To think unless you’ve been to private school you don’t really understand why it’s so valuable?

[huopp]

I have so many people telling me the state system is fine, a private school just has better facilities, that the teachers aren’t any better, that the extra curricular stuff can be done after school at a state school but at a different venue etc etc…

whilst all the above is true, it isn’t what makes a private education valuable? And that you have to actually have lived it, been to one, to get the whole experience it gives you across the board and not just academically?

i think this is why a lot of people with ‘new money’ don’t always spend it on school fees. In contrast those who have been privately educated mostly want the same for their children.

The music specialist schools - though independent - are actually part of the government's curriculum plan for music (admittedly it was the tory government who pushed it through)However, if you read it it directs the children who are really into music to apply to Chet's, Wells, Purcell et al - as they are government funded. So are these children state, or private in the Sutton Trust's eyes? I'm not sure.

The Sutton Trust must be biased. There is not one word of the harm VAT will cause to kids on partial bursaries in specialist arts provision? Seems like a massive oversight?!

@Ubertomusic Go figure why BBCYM is won by an Asian guy who trained abroad. And why there are virtually no international star violinists from England”

Do you mean Ryan Wang the pianist currently at Eton College? Prime example of the private school being far from the whole picture? Great that the school have the resources to support such a talent at this point.

“The music specialist schools - though independent - are actually part of the government's curriculum plan for music (admittedly it was the tory government who pushed it through)However, if you read it it directs the children who are really into music to apply to Chet's, Wells, Purcell et al - as they are government funded. So are these children state, or private in the Sutton Trust's eyes? I'm not sure.”

Surely they should be free for all talented kids, regardless of background? So just audition and ability based. Like it would be the case in most other developed countries. The whole concept of some people paying and others not and some people paying partially is flawed and divisive. Then the VAT issue would go away as well.

Yes, him. And Jacky is not English either :)

Coco that is absolute nonsense that you cannot have a career in finance / law or medicine unless you e been to private school! 🙄Who told you that? The marketing team at your child’s private school perhaps?

"Private school children as a group are higher attaining, the proof is in the results!"

Not from where I am standing. Yes as a cohort children who attend private school get higher grades. It does not follow that the children themselves are innately higher attaining and that if moved to state school they will all continue to be higher achieving.

There's also a fair bit of evidence that private schools get a much higher percentage of their children special exam arrangements, which will be a contribution to those higher grades.

@Araminta1003 ,

‘Private school children as a group are higher attaining, the proof is in the results! And of course those who move state would use tutors to top up, if required, anyway.
Academies are not bad per se, many are well run. The cheap generalisations do not work.’

On average private school pupils score 10 points higher on CAT tests at entry (so, if the state school average is 100, the private school average is 110).

I do suspect, though, that private schools also add (a bit) more ‘value’ in terms of exam results. It would be strange if having twice the budget per pupil didn’t make any difference at all.

But I do think that state schools work well for those who can perform in them. They do make pupils more independent learners and give them more resilience.

As ever, the right school for the right child (and parental need).

@Toasticles to be fair to @Araminta1003 she didn't claim that children in private schools are innately higher achieving, (although the CAT scores on entry suggest some difference) but that there are ways to recreate educational privilege and so perpetuate the advantage even from outside the independent sector.

https://support.gl-education.com/media/2785/cat4-international-technical-report.pdf

There is a big difference in likely attainment between a mean CAT score of 100 and 110 - even at KS2, the differences are substantial (in percentage terms of meeting KS2 expectations) and then of course on to GCSE results.

I thought this thread started by the OP is about the extra social and cultural capital and extracurricular/trips type markers and all the soft skills that some private school can offer a child. Not about grades. I thought all the top private schools sell themselves very much on the former and if anything, there is a slight suspicion towards an exam factory type approach anyway, at the top level of private schooling where the children are of very high cognitive ability, on entry, typically. So it is a given that exam results will follow, especially at GCSE level.