Has anyone done this? Am stressed!

[mummyoutoflondon04]

Due to DH job (or lack of...just lost well-paid job in finance) we have to take kids out of private and go state. Long story I won't go into now. We have been lucky in that got places on appeal at good (recommended) state primary and secondary schools. Has anyone done this and got any helpful tips. We are changing mid-term mid-year, the kids know no one at schools, they are out of our area and huge compared to what they are used to and I am feeling worried about everything, money, the future and this in some way hurting the kids. Am I being stupid?

Hi there
Just saw your post and wanted to say that although we haven't done this but we may have to take younger out of prep at some pint so wanted to sympathise.
What I will say that a good state school can be just as good if not better than a private school. You've done as much as you can for your kids but at the end of the day you can't do more and you're doing the sensible thing to move them/
Xx

Not quite the same but we moved DS1 back into the state sector, (our local so called "outstanding high achieving comp") when he left his tiny boarding prep at the end of year 8. He is according to the ed psychs exceptionally bright but has a very very significant and rare processing disorder, and rubbish working memory, his needs were not being met by his prep school, and there was no senior independent school within sensible travelling distance that was likely too meet his needs so we decided that we might as get him no support for free rather pay for no support, .
He knew nobody (we'd recently moved 200 miles up the road), he's very eccentric, lacked confidence, had had a shit time last time he'd been in state ed; he been bullied very badly, and his prep only had 120 children and the state school had 1200. He settled really quickly and made good friends, the school never understood his problems but there's nothing new there, thats been the story of his life since he started school at 3. I doubt academically he would have done much better if we'd paid. My only regret was that I hadn't moved him at the end of yr 6.
Before he started I was very positive about the school, never once letting him see how worried I was, the school (in fairness) let him attend for a couple of days at the end of the summer term so that he knew what was what and he spent the first week with buddy who was keeping a careful eye out for any unpleasantness from other children. Ultimately they were absolutely crap, they never understood his problems despite paying for a massive report/assessment, they then filled the recommendations under B for bin but as I said his problems are apparently very rare so teachers rarely if ever come across it. Be positive I'm sure it will work out fine.