Would I feel differently about private school if I lived in London?

[LoopyLoupGarou]

I have always thought that private school is a generally bad idea, but having read the Tiffins thread, I had a thought. Is it just because I've always lived in areas with good schools? If I lived in a city where good schools were few and far between, would I think about sending my children to independent schools?

Has anyone else changed their mind when faced with the reality?

(Having said that, I don't [plan to move to London or another big city as I hate cities, so it shouldn't really be an issue for us).

We have supposedly excellent (ofsted) schools in our area but apart from results they don't offer much imho. The private ones offer a broad education with much better facilities which is why people who can afford to, pay (a lot!).

oncemai - Tiffin girls much the same from what I have heard, so a non starter for my DD.

Bristol certainly used to be the same. When I was going to secondary school there was the school that had a 2% pass rate for GCSEs, the one where the "French" teacher proudly told parents at an open evening that she was learning French as she taught it, or the good CofE school.

All sorts of people who condemned private education used to send their children private at 11.

Now I live in an area with grammar schools, but even the non-grammars get excellent results so there isn't really a need to go private or the same proliferation of private schools on offer. We're very lucky.

I live in a leafy commuter village West of London. Most parents here start their children off in the tiny state primary (so they can make some local friends?) and then swap them to private when they get a bit older. However the odd thing is that the local comp (which my DD goes to) is outstanding. There are 2 private options: a faith school (RC) and a "college" where the A Level results are lower than the nearest comp. Is it snobbery?

Before I had children I would never have believed I would send them to a private school. I would have laughed at the suggestion.

Even when they came of school age I thought we'd send them to the nearest primary. Then someone suggested we look at the nearest prep school in case we didn't get offered a place at the primary.

Big mistake. Our socks were knocked off. Dh would no longer countenance the local primary, particularly as we could well afford private.

I still had huge misgivings until they started. Not any more. Best money we've ever spent.

So, you see, OP, you might well change your views in different circumstances.

I am a great believer in equality for all, but if I lived in London I don't think I could sacrifice their education for my principles.

One of the stressy things about London schools is the disparity of quality going hand in hand with geographical concentration.

Some of the best state schools in the country are in, or around, London. Nestled up next to them, literally, are some of the worst.

It can make you quite pissed off.

That's exactly right, animula.

We have a great girls comp here. But the other alternatives are not great, and options for boys are a bit dire.

So we are applying for girls comp and no other local state schools as if she does not get in there am not prepared to send her to the other schools. Will scrape together money for private if necessary.

"Some of the best state schools in the country are in, or around, London. Nestled up next to them, literally, are some of the worst."

One explanation for this is the 1944 education act. The government of the day decided grammar schools should be in middle class areas and secondary moderns in less affluent areas (to minimise travel to school times ). In London that could be quite close. Grammar schools were normally better resourced, in nicer buildings with on site playing fields.

The introduction of comprehensives crystallised this social polarisation, as places were allocated by catchment area. Of course, a lot has changed since the 1960's: Areas have changed and a good/bad head can have a big impact. But for various reasons the social polarisation has increased.

What London has made me is very intolerant of faith schools or rather, the faith school system of selection. But that's a matter for a different thread.

Rural Lancashire has done the same for me, its not just a London issue. I'd never considered private till we had DD and realised we were totally surrounded by faith schools. Fortunately this is not so prevalent at secondary level here.

Animula - a further explanation could be:

An academically successful school needs a certain number of bright motivated pupils. Bright kids need plenty of bright peers and teachers who really enjoy teaching bright students, to challenge them and build their aspirations

Maybe there really isn't enough bright motivated kids to go round. So they end up clustering in some schools.