What kind of 'needs' mean one child is better suited to state, one better suited to private education?

[Enid]

Surely all kids 'need' smaller class sizes?

Yes they do

But what if your kid couldn't function in a group of mroe than five or six, like mine, and therefore was going backwards and not learning to read? Or maybe was especially talented in a skill not offered- eg, dance, but seriously behind academically?

Mine is at state and will stay there (albeit with support) but some kids do have very specific needs that are ahrd to address within the statre system, yet function too highly to be easily assimilated by special schools.

The other kind of needs I have heard mentioned in this context is where the parents don't function at all well, and theya re considered better catered for in the main at a boarding school. Don't think this is common, but doubt it costs more than care. And forces families, I guess too.

I'm not completely convinced that small classes are the answer for everyone, tbh. A bouncy extrovert boisterous child, with a good degree of academic ability might find a class of 12 a bit too limiting. Particularly in a mixed school -- I looked at one school recently where the Y6 class of 12 consisted of 9 boys and 3 girls. Pretty tough for the girl who gets left out when the other two team up to be best friends.

Ds is doing fine in Y2 primary class of 32, but the class is quite closely clustered in terms of ability, and he's naturally quite enthusiastic, reasonably hard-working and very sociable. I wouldn't necessarily choose a smaller class for him, though I would like the existing class to have extra teaching support for individual attention.

However, a good friend's dd is in the same class and really struggling -- she's a quirky, quiet little thing, reasonably bright but not naturally good at school work iysim, and has switched off from working because she thinks she's no good at it, and also has problems concentraring. Parents are thinking very hard about moving her to somewhere she can have more individual support, and I can see their point.

And so forth. The permutations are endless, really. I'm shocked by how different my children's needs are, tbh. I assumed they would all just go to the local school, and so far they have, as it happens. But I could very easily make out good cases for each of their needs better being met in different schools if we ran into serious problems.

frogs - dd would agree with you whole-heartedly - 50 little girls wouldn't be too many for her! (Think it may be the teachers who "need" the smaller class sizes.)

PS: if you remember my concerns about remedial football: turns out ds's NZ PE teacher, and, as helper, ds's own beloved class teacher, ran a first-week-of-the-holidays sports camp last week - and he has come home full of excitement about benchball, hockey, rounders and swimming. So that was the answer! - under our noses, all the time.

I don't think it's really a case of state v private, I think within both sectors schools position themselves according to a variety of criteria and have unique selling points or strengths and weaknesses...so ideally a child should be able to go to the school which most suits them individually.

Some children are very flexible and resilient and will thrive in a broad range of educational establishments others are far more challenging in their requirements.

For all children I think development of social skills, self esteem and confidence are probably more important educational needs than subject knowledge.

I was going to say what zippi said.

for younger kids, class sizes count for a huge amount though. but at secondary level I think it's less important and may be off-set by other advantages to the school (eg breadth of curriculum. some private schools necessarily cover quite a narrow curriculum and kids have less choice at A level because of the smaller scale)

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I'd also point out that typicaly you don't really have a choice of schools in the state sector. It has a great variety of excellent schools, but you only get to choose a very few, and even then the choice is that of the school/LEA and how they have drawn up the entrance criteria. Whilst private schools will alo have their own entrance criteria, you're still likely to be eligible for more schools.

If I honestly thought that a different school was better for ds2, then I would put him there. However at present what we have a choice of school that may be "as good as" ds1's (private) school at least in many of the things that matter to us.I'm therefore dithering a bit: we won't get the same value for money for ds2, but do I really want to be trying to make up for additional sports etc hwen it is provided on aplate. Ho hum.

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the real problem is getting to know the school before you become an intimate part of it..

lol yes

wish you could do 'taster' days

my biggest problem with our local private school is the uniform (did I say I was shallow btw?). Makes all the girls look like lilttle lord fauntleroy - sailor dresses and straw hats may the lord preserve us

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my ds has dyspraxia, but wasn't severe enough in the school's opinion to warrant any extra help. He was falling further behind and losing confidence. We moved him to a private school with 12 children in the class and he flourished. My dd is enthusiastic, competitive and a bit of a swot. She is doing really well in her state school.