Private Schooling to age 11

[shouldnotbehere]

DH and I could afford to send our children to this independent school:

www.whitehouseshropshire.co.uk/

But only to age 11, it would then be onto our local comprehensive.

DH thinks we should send our children to local primary school, and then onto the local comprehensive:

www.maelorschool.org.uk/

I am very happy to send our children to local primary, but I know we could afford the fees at The White House, just, and I think it would provide our children with a better foundation to their education.

DH thinks it unfair to start children in private schools, and to then change to secondary at 11. We cannot afford any of the local independents from 11 onwards.

He also thinks if the child is intelligent and driven, then they do well at any school.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts, along with any advice to influencing DH, as he is quite set against it.

The annual fees for White House to age 11 is £3,450 pa. The fees for private schools after 11, are significantly higher.

Sorry, I'm with your DH on this one - assuming you have decent state schools locally, I think you would be better to send your children there if you would only just be able to afford private fees and only then for primary.

Better to use the money to add onto their state school education, or save up in case you find you have more need of private schools at secondary level.

Yes, the primary school is very good. DH and I have previously agreed on local state schools, but I was reading some threads on parents who consider that private education is worth all the sacrifices, and was wondering if I had been too dismissive.

I know some parents who sent their DC to private primary then state secondary.

They felt it gave them a great start to build on.

I think quite a few parents think priavte prep, then on to grammar, though I'm not sure prep schools do much in the way of actual prep for grammar.

Definitely agree with your DH. My cousin, a teacher, told me once that any reasonably intelligent child would do perfectly well in state primary schools.

I think it would be unfair to move them from private to state at 11. My DD is at an independent school and will be moving to the senior part of the school in September (if she passes the entrance exam). I think she would go through a real baptism of fire if she had to go to our local comprehensive at 11, leaving all her friends behind.

Why not invest the money you save now to try and afford private later. Or they might be eligible for a scholarship if they are particularly clever.

A view from the other side.

The prep/primary years are formative in the DC's attitude to school and to learning. This is not to say that prep is always better then state, but you need to look at the respective environments of the specific schools you have in mind, and see what the differences would be.

Also, if you can be confident of a good academic start at a prep, this will position your child to be in the top sets in a comprehensive, which - depending on the individual school, can be a very different experience from bumping along in the middle.

Aside from the private/state debate if its "friends" and change of school at the endof primary that is the issue then I dont see a real issue.

If the private school ends at age 11 and the children move onto to elsewhere anyway then I dont see the issue with moving onto a new school at age 11. Although it would be wise to establish if the bulk of leavers all leave for the same 1 or 2 schools, but if its more varied then I dont see it as a problem.

My DC are in a prep school to age 13. None of her friends will be moving onto her next (senior) school. Infact out of 20 odd girls in her year - I only know of 2 going onto the same school. 3 will be leaving the independent sector alltogether. I am in no doubt my DDs last day at her current boarding prep school will be a sad one for her (and her friends), nor that her first day at her new boarding senior school won't be nervewracking too but the difference is that she has gone through the school knowing that at the end of year 8 she and her friends would all be moving onto new and different schools. Its a totally different mindset to those children at a local primary school with one or 2 secondary school choices, growing up assuming and thinking they will always be together.

Friendships groups usually change drastically once kids leave primary and move to senior schools. They have 1 first day and 1 first week. After that, they will be mixing with all the kids from all the other feeder primaries.

Thank you Mum72.

I will speak with school, as to where pupils go after. If it is Shrewsbury School, Moretone Hall, Queens/Kings Chester - it is out of the question.

I think it is looking unlikely, as DH and I would not be able to afford private schooling all the way through. We are happy to send our children to state schools.

Hve you thought about bursaries if you can't afford fees from Secondary school? I know King's offer means-tested financial help?

I personally feel that the primary years are the most important an if you develop confidence and a lov of learning you will cope froim then on.

I went to an excellent infant school and a good junior school then onto a crap high school.

Due to a house movemy brother went to a crap infant school, the good junior school then the crap high school. By the time he got to junior school he had labelledhimself thick. Her hated school, the teachers everything.

I got GCSE's and A levels (largely the GCSEs were self taught) and then uni. He left with no GCSE's

He is not thick. In the job he is in now he has had to study and pass some very rigorous exams.

I apologise for the typos I am on a wireless keyboard and the batteries are running out.

