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

[Beetroot]

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!

I would consider it as I do not live in a particularly nice area. I will be puttining in placing requests and will do anything not to send my children to school in the area in which we live. Due to increasing house prices and the fact that only dh works we cannot afford to move at present.
But I dont think that my children should suffer in their education because of house prices and hope that we are supported in wanting better oppertunities and options for them!!

oops I meant to add - if we could afford the extra 7k for private education we could afford a bigger mortgage in a nicer area and wouldn't need to consider any other schools.

Yes, I would. B/c of the problems schools have here w/expelling students who are violent, abusive bullies.

In answer to the earlier question, we have a infant class size of 12, I live in a small village in Hertfordshire.

no .. I love our state primary school

.. I was in there yesterday varnishing the fabulous new welcome mural and I bumped into one of the teachers who dragged me upstairs to see the brand new 'state of the art' art studio she was building .. it was fabulous but what was so fabulous was it was 9.45am on a Saturday and she was there being wonderfully enthusiastic

.. my reception class DS is doing 'The Tempest' with teachers from The Globe and has even been on a school trip to The Globe

.. it is about 3 minutes walk from my back door

.. he is happy there and has many friends

.. I don't want him hot-housed

Before I had children I would say no way would I send child to private school.

Now if I had the money I would consider it, this is because I live in an area where there isn't a secondary school that serves us, there is a campaign for a new school going on at the moment, so the only option of dd getting in somewhere is if we apply to crap schools becuase there are the only ones around.

I do not think I am snobish because I actually went to one of the worst secondary schools in london and it was hell, the teachers were threatened with violence and brought to teard on a regular basis.

Every lesson would be disrupted virtually all the way through by pupils just doing there own thing.

so if there are good state schools near you it is easy to be liberal, but after what I exerperinced (and I did end up going to uni in the end, but most of the kids didn't even end up with gcses) if the only state schools near me are like the one i went to then I will do my best to ensure I can get my child into a good school.

I would consider it on the needs of my child. As lots of things since becoming a mum, I've questioned my long held beliefs and though have always supported free education for all, would not put my principles above the needs of my son. Luckily our primary is fab so when he goes I think it won't be a worry. And he did attend, for a while, the nursery dept of a small private school and I have to say, just because we paid for it did NOT make it the best! I found that the place seemed to railroad the kids and I think this is because people are paying and want them to behave a certain way - I didn't want my son squashed. I felt his personality wasn't valued at all - it was just a fight to make him 'fit in' and be very biddable. i prefer at this stage that he simply gets the chance to play in a group, experience group and social situations, and learn how to be part of a class. And for his own personality to be valued, which I feel it is.

So I think my view on private education isn't that I aspire to it at all - I simply want the school where my son will be happy, will be able to be himself; the rest I will worry about if it becomes a problem!!

Twiglet your schol sounds fabulous. My dd had a trip to Tesco in her reception year.!

Not all prvate schools are hot housing though

it does sound great .. the interesting thing is 4.5 years ago when we moved here it was on special measures and I would NEVER have allowed him to go there .. one superhead and an active PTA later ..

no I know all private schools hothouse .. and I would consider for secondary just not primary

Yes, because we have sent DD1 to a private junior school. However, I'm still wobbling on a daily basis about whether or not we did the right thing!

Can I just say (not aimed at anyone, just a general comment) that it was easy for me to stick to my principles when we lived in the catchment area for a fantastic, sweet, free, oversubscribed state school in the countryside. Harder once you get to the inner city imo. Having said that, ds is still at shite state school. I would say as a result of principles which it was at first but now I am desperate to take him out. And if we don't move to an area with better schools then we will be paying.

mb, hadn't realised you would be eligible for this - it is a great allowance and I love to see anyone's employer still provding some kinds of benefits since most seem to be able to remove benefits, demoand more from staff AND justify ridiculous sums for non-perofmring chief execs and record massive profits (altho this doesn't apply to armed forces - sorry private rant)

Was just looking at the Foremarke website - they have an ad for a reception teacher plus poss deputy head of pre-prep and another for Head of Geog, salary up to £34k plus 90% discount on fees for Foremarke and Repton plus BUPA. Amazingly generous discount - I know DD's school doesn't offer teachers such a good deal.

