions, performs in the local cathedral, etc?

1. If we have a child who is not any of the above what extra curricular activities does the school do such as Duke of Edinburgh Award?

Finally, we ask how the pupils themselves come across. Do we want our child to look, act, talk, behave that way? Are they in a smart uniform or does it look like no one cares? Do they treat each other with respect? Do they hang about in McDonalds at lunchtime or are they doing something useful? Do they smoke at the bus stop at 3.30 or are they performing in an orchestra doing sport etc?

And while Beenbeeta's on the subject of minibuses - make sure the school has plenty on offer to different routes.

I know I have chosen one school over another purely based on how the hell my DCs are supposed to get there.

BTW op - the very best of luck wiht your interview.

And as for those posters who took the opportunity not to support another poster who is going through a tough time ( she has already said she has lost her job and needs anoother one - this one), but to try to score political points - shame on you.

Are you so mean of spirit that you just couldn't walk past the thread?

Seriously?

Second Litchick. Good luck with your interview - hope you get it.

Be open about the fees - too many schools seem to hide these. If I cant see the price of something then I am unlikely to look further.

I think you have 3 main markets

• those who want their child to go private and you need to convince them to choose your school over another

• those parents that can afford fees but want to know what they are getting for their money. (hard sell, USP etc)

• those parents who would like their children to go private but think they can't afford it. Of course, a large number of this group genuinely won't be able to afford it, but some may be on the cusp of being able to - so in this case it is about making the private school a viable financial proposal.

goodness dave and toby are home and dry with you lot, aren't they?

We have decided that DS will go private next year (moving into secondary).

That is because I cannot let him carry on thru' an education system that doesn't challenge his mental abililities, but does allow the other children to bully him about his disabled mum.
Our local secondary schools are HUGE (which is, I believe one of the fundamental problems of our current state system), with poor behaviour records, which seem to be getting worse. The academic standards of the schools seem to be in decline too.

Wer are hoping to get him into a school which has a reputation for excellent pastoral care for the children.

DS is bright, and I expect he will do well academically IF he feels that the people teaching him consider HIM as an individual. One attraction is that the class sizes are about 15 children per year. So, he can't be lost in the crowd, his teachers will have a much better chance to know him, understand him, encourage him, discipline him, and empathise with him.
If his self-esteem hadn't taken such a battering at the hands of the local state primary school, I would have been looking to try for a scholarship at one of the academic high-flying schools. As it is, I want DS to be happy, and trust that exam success is more likely to stem from that.

Affordability is an issue, but we'll manage it somehow. In the last few months I have taken on 2 additional jobs to start pushing my earnings up by the additional amount we'll have to fork out each year from next September, while DH's job continues to meet the standard mortgage/bills that we would have anyway. It's balancing being here to be mum, and working to meet the school fees that will be difficult.

But, in all conscience, we couldn't throw ds into the bear-pit that our state secondary schools have become.

Rex - who's Toby?

Probably Toby Young.

Oh. I see. I thought Toby was a bit of a twit until he started his campaign to be able to break free of the current status quo. So yes, I am now very interested in his plans and hope they are hugely successful.

I don't know how you can convince former pupils to give money to a private school, to be honest. I went to a private school, and have never seen any reason to give them some of my own cash. I give plenty to my old college who I genuinely believe are doing good things with it, but none to my school, despite requests.

I suppose ultimately, I don't think that anyone would be disadvantaged by going to the local state school instead of that particular private school, so I'm not moved by pleas for money to improve facilities or pay for bursaries.

Why I chose private school and now considering moving my dc from state back into private, even though it requires considerable financial planning:

individual attention in small classrooms, particularly for the child who's not struggling but nor gifted and talented

confidence, due to being in a small community the opportunity to know their opinion is valid

elocution lessons

training in correct cutlery, how to operate at a silver service dining situation

the academic results that are the children's full potential

good manners

opportunity to do wide range of sports, music and drama performances, art facilities

wrap around childcare

Why I would not consider a 0-18 age school:

too long in one place

no incentive of the school, to show that they can get the child into the selective 11+, 12+, nor pass the common entrance exam

parents have to fully agree to the 0-18, reduces option of moving to another school either due to life circumstances changing (moving/finances) due to the above lack of incentive, or a more specialised school suitable for the dc, again due to the above.

HTH

just watched that Tony Young documentary last night in which he and his wife actually admitted they were all motivated by middle class snobbery: the 500lb gorilla in the room, as he called it. well that's certainly showing itself here. why should he and his mates be given £ to set up a pseudo Eton because they can't afford the real thing, when state schools are desperate for the cash themselves? My children go to an outstanding state primary that may be about to amalgamate with another because it cannot afford to pay a new head a decent salary. thanks dave.

WCTAS - thankfully not too many schools take DCs at age 0!

You do have a point about SOME schools that go through to age 18. Though the better performing ones do not try to tie in DCs all the way through and have no problem with some moving out at age 7, 11 or 16 as they have no problem filling these places. Any school that tries to put barriers in place to movement at these key ages is likely to be a poor performer and is best avoided.

I came out of my 11 years in a North London public school saying I would never put a child of mine through that. I spent the next 10 years apologising for having had the education I'd had.

Then I had children of my own. And, as we all know, most high principles come in suitable tablet form making them that much easier to swallow.

My eldest DD now attends the same aforementioned institution. She attended a state primary up to Y2 and has this year switched. She's a very bright child, and the best way I can describe it's affect on her is that the child I dropped off on the morning of the first day had a 100w bulb in her eyes, the child I picked up at 3.40 that afternoon had a 200w bulb, and her incandescence is continuing to increase.

I could harp on like everybody else about class sizes, breadth of education, facilities etc, but the one thing that has expanded (nay, exploded) my daughter's horizons is Opportunity. Whatever she decides to be interested in there is someone there who will take her by the hand and show her as much as she wants to see. Indeed, there are people there already opening her eyes to things she never knew were possible.

The teaching staff are remarkably enthusiastic, erudite and positive, imparting a joy of learning hard to find in the state sector. They help a child understand their full potential and guide them along the path to realise that potential.

Of course my DD may finish Y13 and turn round and say "I'll never put a child of mine through that", which would be a feeling I'd have complete sympathy with...

I don't understand

Ah, the guilt of the liberal intellectual...

LOL @ Humbert. So, to answer OP's question, what was it that persuaded you?

(Is the interview today, OP? Sending good luck vibes)

As in, did you realise beforehand about the lightbulb or was it a happy confirmation of your hopes?

Yes, I did know about the lightbulb. My DD was on the G&T and SEN lists at her old state primary, though they thought fit not to tell us, probably because they knew we'd ask for her to be given the extra support she was entitled to.

My own personal grudge with her old primary was their fear of academic praise. It was fine for kids to be lauded for being great at football, but if a 6 year old child could read the whole of The BFG in a single 3 hour sitting then it had to be hushed up for fear of upsetting the less bright children.

Our own view of our DD has always been that the two things she would excel at in life would be either espionage or crime - at least with her current trajectory we've hopefully steered her away from HMP Holloway.

"either espionage or crime" you obviously left her in the state system for too long

Sounds amazing humbert, i would love to send dd to a school like that.

Au contraire SkippyjonJones, don't forget the Soviets recruited all their best spies from British public schools.