Good state school or Excellent Private School

[mrsdshe]

Hi,
I am new here and also UK. I am looking for school for my children.

School 1:We have a state Ofsted good rate priamry school near our house (5 Mins walk). I met some parents in the park they are happy with the teachers and environment but they said no sport, art or clubs enough for kids. İndependent school is opposite they said.

School 2: İndependent school is Execellent in all areas in ISI report. It is about 2 miles away.

We can afford private school but I would like to know if it worth it.

Many thanks

Yes it is worth it, private junior schools give a good grounding and pupils who attend are well prepared for 11+ or entrance exam for 'big' school. However the most important thing is that your child is happy at school.

If you can afford it easily go for the private school.

If you can afford it, but it will be a struggle go for the state school and fund other activities like arts/sports outside of school.

Private school is worth it, but not at the expense of financial security and the general happiness of the family.

It might depend on your child too, how much support/challenging they need. My son benefitted from small class sizes and extra staff at an independent in the first few years of school. They are important building block years.
Alternatively, state til 8 is something to consider too if your child is more of a self starter and you can do extra things at home to challenge them in the first few years - starting at at independent school at year 3 as a top up pre 11+/ senior school entrance.

So here in Uk there are two ways that aspiring parents do education;
1- use fee paying independent schools which is like buying a nice, prettily packaged, ready meal to pop in the oven. Everything is done under one roof - sport music drama etc which is a real positive if you work. The negative is if your child only likes drama but you are also paying high fees for eg great sport facilities and a new music centre. Also they are restricted to spending time only with school friends.
2 - you ‘cook your own’. Find a good state school which will do the ABC and 123 very well (English and maths) Then you do all the other things after school at high standard clubs. This is good because it is very tailored to your child and the specialist teachers and sports coaches are probably better standard than in fee paying school, but only if you have the time to take them to all the activities so it only really works if you are part time at work or have flexi hours. It probably ends up costing half the price of the all-you-can-eat private school package.
So when you ask is it worth it to do private school? Yes if you don’t have time to organise top quality provision out of school, and yes if you think they will use all the facilities at the private school.

Not worth it imho. I got good grades in a good state school and have made lifelong friends.

I'd say its worth it paying for private and I'm one of those who has had to make significant lifestyle changes to afford it.

My kids are very happy in their school and that's worth everything to me. A few of their friends in state school suffered badly during lockdown with their mental health and have never recovered. They have much smaller class sizes and the school lay on all sorts of extra curricular activities that have opened their eyes to so much. There is also the whole thing of friends they make there will (probably) go on to bigger and better things and could help them in the future. Academically my kids are doing extremely well there (A* and A predictions), but to me that was secondary. Our youngest was shy and ignored in state school, here they have been brought out of their shell and flourished.

...its just that bloody big bill every few month that takes the shine off things!

Would also add that if your child turns out to be really, really good at something - and you have opted for private school - you will probably end up doing both anyway as child will want the specialist teachers and the opportunities you get through external clubs and activities.

Worth it.

I work in the state sector!

If extra curricular matter to you, private. I work in a prep having previously worked in state and the music, drama and sport are far far better than in state. By y5/6, you can spot the ones who joined in y3 compared to ones who have been with us all the way through when it comes to team sports, gymnastics swimming and stuff. The number of clubs offered is far in excess of what is offered at most states.

Most kids will be fine academically in either but for me the extra curricular offering at prep is what would make it worthwhile.

though, as above, you can possibly recreate this yourself if you have the time to drive here there and everywhere to get your child to clubs outside school.

@OhCrumbsWhereNow totally agree. I coach at a sports club and all the local private school children who are showing talent come to us because the coaching at schools isn’t great in comparison to specialised coaching . So then parents are paying double.
Also their children often have to miss Saturday club matches which are a far higher standard, because they have to play in school matches which parents grumble about especially as it means they are less likely to be selected for club if can’t show complete commitment.

Depends where you live OP. In a large town/city there will be plenty of music, art & sports provision available outside school and the standard will often be higher than in a private school (club level sport, specialist music schools etc) BUT you will have to do the ferrying to the activities.
Private school does make it easier in that it’s all on site but there’s also no guarantee your kids will necessarily partake of it and you don’t have much oversight of the quality/quantity of the lessons in the way you would if you organise it yourself.

