I am new to this forum but I wanted to share my experience as I have many friends who were and are in my position and hopefully it will help someone?
My husband are classed by society as average earners so the thought of private school was a pipe dream. As my eldest daughter got to 7 the thought of putting her in the local academy was mind-blowing. We pass it every day and the kids are either smoking or killing each other. We decided that we needed to scale down and cut out everything we could and basically bit the bullet. I was worried I would be putting them in a school full of judgemental rich kids but after visiting Westfield Girls School in Gosforth my mind was put at rest. I was also worried about them being in a single sex school, but it is fantastic as there is little or no distractions and boys learn at different rates than girls so it means they are progressing quickly, also with only 15 kids in the class the teacher has time for them. I visited all the schools but realised the results were very similar however most of the other schools were just academic. They were lovely but I want my kids to enjoy school not come out as robots. That was the hardest part working out which school would work for our kids not what we thought we wanted. I have one child who is average and another one which is super bright. Both however love sport, art, drama etc so I needed balance and wanted them in the same school to cater for both of their academic abilities.
Moving them there has been the best decision of our lives. They have both been there for two years now and are different kids. They are getting not only a great education but they are more confident and mixing with kids from all walks of life. They have fantastic outside activities. The school work is fairly heavy going but the teachers are on call if you need help. All in all even though we are totally broke and holidays are caravanning and meals out are family picnics or the odd McDonalds however the kids are happy and doing great so it is worth it. It is the hardest and most expensive decision we have ever made. Some months when the cash point says ?no? I think?.?my god what are we doing? but when I watch my youngest daughter playing the piano and violin it really does not seem that important.