Worried parents turning to indie schools -The Observer

[lifeafter50]

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jul/26/anxious-middle-classes-look-to-private-schools-after-coronavirus-disruption

Interesting - I wonder who this will balance out with people forced to remove their children from indies due to job cuts/return overseas etc.

I quite agree that there are more children than would be known to Social Services. I was thinking that for some children there should have been a team effort.

I think many parents struggled and it’s great to think there’s more to education than exams but unfortunately where I was a governor, schools and dc were judged on exams. Some dc need a lot of teaching and never get near to extra depth! Some have parents who can barely read! Some families are chaotic and dysfunctional. Some children need a lot of constant reinforcement of topics and intervention. Parents would struggle with this. But school wouldn’t have given up on new topics and expected dc to go it alone.

Some dc who are doing very well need regular chivvying to bring out the best in them. Lots of schools didn’t ask for anything deeper! Just repeating and projects which require motivation. The keen bright ones do them but dc like my niece get up at midday and do nothing. No one chased up that she did nothing and her mum gave up. Loads of dc behaved like this. What learning has actually taken place? Not much and life going forward will be more of a struggle. Guaranteed.

I suspect that there is truth in this, however it is a two way street and others will not be able to afford to keep their children in private education

And dc from abroad might not apply either or even come back.

I know of two dc (not at my dds prep) who are going back to European home countries for good this summer

Leaving uk prep

Uncertain times for everyone.

I live in London and know quite a few families who are probably making something like £150k-£250k who have been sending their DC to state primaries. Many of them either intend to or already have sent DC to private secondaries, but were quite happy with the good state primaries their DC got places at. When the lockdown first started, several of them actually gloated that the people who sent their DC to private primaries were going to waste their money, that there was no way that online provision could justify the summer term's fees. They have since changed their minds.

The gloaters were correct that private school parents got much less than they expected for their money. No access to the expensive grounds, facilities and activities. Less curriculum beyond the core. A new requirement to help their DC access the live lessons online.

But what was also true is that the difference between what parents in most private primaries around here received and what they received in state primaries actually got bigger. This was not just in terms of education, but also in terms of childcare: nearly all of them ended up working from home and keeping one eye on a 7 year to make sure they're still connected to their class is less time-consuming and distracting than taking care of the 7 year old for the entire school day.

Perhaps 20% of people in London could afford to send their children to private primaries without making massive sacrifices. Only about 5% did. Many of the rest are now thinking it over.

Yes very interesting points. I also know quite a few families who could afford to privately educate but don’t and none of them seem to be moving kids private.

Maybe this depends on where in the country people are as well

I have to say I feel the opposite. I am removing my child from private as I think the fees are just too much for online schooling which I have to supervise myself so I may as well do it myself!

There could be a rise in permanent home schooling as well

I know one indie parent who has deregistered her child from an 11-18. Her dd wasn’t happy and there is Interhigh etc

So yes I think there could be a rise in permanent home school.

I’m guessing different trends will work for and against admissions

School closures of struggling schools will benefit surviving scholar eg

Not scholar - benefit surviving indie schools who will pick up the pupils

Our prep offered as much as we could have expected or hoped for during the school closures. My kids in yr1& yr4. DS1 on special needs list. School Sent detailed emails with all the work required for each lesson each day and there was loads on the virtual learning environment to help, specialist teachers set the work for their subjects, we could email anytime any staff member and got quick replies. All the work was quickly marked and returned. All work had clear due dates and expectations. Small amount of live sessions but not much, more for higher years. Each child had 1:1 video session with form tutor every week. Music lessons via zoom at reduced cost.

DS1, age 9 with ASD And dyslexia got his Twice weekly 1:1 for English Via zoom with the senco. We don’t pay extra for that.

I’m sure both my kids would have done more in normal school, but overall we have been impressed by the school. None of my friends in local state schools got anything like this, but the other local preps seemed similar. We moved to private when DS1 was ignored in his state primary, as the poor teacher was too stretched dealing with kids with more serious learning, language and social issues for her to be interested in an anxious child who was almost keeping up academically. Understandable, but hardly ideal.

We were planning on moving to independent next year when my daughter started year 7 and we also said we would move my son at year 4 if we felt he wasn’t reaching his full potential . We have accelerated that decision and both are moving into year 3 and 6 in September to a private school near us

We have done it for various reasons including the fact that our outstanding primary has managed the whole crisis poorly and we have had only 1 contact the whole time and some worksheets that never get looked at . We didn’t have faith in how they would meet their educational needs in September and wanted a bit more resilience in their education as well as the other benefits of a private school