Is private education worth it?

[motherofggs]

I have two children they are both in private school, one in primary another one is in secondary (age 9 and 12) We used to have really good income before so we never considered and searched about the state schools. We will shut down the business and find a job with my husband we both have master degrees from UK but still I am not sure if we can cover the all school fees with our salaries. Our school fees currently 34k for both of them per year. It’s increasing each year and lunch, uniform and piano lessons are not including in this fee.
My kids are doing great in school. They are both above average with out tutoring. Specially little one so talented she will sit IGCSE exams next year. Her teacher says she is gifted and role model of the class. Both my children also good in sport and art and they speak 3 languages. My older one got scholarship (25 percent off from school fees). I do believe little one will have more as she is more academic and she can get 50 percent when she will sit her 11plus assessment in year 6.
Unfortunately I am still in stress as I know lots of parents which has degrees like us and both works full time and they can not afford independent school fees for 2 children. Meanwhile by saving I mean we have one holiday house in our country which cost about 150k and one additional (off plan) property which will be ready in 2023 (we paid 90k) for that property in 2009. And we have a mortgage around £2000 with service charge and 2 cars. And if sell the house we living in currently we can have around 300k because we paid high amount of deposit when we bought the property. We still can pay next years schools fees from the savings but if our income do not gets better we need to sell one of our properties later.
I would like to know what would you do if you were in that situation. Many thanks

You have a lot of options!

I would look at the local state schools and see what you think of them. Mine went private from 11-18 because we were not happy with the state options.

If we'd had the option of a good state school locally, we'd have used it.

I think private schools are probably worth it for kids of medium range academic ability and/or who lack drive and self motivation.

Kids who are bright, self motivated and have supportive families will probably do equally well in the state sector.

My dd has thrived in state schools. She is happy, confident, articulate, well rounded and gets outstanding exam results. We could have afforded private school fees had we chosen to go that way, but I can't see what value they could have possibly added. Except for fancier surroundings and richer friends perhaps.

What do you currently earn and how much will you earn?

If you have motivated children and your local state schools are good then there is probably no need to pay for private education. Our local schools are pretty dire (low aspirations, low performance), no grammar schools etc. so we pay for private education but if a great state school was on our doorstep I would use it.

We have one state secondary school near us. It is OFSTED good. And in school website they mentioned that %38 students got grade 9-5 GCSE. Is that good school, good greats?

Sorry. This is what their website says... 80% of students achieving grades 9-5 and 46% achieving grades 9-7. With our Maths 9-5 results at 77% and 9-7 at 38%.

İs it good?

It's worth it for us.

I went to a 'very good' state school (think top 10 in country) and was a motivated intelligent pupil with involved parents. It was quite bad in many ways - overcrowded classrooms, no heating, lack of sports, bullying teachers, lack of funds for what we needed. It did the job, just.

Ours kids are private and the difference is incomparable.

It is a waste of money, homeschooled and state schooled kids can still achieve A** even without subscribed online classes and tutours, the resources are all there free online. Times have moved on.

My two kids went to a state village primary, then a bog standard state comprehensive. The teaching was excellent.
They came out with straight A grades and went to Russell group universities, for a maths degree and business degree respectively. I don’t see how spending £34K a year for private schooling could have improved on that, even if I’d had that sort of money available!

It's worth talking to the schools they're in about hardship funds / if anything can be done to keep the children in the school if you can no longer afford it. That's if you decide you'd really prefer to stay private if possible.

I would move the younger child to a state school and that might give you some breathing space financially. You could supplement this with tuition and extra activities.

I always favour private school but I think it only is critical from year 8 onwards. Hopefully your finances will be better by then.

@Moonface123

It is a waste of money, homeschooled and state schooled kids can still achieve A** even without subscribed online classes and tutours, the resources are all there free online. Times have moved on.

If that's the case why do some state schools get contextual offers for university? is it not based on state schools not having as much resources or access to teaching as their private school counterparts why the drive to equalize things for state school students?

@Moonface123

It is a waste of money, homeschooled and state schooled kids can still achieve A** even without subscribed online classes and tutours, the resources are all there free online. Times have moved on.