We were only going to opt for independent school at secondary level but are now opting for independent school at primary level further to advice from other parents that it's too late to catch up at age 11. This was substantiated by our visits to various independent schools (Hale Prep, Grange Northwich and my personal favourite Greenbank in Cheadle Hulme). The children are working a year or two ahead of the state primaries.

However, we're intending to carry it through to secondary level. Personally I don't see the point in paying for independent prep to then transfer to local comp. In your situation, I'd go for the best state primary available, get the measure of your children's abilities and then, if they look to be bright, you could pay for extra tuition to get your children into the best grammar/independent schools or pay for better secondary education.

DD went to a private primary. She, and half her year went on to state secondaries - a mix of grammar, CofE and comprehensives. I don't think any of them have had the slightest problem.

However, if we'd had a suitable state primary available, chances are she'd have gone to that. I think if I could afford primary but not secondary... at this point I'd save the money for university fees.

If you have a good state primary available, i would use that TBH

I I could have got DCs into local excellent primary I would not have hesitated. However, catchment area so small that we were only offered dire primary 6 miles away. If that had been their first experience of learning I am sure any chance of instilling a love of learning would have been lost and they would never have been able to take advantage of good independant schools at 11.

However, DD is now going to local excellent comp in Sep. With the progress she has made at prep she shuld be in top streams and will take full advantage of her education there. I can't honestly see any problem with her getting a string of A*s at GCSE as this is routine for the top girls at this school.

So I would agree that it is worth going private at primary level if the state option is dire as, if they get onto the wrong track at such an early age it will be difficult to put this right.

However a good state primary plus a supportive home life will give a good start and I would not worry about private, especially if it will be a stretch.

And remember, if you start at the state primary and are not happy with it, you can always move to private at that stage. Places come up in all years fairly regularly at most prep schools, much more so than at an oversubscribed state primary.

I don't think I would switch from private to state at 11 - unless it was forced on me through unexpected circumstance. I'm also not sure I agree that children from state can't go private at 11. That's what keeps the thriving tutoring industry alive in my neck of the woods! If you have a finite amount of cash to spend, I would be inclined to hang on to most of it, tutor your child to enhance their state education, and see where the land lies at secondary. You may be in scholarship/bursary mode by then.
So in fact I have just repeated MuminScotland's view.

Giddy-agree with your final para,the private school in op looks ok but doesnt look like it would really be worth spending money on,looks like a bog standard private(not prep) school.

If both schools were free, which do you think is better, regardless of what we all say on here?
If you think the private school is better, by a significant amount (enough to justify the fees) or not really?
Ours started at our local state school, which I had my doubts about in any case, after a few years it turned out I was right & we moved to private which has been really good, especially on the extra-curricular side, but have now moved back into state for secondary (although not our local) because in all honesty it seemed at least as good if not better than the local private secondarys.
Don't assume because you're paying for it private is automatically better for your child.

I think I would save the £6,900 a year (fees for both children) and use it later in thier lives.

Personally if i made the decision to follow the private route in from primary years, i would stick with it, i wouldnt make the commitment if it wasnt permanent. Ive always felt the move from private to state far, more difficult that state to private would be.

Have you thought about the annual fee increases? The average seems to be around 5% per year. Also consider extras too this comes to around £400 -500 per term for us.

It's not clear why their KS2 results have so many L3s (a bad thing) while their KS1 results have no L1s (a good thing). Is that because they have a lot of lower ability children join during the juniors?

Also there was absolutely nothing on their website about 'learning support', ie what help they give kids who need extra help, and do you have to pay for it....

Why do some people think it would be difficult for a child to move from a private junior to a state secondary? I really don't get it - as I mentioned earlier, DD and half her cohort have done this without problem, AFAIK. I never heard any of the other parents voicing any disquiet that it would make the transition harder.

Maybe its more of an issue in London/South where it seems like there's more polarisation.

OP - I couldn't find a list of leaver's destinations on your school's website? Is there one? Also, I thought the fees a bit steep for outside London TBH.

I would be worried about the school managing to survive on such low fees. The move from independent to state is taken by many children at my DDs school. Once they get used to the larger class sizes there are no problems as far as I aware.

whoops - thought it was £3450 a term, not a year!

About 4 out of 20 go from my DS's prep back into the state sector at 13. I live near a town that has 3 outstanding state upper schools, so it is not exactly a "bad" option.

One boy from DS's prep has just gone on to be "Head Boy" at one of these upper schools, so is obviously doing well. I think a good education up to 13, coupled with good parenting is enough to motivate a pupil do well wherever they go.