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Original poster

Would you send your kids to private school if money were no option?

277 replies

Beetroot · 04/02/2006 20:04

and if so why? or why not?

Mine go to a private school. I justyfy it tom myslef becase they are specialist musicanans, they have 'special needs' which would not be fufilled in the state sector (round 'ere anyway)

Was totally against it though, until I fell into it by mistake!

OP posts:
octavia · 04/02/2006 22:58

my son has AS and we didn't really have any choice in the end but to send him to a small private school.We tried him in the local state school,he was so unhappy and stressed we had to take him out.He likes his school at the moment, but it's not ideal and the teaching staff always seem to focus on his weaknesses not his strengths which I find heartbreaking, he has pointed this out to us as well.Oh and we also have to pay for an assistant for him to keep him on track, but its becoming obvious to us that she is being used at the wrong times of needs but will they listen !
Its very difficult at times to do the right thing

bobbybobbobbingalong · 05/02/2006 00:02

I am currently applying for a job at a private school and based on the amount of scrutiny they have already subjected me to and the thoroughness of their interview procedure I would certainly like to send ds there.

However I did blanch at the line "all pre-school children have their own desks". Whatever for?

bloss · 05/02/2006 00:31

Message withdrawn

Tortington · 05/02/2006 00:46

no absolutley not becuase if money was no option i would have usher as my personal trainer and onhis day off ( wednesday) llcoolJ would be his substitute.

ScummyMummy · 05/02/2006 00:48

lol. LLcoolj, eh?! Interesting...

Tortington · 05/02/2006 00:49

dont be with yer laughing at my Jamesy

ScummyMummy · 05/02/2006 00:53

did you write any of these comments?

Tortington · 05/02/2006 00:58

yes that was me - in my spare time i always say "yo" hands up i was me. fine fcking picture never the less

ScummyMummy · 05/02/2006 00:59

pmsl

ScummyMummy · 05/02/2006 01:00

night sweets. i will email you. We must meet for getting ratarsed soon. xxx

Tortington · 05/02/2006 01:01

deal. pissed up night it is

harrisey · 05/02/2006 01:29

no. I am a secondary teacher in Scotland and I mark exams for the exam board and I have to say that there are a lot of parents out there wasting their money on so called 'good' schools where the teaching is obviously terrible. But then I live in an area where the state schools are fab, so I dont have to make that choice.
I think I would home-ed before I would send them private though.

bloss · 05/02/2006 01:57

Message withdrawn

bobbybobbobbingalong · 05/02/2006 02:15

bloss - I would home school rather than the music program consisting of pop songs, bringing in SingStar for a treat at the end of term is one thing, but as the whole program? Argh.

sarahinphuket · 05/02/2006 03:16

Yes I would.....

I'd send DD to an international school and it would have to be one where she could study following the International Baccalaureate programme from primary all the way up to sixth form.

This is because I believe that this education system is preferable to the National curriculum, as it is much more based on inquiry-based learning and the curriculum is much more integrated.

bloss · 05/02/2006 04:42

Message withdrawn

kitegirl · 05/02/2006 05:37

an often discussed topic in our household... We are blessed in that we can afford to choose. Before I had ds, I was determined that my children would go to state schools - I am Finnish, private schools do not exist there and in my naive ideology I saw it as segregation and was against it in principle (private schooling).

However, ds is now 2, I have lived in London for 12 years, most of our local primaries are fine but secondaries are failing, one was the one where a teacher was raped, even in the ok primaries there is none of the extracurricular activities, sports and music that the state was happy to provide me back home. I don't like the idea of private schooling in principle, the lack of diversity and I definitely don't like the competitiveness that I see in many private schools, but I don't think I should use my child's education to make a point about my 'principles'. So private it is for us.

bobbybobbobbingalong · 05/02/2006 06:05

All my participation in orchestras and choirs was done at the county music service and would all be available to ds without him being in school.

SueW · 05/02/2006 06:26

I'm a yes.

School offers a wide range of subjects including lots of opportunity for music, drama and sport and still manages to fit in the academic stuff it needs to.

Our experience of the pastoral care has been superb.

And yes there are the designer handbag, 4x4 mums but they are a minority, albeit a very noticable one because their aim is to be seen!

Blossomhill · 05/02/2006 08:40

Octavia - that sounds terrible! You have to pay for your son's assistant and they aren't using the asst properly

My dd has a similar communication difficulty to your ds and is thriving in a language unit who only focus on her positives. As said in previous post lots of parents have taken children out of private schools and put them into dd's unit as they are so specialist.

I just think it's such a shame that even though you are paying for your ds's education they are not delivering the education that they should be!

SueW · 05/02/2006 08:48

Some private schools openly admit they do not have the resources to support severe learning difficulties e.g. providing full-time one-to-one support.

Extra support is chargeable on top of fees - I know parents in prep schools who are paying almost £15kpa in fees plus additional 3 hours of support each week at around £30/hour, adding nearly £3k to the fees.

geekgrrl · 05/02/2006 08:50

I guess I would if the state schools were crap - but we live within the catchment areas of outstanding secondary and primary schools so it's not an issue.
It would pain me to do so - I went to boarding school for a-levels and the school was chock-full of xenophobic toryboys and girls, and the ones who weren't member of the young conservatives club were spoilt rich kids on all sorts of drugs. The teaching was good in some subjects but poor in others.

Personally I find it very important that my children mix with others from all walks of life - the school they're at now, whilst being very rural, isn't 'leafy lane village school' - over half the children are from poor US military families with all sorts of problems. But the school does an outstanding job at looking after them as well as dd1 who is a typical child from well-educated middle-class parents, as well as dd2 who has special needs.

Mt friend does some supply teaching at a local independent girls's school and is routinely stunned and amazed by how little clue these girls have of what life is like if you're not priviledged.

Blandmum · 05/02/2006 08:59

My kids go to a private school and it is very good at dealing with some SN. Class sizes are small, it is a very calm environmnet, and there is a teacher and support worker in each class. There are sizable numbers of children with dyslexia, dyspraxia, ASD and adhd. They have similar numbers on the sn regester to the state school where I work. While some of these chldren are at the severe end of the spectra, none need, or seem to need, 1 to 1 100%, and I don't think that the school could provide that.

Like all schools the degree to which sn can be included varies. The nearest state school to me, theoreticaly a comp, effectivly excludes all children who have sn. They have only 1.6% of kids on the regester, compared to 16% in my kids private school

SueW · 05/02/2006 09:05

Looks like best way to get private school plus SEN allowance is to join the armed forces. Allowances here

Blandmum · 05/02/2006 09:07

Suew....this is what some of my friends tap into....they have two children with dyslexia. I feel that we may well need this as ds goes through school. ATM he is too young to say for sure, but he is strugling with all aspects of literacy and is 'behind' the rest of his class by quite some way.

We are astonishigly lucky to get this. It is the last 'good deal' the forces get IMO