Is private school worth it?

[benthecat]

I live in North Leeds where there’s too many kids/not enough places at the good state primary schools meaning you can easily end up at a school miles away and in a bad area with poor results and standards.

Rather than take on this lottery, I am seriously considering private school - we could just about do it. Aside from the smaller class sizes, what else a private education bring especially for little ones? Any thoughts gratefully received, especially from those who know the private schools in Leeds. TIA.

www.mumsnet.com/SearchArch?search_origin=mobile&mustmatch=Private+school&dontmatch=&nickname=&titles_only=on&fromDate=2016-08-05&toDate=2018-08-05

Take your pick!

Or have a look through the Education boards - there are innumerable threads on this subject.

I think it depends on the school really, its worth it for us, our daughter has high functioning autism and the local high schools would have been no good for her, she wouldn't have managed. The school she goes to are amazing with her and she gets a lot of support. However, some state schools are better than some private schools so it depends on your area really.

It definitely very much depends on the school. In general you have better facilities, usually much more flexible after school and before school childcare, a cohort of children from aspirational families who are interested in education the children usually have above average attainment on starting school. You have a more flexible curriculum (again how they use this flexibility depends on the school). Smaller class sizes.

You don't necessarily have more experienced teachers this definitely depends on the school - some schools rest on their laurels as they have higher ability kids with parents who will do lots of reading etc with them at home. Some selective private schools are too invested in their results and try to encourage children who are underachieving or have any kind of problem to leave.

You really have to look carefully at the specific school you're interested in and try to compare carefully to the state sector schools you have a chance of getting in to. Try and speak to parents of kids already attending. You also have to think/guess about the type of kid you have - sporty? musical? academic?

If you can afford private go for it, the difference is well worth it. They produce a solid grounding for the children’s future, less namby Pamby hand holding more safe guidance and independence with smaller class sizes and general all round interests. Teachers have more time to focus on the individual child and seek out the child’s strengths and development

We decided the process of applying for a state Place was too stressful, letting you feel you have choice when actually you have very little. So we dipped out and decided to pay. We were also looking at moving house and it meant we could choose a house we liked rather than one that fell into certain School catchments with an inflated price. Dd1 started at 2.5 in the nursery and has never looked back. We are very happy with our decision.

I’d look very carefully at the fit to the needs of your child. Indies very a LOT in what they prioritise both inside and outside the curriculum and in culture. Do your homework on particular schools and do not rely on open day marketing alone.

It's a difficult choice. Our DTD's are due to start at a local prep this September. They also got places in the highly coveted local outstanding infants school. However, this feeds in to a huge fairly poor junior school which I'm not keen on. We decided to do prep school from reception rather than risk not getting 2 places at 7. Ironically I've since discovered that both ours and another local prep school are both currently low on numbers for this year's in take so we probably would have got places at 7 anyway... We live in a grammar school area and the prep school has an excellent track record. Private secondary would not be financially feasible for us with two so we're hoping that eventually they'll get grammar school places at 11.
What's the secondary school provision like locally to you?

In my experience private school doesn't have many advantages over a really good state school, but in your case it sounds like the state schools aren't very good. So I would do it if you can.

It all depends where you live I guess, I wouldn't unless there was a particular educational need or the local state schools were awful - plus I've had friends start then have to take their kids out because they just couldn't afford it

Private schools are certainly worth it if the local state schools aren't up to scratch.

Primary allocation isn’t a lottery and you do not have unfettered choice.

What you can do, is live securely in catchment for the school you want, find God if that’s a requirement and express a preference. The best way to stop any allocation problem is to live in catchment.

If you are not in catchment for where you would like, there are rules which govern admission to schools and primary allocation is not a lottery. You have to read the admission statements and make a judgement about where you want to live if a particular school is a priority.

If you have enough money Private can be good, but it can be mediocre. A couple of schools around me are definitely sell it cheap with no investment. They certainly employ unqualified teachers for example. They certainly don’t have superior facilities either. Many local state schools are a lot better. These private schools tend to be havens for “tender” children whose parents don’t want them to mix and feel they would be swamped in their local school. They are not good schools though.

Other schools have high quality everything and send children to Wycombe Abbey and Eton. There are huge differences. Therefore decide what matters to you and where you feel your DC will flourish but don’t think all private schools are sparkling beacons of excellence - they are not.

Only you can decide and as pp said, there are many threads on topic and they always go downhill fast! In the end you need to evaluate your options and make your decision.
I would be nervous about your "we could just about do it" as costs go up about 5% a year and the higher the year the more expensive it gets.
In my opinion, worth it but it is very expensive and only gets more so.