Twiglett, interstingly our Infant School was also on special measures when we moved here 5 years ago, once again with a Superhead, a great PTA and community support and lots of money thrown at it, its improved so much. Now I would be mad to send her to any other school, 2 min walk down the road.

no, our village primary school is terrific - small classes, good music tuition, lots of field trips, plenty computers and a healthy eating program. I dont have much of an option here though - if i wanted private education i would have to send them 130 miles away!

nitfreecod I think inclusion (in itsa current form) isn't remotely what its cracked up to be, think its been dreamed up by a bunch of civil servants who haven't spent 2 minutes in the company of a child with SN, instead have put their time into balance sheets. Still don't want ds2 to see children with SN being treated with contempt though (as apparently happens at our ocal primary), and I would/will pay for him to avoid seeing that! HIs relationship with his brother is tricky enough without outside idiots sending home dodgy messages (and lets face it to infants teachers are god-like),

I think it depends on the situation, my dd is educated privately. This is because we live in Spain and she found the Spanish system very hard. we sent her to spanish nursery aged 3 and she stayed for about 15 months. During this time she became very introverted and it was clear that she realised that she was different to the other children. She is quite a reserved child and didnot feel comfortable speaking another language. We moved her into the international system and I can honestly say that she has blossomed . She has become more confident, she has lots of friends, is soaking everything up like a sponge, even her Spanish has improved. In the UK I had no plans to send her to a private school but am now sure that if she wasnt getting on in the state sector I would do the same. I went to state primary and private seconary and both were good, so I suppose it depends on the school.

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WHY, WHY, WHY does everyone assume all private/independant school pupils come from affluent, priviledged homes, are hot-housed and have no conception of mixing with all social backgrounds? Most of the kids at my DS's school are from ordinary, normal families where parents sacrifice whatever is necessary to send them there just because they know it is what is best for their kids. DS's group of friends include every kind of background, including from the roughest areas around, all great kids. Yes it will be a struggle financially for the next few years but to see them thriving is payback in spades!

This is such a difficult one, as it is so hard to say 'money no option' bcuse we al make choices due to money (eg where we live/politics etc)

But both dh and I had experince of private schools as children and In some ways we really benefitted from that. Currently dd1 is in year 2 of a good primary school, she is pretty average, but not excessivly academic, therefore will be unlikely to get into the local grammer schools. So we will get teh choice of the state secondary or the school DH went to. I have the gut felling she will do better (academically) at the private school as they will take her from average to A level standard IYKWIM.

DD2 is in reception and far far brighter, so I think she will do well wherever she is.

We might be able to send them to private school (money from grandparents possible) BUT Dh's politics make that hard. Lots of our friends do send kids to private school (old school friends of DH), so the social/lack of friends won't be an issue. But it is hard.

ATM we have put the choice on teh back burner, while we watch our catchment school closely. A few years back it was pretty awful, now it seems to be getting so much better.

many, because in most places they do? I have first-hand experience of private schooling and virtually all the pupils came from priviledged backgrounds.
I know the local prep school - again, it's for the rich and 'too-posh-for-state-school' brigade.
My friend teaches economics a-level at another local private school and the pupils are ridiculously pampered and clueless about real life.
I'd say that a private school which has a true representation of society is a very rare thing. Maybe it's different in areas where the state schools are so bad that people would rather live on beans on toast than send their children to state schools?

no. unless they were (as Scummy and others have said) really really unhappy and there seemed no other viable option.

we could probably afford private education if we wanted to, but we like the state system. agree there are some crap schools but many good ones. would be very very sorry to give up on it. would however move house if i felt the local schools really were too bad.

am totally in love with my city local primary. think it's absolutely fantastic. my dds may not get 1-1 reading every day with the teacher but they are very happy, stimulated, and engaged with it all.

What's a privileged background though?

Old money? New money? Lottery winner? Builder/plumber/joiner who's managed to make money in the current buoyant 'don't move house but upgrade' market? People who have only one child and therefore can afford fees but ocouldn't afford to send more than one?

Does privileged mean you speak with a plum in your mouth or merely that by not taking a family holiday in school hols, not having a brand new car every couple of years, not having loads of nights out you can afford school fees?

I know lot of people who admit they could afford to send their children to private school if they chose to spend their money differently but they like their caribbean holidays, thei £100 for two dinners every couple of weeks, nights out at the pub, acrylic infills, botox, etc. It's just how they choose to spend their money and I don't condemn them for it.

I do realise however that there are a large number of people for whom private schooling is unlikely to ever be an option for them because they do not have enough income to choose between a caribbean holiday and school fees. I wish everyone could have the same choice but sadly they can't. I wish their children could experience the same education my DD does but I'm not going to put her into the local state school - why shouldn't I exercise my right to choose since I have it?

I agree batters. Geekgirl's description is not my experience of private schools. More what people would have you believe priavte schools are like.

Have worked in a very very good state school. The house prices in the area were very much over priced because of the school. The children and parents who bought homes there could also be placed in the same kind of over privledged bracket IMO/IME. Well some of them anyway.

Like all schools, some parents/children are spoilt/pampered - private and state alike.

Also worked in a bad state comp and because of my experience ther, IF THERE WERE ANYTHING I COULD DO TO PREVENT IT AND MONEY ALLOWING, then yes I would do anything to avoid them going.