We opted for state school and my kids have done wide range of extracurricular activities but I had to organise it all. Many of my friends sent their kids private and hoped the school would do it all which sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t. Some private schools are probably better than others at this but bear in mind they may not provide the necessary encouragement to get a child playing a sports match if they’re a bit nervous/reluctant etc or persuade a child to stick at an activity for a bit longer if they found it difficult to begin with (the way you might yourself) and you often find only the very naturally confident children who put themselves forward excel in extracurricular areas in private schools. This is what many (but by no means all!) of my friends have found.
Regarding the quality of teaching, if the school is Ofsted good, in a nice area and doesn’t have loads of disruptive pupils, you probably won’t notice much difference. There will be less homework; parents generally like homework and private schools will be more rigorous about providing it and making sure it’s marked as this is very visible to the parents (who are essentially their customers). State schools don’t have the incentive of needing to please parents in the same way and will be focused on teaching the prescribed curriculum but not focused on communicating with the parents. Also state schools won’t prep the kids for the 11+ that many private secondary schools require so that’s another thing to think about too.

If you can afford it, it's definitely worth it. I moved my DS to private school when he was 7yo and never regretted it. He's now about to graduate from university and still ripping the benefits of having been to a school that prepared him to succeed. I'm not saying this cannot be done by state schools, but in general, more funds= more resources. It really helps

This really depends on your income level, what you value, and whether you have the time to devote to after school activities.

The good thing is that there's no really wrong choice, if you like both schools.

I value state education, going to primary school very locally and have a borderline income for affording private school. I'd only use the private school as a last resort. Others will have different needs and wants would decide differently.

The children who are in the A sport team, get music scholarships or star in drama at private school are only that good because they get an 'extra helping' outside of school. The same is often true for academics, too, as probably more private school parents use tutors than state school parents. Some people even choose private because private schools are more flexible and allow more prolonged absences for dc who are involved in sports and other activities outside of school, especially if they do stuff at national level. Also a lot of clubs/music lessons at private school cost extra, and often more than the same activity outside of school (e.g. our violin teacher always charged 18 pounds at home but 20 pounds for 1/2 hour at school, as the school took 2 pounds admin fee). I still think private prep is worth it, mainly because it's an overall nicer, more relaxed, comfortable environment, both for children and parents but it's rarely a) less work, and often b) more expensive than originally thought.

Depends on where you are and what your kids are like.
if you want your kids to do a wide range of activities/clubs/extracurricular and school doesn’t provide them, can you organise them locally and get the kids there with any work commitments? And do you want to?

Round here all the private schools do a lot more music, drama, sports than state primaries. For my dc it has really helped it is the norm to be involved in all these things and they have tried more types of activities than I ever did during my state schooling.

smaller classes, more teachers time, more flexibility can really suit some kids

I notice you are basing the comparison on ofsted and isi rankings, both of which are pretty useless. If possible you need to visit both and see which feels better for you and your child.

I actually switched mine from an ofsted outstanding state school to a private non selective junior school (no idea of the rating), and it has been a world apart in terms of quality of experience. Most of the above posters focus on extracurriculars (which are indeed better), but I have found teaching of core subjects to be far superior as well. It isn’t that they are progressing faster (about the same as would be in state), but more depth, more fun activities, and a more personalised and nuanced approach when one of my children was struggling with a subject.

not all private schools will be better though - some are no better, some are far worse than their local state counterparts - so you do need to look at each on a case by case basis.

The other thing which I’ve noticed but hadn’t considered before we made the decision to put the kids in an independent school was the academic peer pressure.

There are lots of families at our school who are making reasonable sacrifices to be able to send their kids there and they definitely want a return on their money. I was talking to a friend today about the fact that DD (9) is doing homework/music practice in the morning before an 8.10 school start and sometimes doing homework until 9pm and how it was feeling a bit much for her (and us!) My friend said that they also got their kids up early to do the same before travelling to school and she knew lots of other people doing the same.

You might think that’s a good thing or a bad thing- it’s not a value judgement, just a factual description of what I see. It hasn’t always made us very happy but for various other reasons, we’ve decided to keep her there rather than move her. DD is doing shedloads of extra academic hours but so are all her friends, so she thinks it’s normal.

I'd go state primary and save the money for their future. I'd recommend private secondary though.

There are so many external agencies offering after school clubs so use them as the extra curricular for primary - ideally get them into some sports clubs as sports is usually heavily pushed in private school so they will benefit from the experience before secondary.

If money is genuinely no object then you are asking should I send my children to a good school or an excellent one. I would visit, to check your idea of excellent fits with theirs, but if it does - no contest.

Lots of good advice here.

Like some other PPs, the big pros for me are: 1) good communication; 2) a range of on-site extracurricular activities, even though not all are excellent; 3) more handholding through the secondary school process.

Bottom line, if money is absolutely no object, I’d go private out of convenience. But there’s no right or wrong here - depending on your local options really.

Yes, if you can afford it prep schol is absolutely worth it. It will instil your child with confidence and they’ll be able to work at a higher ability level than in a state primary. It isn’t just about sports and debating club etc, prep schools also for example teach your child how to give presentations and they practice regularly from a surprisingly young age.

We moved from a state primary to prep but my dd will never full catch up with the children who’ve been there since age 3, they’re miles ahead in everything.