Reading with interest as we are having similar considerations. At first I had not appreciated how much more expensive private secondary is to private primary: approx 21K secondary vs 17K primary at the schools we're looking at (my figures include holiday clubs for the 4 weeks extra holidays, uniform and other bits and bobs for private). So you have to think long term: can you afford 3-18 and if not then 3-11 or 11-18 or some other combination? But thinking long term is so hard when they are little and you have no idea what their aptitudes or interests will be!

Having lived in areas where the local pass rate at GCSE was 40%, private school was our choice.

DS has been in independent education since 4 and is now about to join a senior school. We've made friends with a boy from a state primary school who is also joining the school and I have noticed a difference. It isn't just confidence. It's things like general fitness. My boy is not sporty at all but has been playing serious sport at school 4x per week. The friend has only been playing a club sport at the weekends. My son really is not good at sport (always comes last in everything at sports day) but he has been playing competitive sport against other schools since he was 8.

My son will be fine next term, and now I understand why some mums have said that the children who join from the local primary school do struggle a bit in the first couple of terms.

I went private school and can honestly say wouldn't have got any GCSEs without it, I was a really cheeky child, I know I would have been way worse in larger groups, doing less work and slipping through the cracks, private school had small classes and they made sure each pupil got the right grades. Hoping my son is a book worm because I don't have the funds for private school! Think it depends on the child but can be really good :)

It depends on the school and how much money you’ve got.

If you’re planning to go all the way from pre prep to A level it’s very expensive.

We went state for primary and private for secondary. The primary was large, lots of high attainers and rated good Ofsted.

Comparing my daughter to her peers (who have been at her academically selective independent all the way through) I would say that she missed out on sport, music, languages, history, breadth of curriculum and depth of teaching, preparation for 11+ test. There was also low level disruption from being in classes with children with SN or behavioural issues. She was also often tasked with helping the teacher teach slower learners rather than being stretched with extension work. I see good and bad points with the latter example by the way.

However, she ‘caught up’ then overtook quite quickly (plus awarded academic scholarship aged 12) as did all of the others who joined age 11. She and other state children have a level of resilience which the private children don’t have so much. I noticed the 11+ joiners were given more positions of responsibility.

On reflection I would probably still have gone state for primary. I think she was let down a bit educationally but benefitted a huge amount socially. Plus the school was a 2 min walk which cannot be underestimated.

However, if she the options for state grammar (we live in no grammar / fully comp area) for secondary then I would have put her in private prep as I think it gave the others an educational advantage.

So it depends what your finances and options are like.

General fitness??? This is one child from one family from one primary school! My neighbours children did cross country at primary school. They were fit! Others did rugby and football. The girls did netball, athletics and gym. They did all sorts of sports outside school. Many went in to represent their secondary school and the county. This notion that sport at private schools is better than dedicated clubs attended by state children and makes private pupils fitter is very doubtful. They probably just get forced into the F for failure team and hate it! I suppose coming last is good for learning your place in life!

Ps also, some of the preps that finish at 11 or 13 are too small, too few pupils and / or not academically selective. We have quite a few round our way that are situated in what looks like large houses. I would not have chosen one of those over a large state primary. Too small to provide enough options for friendships,healthy competition and life experience.

Dear Mum's,
Of course we want the best for our children... but to be completely honest they are annoying pieces of s (apart from my angel of course) I think we can all agree that we need to make our kids pay for all those annoying times they have given us by, for example, giving them an awful education which then leads to them failing in life

Re: fitness - I think this is much more dependent on the family than the school. DS1 (at private from 4+), only really got fit when he joined a local rugby club on Sundays who did an hour of drills before playing a game - that one session each week got him from unfit to fit and he was then able to make the most of school games lessons (which are 3x a week, but only really stretch the boys who are already fit).

My DSs are at a private school that is mediocre academically (we do a lot of extra stuff with them at home), but has very good pastoral care and sports for those who are already good - they're rubbish at nurturing the talents of boys whose parents haven't already put in the work. However, we don't fall within the catchment for any of the excellent primaries in our area, so we figured this is the best compromise. My advice to you would be to do your homework, go and visit all the schools you're considering, if necessary buy a house that is safely within in the right catchment area - and offset this cost against what you'd be paying in private fees over X number of years.

Dear Mum's

Apostrophe fail. HTH.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/education/3184466-Wakefield-independent-schools moved on to talk Leeds schools too.

Thank you all! Some really good food for thought here.

Have you no chance of getting into Prince Henry’s OP?