Depends on the school. In our local state school, there is much less learning taking place than in the private ones - it’s more about crowd control. The very motivated still do well, but it’s also very easy to not do the homework, not turn up to classes.

Not unless it's one of the top ones - Eton, Gordonstoun and the like. And what you're paying for there are the networking opportunities. Most bog standard independent schools are no better than a decent state school and many are worse. Where they do add benefit is where your child has an additional learning need such as dyslexia, or is more emotionally fragile for whatever reason - then the small class sizes and additional pastoral support may be helpful.

Having been in a private school myself and sent my children to state schools, I'll sum it up as being 'it depends'.

If money is no object, you're happy to put up with the issues that come about (there are plenty) and the local secondary schools are lacklustre - go for it.

If on the other hand money is vaguely tight, the local schools are good etc then it's probably going to be money down the drain.

Friend of mines daugther is was in good state primary - she was doing great in primary but because her friends she doesnt focus on her studies now in state secondary. She has group of 4 friends and none of them focus on their studies, they dont do homeworks etc... but in private school parents do not allow kids to do that as they pay a lot for that education. So environment also has vital role in success not only teaching or ofsted grades... plus the facilities my daugthers can play piona, violent, really good in swimming, tennis and art. I do not believe they were going to be the same if they were in state sector. So really confused:///

Sorry about the spelling and grammar mistakes 🙏🏻

My view was that private education was less of a gamble than state education, and that was worth paying for.

My two achieved very well at private education and were able to secure good jobs (DS is still at university but has secured two good (one last year -one upcoming - highly paid - internships for the summer holidays). Who knows if they would achieve the same within the state system - possibly - but I don't regret it as they were so happy.

@Moonface123

It is a waste of money, homeschooled and state schooled kids can still achieve A** even without subscribed online classes and tutours, the resources are all there free online. Times have moved on.

This is bizarrely naive, at best.

Sports facilities, musical instruments etc. cannot be accessed online for a start.

Have you ever been to a private school?

It’s also not all about exam grades. Private school kids in my experience come out more confident and much better at public speaking for example, because things like debating more commonly form part of the curriculum. That’s one tiny example.

The idea that you can achieve everything that a good and expensive private school has to offer, for free, through a computer screen, is just ridiculous.

State schools can be great and in some cases a better option. But saying private schools no longer offer any advantage because we now have the internet…come on!

Depends on the schools. Many private schools employ unqualified teachers who are largely unmonitored and their approach to learning can be very much stuck in the dark ages.

@TiddleyWink

“It’s also not all about exam grades” - so true!

Yes, worth it if you can afford it.

I was an average but enthusiastic pupil in the early 90's. Bullying (can happen at private school), lack of funds, endless supply teachers meant there was little consistency. I recall wanting to play an instrument, the music teacher went on long term sick leave and her replacement was dire. There were limited GCSE options.

I would have achieved far more at private school as I wanted to learn. The environment made it nigh on impossible.

@AlexaShutUp

I think private schools are probably worth it for kids of medium range academic ability and/or who lack drive and self motivation.

Kids who are bright, self motivated and have supportive families will probably do equally well in the state sector.

My dd has thrived in state schools. She is happy, confident, articulate, well rounded and gets outstanding exam results. We could have afforded private school fees had we chosen to go that way, but I can't see what value they could have possibly added. Except for fancier surroundings and richer friends perhaps.

This above with bells on. Our older one is Year 1, massively motivated, outstanding small state infant school, very highly qualified mum, super committed dad, enormous amounts of extra curricular supplementation (including things like sports, music, languages and performance) and focused daily extra support and challenge with learning - the outcome is pretty good.

If the home/parental input and extra stuff wasn’t this way - then sure yes, private school
Would bring distinct extra benefits.

It depends on the child and it depends on the school.

some fee-paying schools are poor quality. Charging fees is no guarantee. Some private schools are excellent and go way further than any state option can hope to.

Some children will thrive at any school and will still get an A* even if they attend a rubbish school. Some children will very much not thrive and not meet their potential if they aren't in a particularly supportive environment. The balance of whether a private school is good value for money is very different for these different categories of children.

As they are already in private school I would probably want to keep ‘em then where it’s familiar and with their friends. If I were you I would probably sell one of my properties to fund a few more years.