Does anyone REALLY send their children to private school?

[Mosschops30]

Message withdrawn

MartianBishop, but I bet they do police checks on you! I couldn't get into teacher training as an English teacher because I didn't have my Maths GCSE. Teachers of state schools are employed by the state so you generally get tighter contols. Private school teachers are employed privately and only answerable to their employers, the controls are not as strict or as tight.

If you are paying to get your child into a supposedly 'good' school, shouldn't you expect the teachers to be suitable qualified and checked out for a criminal record?

I would imagine that the teachers in private schools are police checked. My understandingo fUK law (and I am not a lawyer) is that all epople working with children are police checked. I know that brownie helpers (parents) have to undergo a police check. I would be astonished if teachers in the private sector are not checked.

My point is simply this. All schools can emply unqualified staff, and they do so. The rest of the staff were very amused at my status as 'unqualified' as I had more qualifications than most, but lacked the PGCE. I now work in the same school as a fully qualified teacher.

My point was simply this, going 'state' to avoid unqualified staff will sometimes not work as state schools also emply the unqulified. Have a shufti at the arguments that run on the Times Ed websites regarding the use of cover supervisors.

weesdaie - secondary level schooling in Edinburgh is not great TBH. You have Royal High (so need to live in Crammond/D Mains or Barnton), Gillespies or Boroughmuir(both Bruntsfield/Morningside/South Side ish). The rest are pretty average - living in Colinton for example puts you in catchment for Firrhill. Bits of Costorphine got to Forresters. The New Town gets Drummond - can you see a pattern here - i.e. expensive areas/rubbish schools hence off they fo to Watsons/Heriots.

Mosschops30, we took the independent route for our children because we are really not happy with the emphasis on numeracy and literacy and how it is being implemented in most of our local schools in London - we live in a poor-performing borough and one of the worst in the UK at secondary level.
For us, our modestly priced, non-academically selective, very unpretentious private primary means freedom from the National Curriculum and SATs at 7. It also means immediate, adequately resourced, no quibbles classroom support for the statemented children in his class and school.
We'd have gone Steiner if we'd had a nearby option. As it is, he is spending more time on exploratory, play-based learning than most of the other children locally from what I hear.
We work in the public sector mosschops and most of the other parents in ds' class are not swanky high-flying types - just parents who want an alternative, gentle, more holistic education for their children. Three of them are "refugees" from a nightmare competitive yummy-mummy-infested state school shark-pool in a nearby bijou suburb as a matter of fact
People are quite within their rights to parp about this, is is an emotive topic, but there are quite a few of us on Mumsnet who have gone the independent route for reasons totally unconnected with cachet or perceived status...

Oh well that explains my rosy coloured view of Edinburgh schools. I went to Gillespies! Better move back to Bruntsfield sharpish... or at least in the next 4 years.

Aye we thought about that then realised that a studio basement was not that suitable for a family of 4 !

I want to move back to Edinburgh, DH doesn't potential school costs plus increased mortage for smaller house mean he is currently winning hands-down. Plus outlaws live about 5 mins away at the moment. You can see my problem........

Yeah, it's a tough choice. A friend of mine is just about to move out of Edinburgh. I just love it here though, don't know if I could! I'll keep me and my dd in a one bed flat if I have too!

PS. At the moment we are in the catchment for Drummond! But don't have to worry about that for another 10 years or so.

Drummond is an improver I think.

I so wish I hadn't been persuaded of the benefits I WANT back NOW................

Hee hee, I am just glad you mentioned Gillespies as a good school on your first post!

Where do you live Marina?

Marina, is it St.Olaves your go to? I would have sent mine there if we hadn't moved away from area. Very good school I think!

Our dd goes to a private School and it's great. we started her at the nursery there to see how she'd get on and how we liked the School. We thought that it would be easy enough to move her to the reception in a state School if we weren't happy with it.
As it turns out, it's a great School.
We are very comfortable but not rich in a money sense and i do worry about the commintment as i see it for good too (as LIZS) said.
We are looking into setting up some kind of education fund to keep her fees and everything in order. We also have another dd and i want more so............

BTW, i drive a Ford and most of my clothes are from Asda, i find 99% of the mums really easy to get on with and just like me. One or two look like they are a bit up themselves but i just ignore those ones

I went to private school (same one as mosschops)we looked into private school for ds1 and fees were about 10000 a year which would have been fine but as we decided to have ds2 we knew it would have been a struggle plus i would have had to go back to work. Plus we are normal people like you but it was my mum wo siad think of all the extra curriclar activities/tutors/hols plus extra time with children (not at work) etc you can pay for with the money you don't spend on school but which are just as educational. Mosschops when were you at convent!

Marina's school is indeed lovely

In fact had I known of it when my DD started school we would have gone their too. It seems unfair to move her though when she is happy where she is!

I think that there are a few of us on MN who are lucky enough to have a choice as to how we educate our children, be that in private schooling or in having enough nouce to know how to get into the best state schools. It would be entirely wrong to assume that any of us exercising our choices do it recklessly or without careful consideration.

As many have said - it is a complex decision, but we all try to make whatever choice is the right one for our own children.

Sorry - very tired this evening 'their' should of course be 'there'[arghhhh emotion]

Private primary round here is around 5k pa. Seniors are upwards of £7k. Some schools e.g. Girls Day School Trust have fees which remain static from Y7-Y13 at around £7k and there is a philosophy of continued education (read they will try to help you through a time of financial pressure so that your child's education is not interrupted).

Others have a rising scale of fees - day pupils in Y7 start at £9k and by Y11+ that is almost £11,5k. Boarding is an extra £2.5k approx. Repton is also local-ish. Fees there are around £15k pa for day pupils.

Extras for all schools are things like music lessons - around £150-£200/term.

Most parents I know buy uniform secondhand either from the school shop or from each other. At Foremarke/Repton they also sell sports equip in the secondhand shop esp equestrian, my friend tells me.

Parents IME are a mixture with some people having tons of money to splash around and others not.

I know you have this terrible effect on me - like my old English teacher peering over my shoulder

oh we definately didn't do it for status either!
Reverse snobbery in my neck of the woods is rife so i don't really want any 'status' it ould supposedlt bring. Just for dd to be happy.

it would supposedly bring!
ks, you're making me nervous!

My DCs' school is supported by one of the City of London Guilds. As such around a 1/3 of all senior school pupils are on burseries and around another 1/3 get some form of scholarship or other. There are hardship funds too, for those parents who have fallen on hard times so that the children can continue at school.

When the assisted places scheme was dropped the Guild ensured that all children who were on sponsored places were able to finish their education at the school.

All of this makes for a very interesting mix of pupils and parents.

Arts and sports are as keenly promoted as academic excellence as well which is nice too