What do courts generally think of private schools and gcse results versus state schools?

[Parentx2]

Hello. My son goes to year 5 in a local state school. He is very happy there and so are both parents. He spends every other week with each parent.
My ex wants to take me to court and force my son to a private secondary school after year 6, none are local, only because they have higher average gcse grades and make me pay for half of the fees. We have good local state schools with good facilities, rich curriculum and caring environment. I am not considering a private schools having good local state schools where many students are doing well in their gcse. My son could not care less about private schools being in a state school currently. A also love the diversity in state schools for my son and have a much younger daughter who goes to the same local state school so a local school is even more important for us.
My ex is in full court mode and also wants to force me to add private tutoring right now for my son when he is with me even though I don’t see the need, he doesn’t want to, he is doing well in school and most of his classmates don’t do it.
Does anyone know of similar situations and what do courts generally think?
thanks

A lot if the comments are around the fact he should be paying the whole lot if that’s so important to him.
But the OP doesnt want to send her dcs to a private school! So the argument is more around who will get the last say on where the dc will go to school.
And I can’t see why the Court would force the OP to send to dc to a private school when there is plenty good provision around in state.

@Parentx2 I’d also be careful about the county your dc will end up in in if it’s state school.
If your ex doesn’t manage to bully you into agreeing to private, I wouldn’t be surprised if he is pushing for a state school close to him but awkward for you. And then dc2 will have to follow through etc…
Its a strange reaction if you had good co parenting situation before hand.

in the unlikely event it went to court they will take this into consideration. Private school is very expensive and costs rise every year well above inflation. If you status can’t afford it that will pretty much be the end of the matter.

Your child is old enough to have his wishes taken into account - where does he want to go to school? does he want to go to the school his father has chosen or the local one where all his friends will be going to ( I assume )?

I think you need to make this less about state v private or your preference v your exs. And more about what is your child’s wishes and what is in his best interest. You need to reframe your arguements around that.

I would hope that most courts would understand that forcing a teen to attend a school against his wishes will not work out well for him.

Your Ex is wasting his time.

How many times does a bully say - "I want X, and if you disagree/don't comply, I'll take you to COURT!".

Lovely. Offer to help. Suggest he gets the C100 form for the family court and in the application box writes "Specific Issue Order sought - mentula parva" before explaining your wicked non compliance in all its glory.

I'm sure Gatekeeping will be delighted.

Would a family court take this issue on? Isn’t it a non starter? I guess you could represent yourself.

I agree that my son should be listened to. As I said he could not care less about private schools that are far and higher average GCSE results. He also doesn’t like when my ex keeps on trying to persuade him about private schools. But my query is about what a court would say since my ex in on ‘I will take you too court’ autopilot to get the school that my ex wants.

@Parentx2 , sorry, I have nothing to add that others haven't already said, but I'm genuinely curious about whether you had conversations about your attitudes to education before you had children. Personally I would run a mile from a man with such rigid views that were so different to my own.

Feel free not to answer. I'm just posting what's on my mind.

I'd honestly dial this down with him as much as possible. And this time next year, I'd be getting on with filling out the application for state secondary. Although there may be good schools in both areas, you can only apply from one address so make sure to use yours.

And if you have a good school available as a safe bet in terms of getting your DS in, make sure it's on the list, even if it isn't your first preference.

Your ex can play whatever games he likes. Your priority is locking in a suitable school for DS. IANAL but my understanding is that courts rarely intervene in arrangements that are working.

Although there may be good schools in both areas, you can only apply from one address so make sure to use yours.

For some counties, if both parents submit an application and they are 50/50, the LA bats it back to the parents to resolve before processing the application. So OP and XH/XW will need to resolve this before the autumn deadline next year.

Meh. His solicitor will tell him that it's not starter and that'll be the end of it. All sounds like posturing to me.

@ComingBackHome a friend's ex made the same suggestion to her.

As she knows how to shut people down she told him to either prove he could pay for it all or to sort out himself any scholarships he thought their children could get for their 5 years.

The children are at state schools.

A judge would probably tell the father off for wasting the Courts time if he actually submits an application and gets a hearing.

We shouldn't presume either party is going to be represented.