Does anyone REALLY send their children to private school?

[Mosschops30]

Message withdrawn

I have to say that's it for me now on this thread. I don't feel I have anything constructive to add.
I don't want to carry on justifying our choices or feeling guilty that we can afford (only just) to make decisions that that are right for our family. I know everyone isn't as lucky, but then neither is everyone as lucky to conceive but I won't apologise for having children either.

I will keep repeating myself until I am blue in the face, I have not and will not slag off any mother who chooses to send her children to a private school. I came on here because I find it interesting to debate and talk about these things. The blame lies with the government and it is in this area that I hope the changes come, by people taking action.

Just as you wouldn't expect me to sit back and accept it if I couldn't conceive, I will not sit back and accept that there ever should be a rich/poor divide.

if private schools were abolished then it would not improve state provision nationwide

encouraging teaching methods which work and are simple to teach like phonics might help

as would more teaching according to ability coupled with better teaching skills training rather than subject specialism, more excellent teachers given incentives to work with challenging children, less bureaucracy, more sharing between schools and between teachers in the same school. there is too much time. money and energy wasted in re-inventing the wheel at all levels in education

Teachers spend unnecessary amounts of time planning lessons when they could share a lot more and recording information which doesn't further educational needs

course it would improve - do you really think all those powerful and influentil people who send their kids private - if they hav NO CHOICE3 like me but to send their kids to private i wuld bet my own arse flap it would change

i mean no choice but to send their kids state

And state-run grammar schools Rhubarb? You've still not commented on these although they are highly selective probably more so than private schools which is, as I understand it, your main issue with private schools. Your definition of 'choice' and mine are different but we'll have to leave that one. What I find odd about your complaints is that you appear to be blaming private schools for the failings of the state system and this is pointless and wrong. I'm not saying that you should just shut up about private schools. At one point I shared some of your views (until I gained experience as a teacher in the state system, as a house-owner and a mother). What I'm saying is there's not much constructive to be achieved by airing your complaints in this forum mainly because, like it or not and I know you don't, private system is by definition independent therefore not accountable to OFSTED, the govt or the public. The real problem is with the state system and perhaps this is where you should be focusing your complaints. Have you noticed that nobody on this thread who sends or is thinking of sending their kids to private school is doing so because they have loads of money to spend and really like the uniforms!! They are doing so because they are unhappy with the 'choices' of state schools that are available to them. When you complain about the state education system you're preaching to the converted. I think most of us in the position of considering private education would admit that this is a selfish choice in that we want the best for our children. Is there anyone here who would choose private over state if their local state school could offer the same opportunities? It would therefore be more constructive to think about how we could improve the state system. Have you written to your MP? I have. I also work in the state system so I'm trying in my tiny way to do my bit for it. Did anyone see the documentary about the labour MP's wife (can't remember her name) who felt like many of us appear to do about the state system so got together with a bunch of parents who were thinking of going private and persuaded them to make a positive choice to go to the local state school and turn it around? Finally, haven't you said you actually applied for a place at private school for your child? And you work in a private school so the private system that you deploy actually pays your wages or have I got this wrong? Hmm .. do I detect a teensy weensy bit of hypocrisy going on?

Rhiann i think Rhubarb is in france

That should be deplore not deploy sorry. no sleep.

I have commented on grammar schools, lots of time, you'll have to read back cause I can't be bothered to!
Yes I work in a private school, they are the only ones who would employ an unqualified, non-experienced teacher.

But one day, we will probably have to move back to the UK, as dh doesn't like it here. When we do, we certainly won't be going to an affluent area, far from it with our income! So the day may come when I am forced to send my children to the awful state that is a bus ride away because I really will have no other choice. That frightens me. My children are everything to me, to think that they might be subjected to the kind of treatment that I was subjected to at school gives me sleepless nights. But what can I do?

I do not blame the state schools on the private schools, I blame the government, I have said that too, you'll have to read it.

Interesting you should comment on how those who were considering sending their children private were persuaded not to, and as a result the state school was turned around. This kinda proves Custy's point that if private schools were no more, then parents of those children would actually get up and do something about that grotty state down the road, because that is where they will be forced to send their children, and suddenly it's not just someone else's problem anymore, it's theirs.

I'm backing off this thread, it's getting too long and I'm going round in circles.

But maybe if private schools were abolished they would send their kids to school abroad and or move there themselves or live in affluent areas where all the houses were over 700,000

not in a deprived area.

am sure they would but the political pressure they would impose would benefit all state schools not just the one that tarquin is attending

How could private schools be abolished?
Parents who were dissatisfied with the state system would go for home ed, then a few of them would get together and teach them as a group or pay a teacher to teach them, and hey presto!
That's a private school.

home ed is illegal in Germany...

Why?

not sure. It is legal in France, but much harder than in UK, you have to register (compulsory) and more or less do what they tell you.

That's cos the Republic of France is a socialist country.

It's even more likely now surely that parents would get together since this seems to be exactly what the govt has in mind with the new proposals?

Rhubarb, by the time you return, you should be able to find a few like-minded parents in the area, get together, set up your own school with the govt's blessing and petition local firms to sponsor you (or chip in the odd fiver yourself) and hey presto.

I think it is because they are stronger on social framework, whereas UK allows more liberty in certain areas.

home ed was traditionally the choice of the upper classes for their daughters

Ok so let me get this right Rhubarb. It's ok for you to take money from a private school (and this comes from where again?) and apply for a place for your child at several others but it's not ok for other parents to send their children to private schools which you want to be abolished anyway?? No contradictions there then. I'm happy to work to improve the state education system that's why I work in it (I work in a state 6th form but I also run classes for disadvantaged GCSE students across the borough and provide Internet resources for them) and I'd be delighted to meet up with other parents in my area to talk about how we improve the local state schools. I would love to see a high quality, free, non-religious, non-selective, accessible state education system with small classes as I've said. If and when this happens I'll be first to sign up my children.

thats kinda like saying i can't have socialist principles becuase i live and work in a capitalist society.

did you apply to get your kids into a private school rhuby?

sell out!

No I have not applied to get my kids into private schools. I work for a private school to earn a crust, same as I worked for a Bailiff company and still didn't pay my poll tax!

I try to be a good teacher, but I hate the school!

Deffo off now!

Where'd get that from anyway Rhiann? That I applied to several schools for my kids that is?

Erm, from you Rhubarb...'A few years ago, because of uncertainties over state school allocations in my area, my elder daughter took the entrance tests at a couple of local independent schools.'

Well I don't have to say anything more to discredit your arguments you do that all by yourself Rhubarb. I honestly feel sorry for you if you hate the private school system so much but feel forced to work in it and apply for places for your kids there. Those conflicts must be hard for you.

Oh just about the special needs issue. As I understand it the assessment process for identifying students with special needs is fairly rigorous and isn't relative to an individual school if that makes sense. It's notoriously difficult to get a child statemented and isn't it the case that it's only children with statements that appear as sn in the league tables? This is a genuine question. I don't know the answer to it. If that is the case a school can't just label its poorest achievers as having sn.