Does anyone REALLY send their children to private school?

[Mosschops30]

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The state versus private school debate wil run and run, but I'm with FF on this one. Luckily, I live in a good area with excellent state schools, but I know people who send their kids to the local private school without even looking at the state schools, raeding OFSTED reports or anyhing - what's that all about then?

as a former teacher in the state sector I can see the benefits of a private education!

Fairymum, I don't think that my kids miss out. We do take them abroad...granted it is in a tent but they still get the fun and exposure to other ways of life. They also go to museums (esp if free!) We take out a yearly membership of the NT and get a lot out of that. They get taken to the park, for meals out etc.

We are very fortunate that we can afford to do it, I know that lots are not. My kids don't get everything, we don't do the hotel holidays abroad, designer stuff, must have toys, but they are not deprived, we are lucky.

Aloha, the class sizes are one of the biggest reasons we have for going private.
My SATs results were significantly higher the one year my Y6 class size fell to 21. Usually around 32!

Class size, ethos, support for my kids specific learning needs abnd wrap around care so that I can get to work!

ds is in a class of 10, he'd have been in a class of 30 otherwise. He would never have coped

We're fortunate to live in an area with excellent schools at both levels and it's interesting to note that very, very few people send their children to private school. Even our local MP's children go to our state secondary school.

Although we're not badly off I can't see how we could possibly afford private education anyway. We don't have expensive cars, holidays etc but we simply don't have a spare 10K a year for one child, let alone four. Dd1 has just begun university and the costs of that are crippling us.

what school is that piffle?

martianbiship - I can't remember who you used to be before you went into the steamrollering business - what are your son's needs?

ds is NT, but has language difficulties that have needed some basic SALT. He has also had behavioural issues, in part because of his language difficulties. He is NT but has a range of behaviours on the ASD spectrum which would have made him a very 'challenging' child in a class of 30....as a teacher I would not have been at all surprised if he had been excluded for these behaviours last year....in a class of 10 they could cope with him. At present he has an additional hour of 1 to 1 support for literacy, which he struggles with , he is at the bottom end of the 'normal' curve. This would simply not have been possible in the state sector with his level of need, which as I said is NT, but at the 'needy' end IYSWIM. O was hmb before btw.

Ah! I am really pretty concerned about my ds learning in a class of 30 myself.

to get statemented help in out LEA for literacy probelms a child has to be 5 years behind their chronological age. 5 YEARS FFS!

Criminal. And in those 5 years they learn that for them school is all about failure. Criminal.

Ds would have found it almost impossible to cope in the local primary, he would have become out of control

Agree with Fairyfly and Northerner and Dino. Dino- love the fact you are brave enough to parp on this one.

I had two in private school on Assisted places for four years, then just one for an additional year. My other two children went to state schools. We didn't find any problem with "extras"- the trips they went on were covered by the fees- and when we had to drop off early and/or pick up late it wasn't a problem (or an extra charge).

The other parents at the school were a mixture. All the cars in the car park were at least 5 years old, and most people we knew said they couldn't afford to go abroad. Some of DDs friends were very well-off but nobody was snobby with us. When they got towards the top of the school, she would go out with them and they would "sub" her, quite without ceremony and without playing Lady Bountiful because they realised they could afford it and she couldn't- they were a really lovely crowd of girls.

Our experience of private school was a very good one and I just wished I could have sent the other two as well.

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I like to think of myself as normal, reckon I'm probably middle class now but my parents sure wern't. Just very lucky that we can afford it, though I will have to work to pay fees when all three are in school. Don't have a particularly swanky lifestyle, though we can still afford at least one holiday a year and stuff for DD's like dancing / piano /tennis etc. Only run one car (VW touran) as DH can walk to work or borrow work scooter. Depends on priorities really.

Aloha, most kids do fine in a class of 30, it's just that they do better in a class of 15.
Also, those kids like HMB's DS who just need that little bit extra help, can often miss out in the state sector because any extra help (if there is any) is often directed at those kids whose behaviour is challenging.

It's a parp subject for me, agree with dino et al. But don't think mn is representative at all. I'm sure I read that only 9% of children are privately educated. Prepared to be corrected. The only child I know of that is privately educated was the son of my previous childminder - so I paid for it!

I agree on the class sizes. 30 seems crazy, at least I am glad I am not the teacher in charge.....

One of my worries about private school for my dd who is dyslexic is actually that although she might be better supported in smaller class sizes, she will be "kicked out" because the school needs results (I suppose this more relvant when they are a little older) I am suprised that people with children who need a little extra seek out private schools as I have heard so many horrible stories about children being pushed out for not achieving results for the school. I convinced my DH not to send ours private because of this reason. Am I exaggerating the pressure to achieve "for the school" in the private sector?

I don't want people to think, for one minute, that ds has the sorts of problems that people talk about on the SN part of MN. He is a smashing boy but can be very challenging and does need some extra help. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up on the SN regester at some point. His problems are not 'serious' but are still, for all that, problems.

He would have found it extreemly difficult to cope in a class of 30. Last year he wouldn't take part in any whole class activities, not even answering the regester. He could sit to one side with the classroom assistant. They gently got him to take part in a few things, for a few minutes at a time. That would have been impossible in our local primary. Even with all this help he made only slight progress last year. But still it was progress and we are very proud of him and very pleased with the school.

Fairy mum, the school my two go to have a lot of dyslexic children there. They also have lots of children with ADHD and ASD....they do well in the smaller class sizes.

15% of the kids are on the SN regester, and this corespends with the national average of about 16%

Our nearest 'comprehensive' refuses to accept children with dyslexia and has 1.5% of the children on the SN reg....go figure. It very much depends on the individual schools, I think.

FM, that's not at all the ethos of the school that DS will be going to.
But I do know of one beacon state primary who uses its Catholic entrance criteria to avoid as many SN children as possible!

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That is not the case where mine go, mosschops. It depends on the school

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