Our daughter has a place at an Outstanding Primary School - would it be silly to pay for her to go private?

[TheJohnsonFamily]

Just what the title says.

getahaircut
Where do you get your stats for rising numbers of children going forwards?
The crisis in education funding is entirely down to Westminster choices about austerity. There is nothing inevitable about it.
The numbers of school age children will stay stable / decline over the coming decades.
Population growth in the UK is driven by ageing, not births.

And the stats on class sizes are consistent and worldwide.

Mine all started at the local outstanding infant school. It wasn't as outstanding as we'd hoped. They moved to an independent school and we were instantly blown away at the difference and have never looked back. My only regret is that they had to put up with the 'outstanding' school first - it's taken a long time to undo the damage. You know your DC. If you are lucky enough to afford the private option, go with your heart.

I don't think you should assume that private is inevitably better, OP. That certainly isn't the case in my area. However, I wouldn't base everything on the OFSTED rating either.

Have a look at the schools and see which one you like best.

talkin look it up.

Pupil numbers have risen for seven years now. There are more than 470, 000 extra pupils since 2009. Projections are for a slowing increase.

The reasons for the cuts are by the by. They are in place ( though we haven't felt anything like their full impact yet). The teacher shortage will continue. How can it not given that the results of the GE are a forgone conclusion.

This is where we are. This is the money in the table. These are the pupil numbers.

getahaircut
I just did look it up
www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/536880/SFR25Projns_2016_Text.pdf
Numbers are due to start falling within ten years
and that analysis was done pre Brexit - a lot of the soon to depart EU migrants have lots of kids

The reasons for the cuts are by the by
Sorry, I could not disagree more.
The reason for the cuts is ideology.
The Tories choose not to spend.
But sadly the election outcome is, as you say, a foregone conclusion.

OP
Ofsted scores are just a piece of paper.
There are crap outstanding schools.
There are great needs to improve schools.
You need to look and see how they feel for your child.

talkin forecasts are just that.
And even if correct, ten years time won't help the OP or any other parent considering the current situation for their child.

Same as the reasons for the cuts. They're happening. The reasons won't help a parent choose or any child in state education.

Low whereabouts are you? You describe exactly the school I want for DS

PMed you

I was correct though - it doesn't prep for CE. That isn't to say that pressure is good but some people want their children to sit CE and don't expect them to funnel through to one school.

I guess the 100% of parents whose child got a place at their first choice school and the 38% of parents whose child got a scholarship this year felt their child was reasonably well prepped for CE. CE is really losing traction anyway now pre-testing is so widespread and you generally can't prep for pre-tests.

Last week the Y2s at my school sat test papers in silence in the mornings and had revision sessions in the afternoon. Maybe some people would think that was great and brilliant preparation for entering the examination system. My Y2 DS went to a farm, practised for the school play, made ceramic minibeasts, played sport every day... and did some maths and English (maybe). I prefer that for him. Horses for courses.

I loved DC's state primary. They certainly didn't sit Y2 SATS in silence or do hours of revision sessions. They barely noticed they were doing them at all. All 3 are at (or moving on to) private secondary.

You have to make your judgement based on the specific schools and your child. It really isn't possible for anyone to tell you which is the right choice as all those factors will be different.

Mine went to a prep and didn't do Sats either. They did all the things you say and more but the school was known for 13 plus CE. Most parents want both!

I did it. We have 3 kids and the anxiety of not knowing if the other 2 would get a place was part of the reason we turned it down (very common scenario in our town).

It's up to debate whether or not class size increases academic results but it's not debatable whether or not it impacts a child's social/emotional growth at a young age. There is only so much noticing/helping one maybe two adults can do in a class of 30. If you have a robust child then fine if not then I'd consider private. Of course it has to be a good private school and there are plenty of crap ones. But in my experience a good caliber private school is a world apart from even an outstanding state school. State schools are having a huge problem recruiting teachers. If you had a choice as a well qualified teacher would you rather do enriching activities with a class of 15 and a TA or a class of 30 with a shared TA? Deal with SATS vs not?

Save your money for private secondary schools.

Primary school teachers in the state sector are generally fabulous. In the private sector, they don't even need to be qualified and ime, are generally not as good. They get the results because overall, the intelligence level of the intake is higher!

It very much depends on the private prep school. In the best private schools there are specialist teachers for all subjects from about age 8. This includes history, MFL, geography, art, music and sport. This is completely different from how children are taught in state schools and therefore they are not directly comparable. So "results" are not comparable either. Sats are not taken and many private schools are judged on the destination of the pupils. Those that are through schools don't have to worry about this so can rest on their laurels a bit! At secondary level there is evidence that children with higher income parents do better regardless of where they go to school.

I wouldn't. invest the money for your child in a different way.
My kids gave loads of enrichment opportunities at school and do lots of extra curricular. Works for us.

We were all prepared for DD to go Private at 4 but then we got a place at a Good local State Primary and also I found I was pg again.
We really liked the State Primary and send DD ( and subsequent DS) there. She is now at the original Private school but went into year 7 and all being well her brother will do the same. I think we absolutely made the right decision and here's why
Saved lots of money, we have all her fees for the next 4 years ready and have still had a good lifestyle
Not so much academic pressure or homework while young
DD is much more streetwise and mature than her peers who have been at the Private school since age 3-4
She has a mixed group of friends as she still has friends from her Primary
So all in all for us State Primary then Private Secondary wa the best option but that's based on those 2 specific schools

Of course it depends on each individual school, but the latest statistics show if a child goes from 4 to an independent school, they gain 0.6 of a grade on every GCSE.
It might not seem like much, and frankly GCSEs are a bit useless anyway but that 0.6 of a grade might make the difference in A Level choices, university applications.
The same association also proved an increased ability in "soft skills", if you start at 4.
If you are into statistics, it's a good read:
www.isc.co.uk/research/annual-census/

But gut feeling is the most important. It's how most people choose between schools.

A report commissioned by the Independent Schools Council to prove the benefit of Independent Schools may be interesting but hardly, forgive the pun, independent.