Moving to state school after independent school

[Mommybearx]

Hi,

Please tell me about your experience with a child who went from primary independent school to state secondary school.

I need to make that big decision whether to or not to and would love to hear how your children got on and how you feel about the move in hindsight.

I’m worried that going from an all girls bubble my DD will find it hard. The catchment area we are in means the school does have a high number of children with behavioural issues and send children… however I need to decide whether to push the boat and carry on at independent or just hope for the best and save the money with all the extra VAT

thank you!

I have two other children too who will continue on until year 6 atleast - DD is the oldest
With the added VAT its made a big difference on affordability

What is the Ofsted rating of the state school that you are considering?

Unless its outstanding, then there is going to be a huge gulf in provision between the two.

It’s a new school which is a couple of years old so unfortunately there isn’t an ofsted rating yet

we don’t live in a city though, the school is also not at full capacity yet

the issue is that when it was empty and first opened, the council threw in all the children which got kicked out of school so they have had to settle all that down - I think the years after were more mixed (normal) coherts

Outstanding schools are not magic buttons. Any school will have bigger class sizes and less per-pupil funding than an independent. However students at state schools are successful, and this often depends on their family expectations, peer group and internal motivation.

The teaching will likely be just as good in a good/outstanding school (and many satisfactory or even RI schools) as a decent independent.

However the behaviour management is going to be the big difference, as well as less extra curricular opportunities. However, some will depend which sets your children are likely to be in - top couple of sets tend to have fewer behavioral issues than lower sets.

Do they have open mornings? You want to get in and see what the school feels like.

How old is your eldest DD?

Honestly I think it will be quite a transition for them.
Going from a small Primary to a big Comp can be hard for a lot of kids, whatever the State/Private situation and given that there is a lot of disruption at the school by the sounds and the single sex thing then it will be quite a change
You know your kids though and how resilient they are, consider that and decide whether its worth the money to keep them at Private.
All DC are different and so are all schools so other peoples experiences aren't going to help you much I am afraid.

My DC3 was having a tough time in state primary so we moved him to a private school for a couple of years. Then he went to a state secondary school in year 7. He's been absolutely fine, no problems at all with the move. It is a good state school.

Our eldest went from private primary to state grammar and that was fine but if he hadn’t passed his 11+ we would have carried on in independent as he would not have coped with your average state comprehensive / high school ( autistic and moderately deaf) .

She’ll be joining year 7 so not going mid way if she did go over

Our independent is a large foundation of prep, and boys secondary and girls secondary, there’s 60 kids in a year so it’s not small but obviously still very very different, the facilities, the lack of disruption, the expectations etc

It will likely be hard but with three DC seems necessary due to affordability and it’s usually better to move at a standard entry point.

My DD's best friend moved from private primary to state secondary. It wasn't driven by cost as much as the child making closer friendships in her hobby, one the school didn't really support, and the child wanting to go to the same school as these friends. It's been a really smooth transition, she's in the top sets, which are girl heavy and have few behavioural issues, so that worry might not directly affect your DD.

It's only one example, but it might smooth the transition to start DD in a number of extra curriculars and clubs to meet people at the state school before starting and to normalise it in her head, rather than thinking the kids will be different in some way. Most kids will know other people from primary, so she might feel left out just because of this. The school will have a Facebook group, so you could ask on there about any summer camps or things that her potential peer group might be doing over the summer.

Good luck to your DD, I'm sure she will be fine and it'll be great to have more money for holidays and life in general.

It totally depends on your child and the school, and the good or bad luck of the cohort she ends up in.

I would ask to go and tour the school on a normal day, not an open day which is curated for potential parents. The fact it was populated by ‘managed move’ kids would worry me, and I’d want to see they’d supported these kids to integrate and behave well, not that they had created a poor behavioural culture that others were following.

If they set and your daughter is likely to be top set, this can help with general learning environment. If they don’t set (common) or they do but your daughter is likely to be bottom set then any behavioural issues are likely to affect how disruptive her classes are.

A state grammar in an affluent area is very different prospect to a comp in a less affluent area. I moved one of my fully state educated kids to an independent school in yr8 as the behaviour was so bad and it was really impacting teaching and learning. You might both get a huge culture shock if this will be your first experience of state schooling and it’s complex challenges.

Unfortunately the school said open evening only as they don’t have the capacity to show us around in the day, which is a shame as that’s when you really get to see the reality however I suppose seeing the children on the open day shows the potential cohort.

Watching the Netflix adolescence show was a eye opener and probably hasn’t helped my nerves about the potential move but I need to stop thinking I’m releasing her

Our private school have issued Septembers fees as £23k a year for secondary and it just seems so high when I weigh it up. I’m thinking I could enrich her with other activities, get a tutor and even put her back in for sixth form when it matters before uni.

Would you consider boarding?

With the school you describe being the state option, I would look at state boarding schools (much less than 23k - more like £14.5k a year) or at moving house.

I didn’t even know these existed! Thank you, i will check this option out

OP honestly I'd take them all out of private now (or as soon as contracts allow) and get them all in state primary. Private primary is a nice-to-have but the long term outcomes just don't justify crippling yourself financially - most state primaries are perfectly nice and cover the basics well. I'd then keep them in state until end of Year 8 and then put them them in private start of Year 9, with the option to go earlier if any of them have problems with bullying/SEN/disruptive behaviour etc.

That will give you two clear years to save like mad before your eldest needs fees paying. And as you say, state sixth form is usually pretty good (barring any SEN) as the kids who really don't want to be there have left.

That way you'll only be paying 9 years of fees, spread over (guessing) a decade or so, which will be much more manageable.

A friend just made this move and he is doing well in year 7. Our school is enormous and rated good by ofsted. What helped him settle in was putting him in a club in year 5/6 so he could make some friends before he went, it really helped to have some other kids he knew from his team. If you can’t afford private secondary you can’t, honestly, state school will be fine!

DDs went to a prep school in London and then a girl's comp. It's a well-regarded state comp despite being having a mixed intake (lots of council estates in catchment as well as more expensive houses), and has one of the best track records for Oxbridge entry for a state comp in the country. So it's quite a popular school for children to attend after the prep, about 20% of the year group choose it every year so they both had some friends in their year.

DDs have settled well and their friends are from similar backgrounds to us, although many attended state primaries. People tend to mix in their own tribes and she is in the top sets. It's a much bigger school and with larger classes than her prep (but that would have been the case if transferring to an indie senior too). Facilities are not as good as the private senior schools but still has more specialist equipment compared to a prep so the DDs don't notice (until they chat with their old friends who went on to private senior schools). We supplement a lot with sport, tutoring and hobbies outside school.

In all honesty I think going from a girls only prep to state secondary will be a massive culture shock. I’ve moved my daughter from a state primary to a girls prep school and it is like night and day re behaviour. If this is a serious option, I’d move the younger ones sooner rather than later.

I think you have to ask questions about approach to setting and behaviour management . My catchment secondary only sets for maths for the first couple of years and they do all their lessons in their tutor groups. Get a good one and you’re ok. Get a bad one and you’ve got no escape. I’d have been far happier if there was more setting but having seen high levels of disruption at primary, I’m not prepared to risk it for this specific secondary. Individual schools are so different, it doesn’t really help you if people on here have had good or bad experiences with a move. You need to try and find out as much as possible about the relevant school.

We have decided to do Year 7 & 8 at the goodish local state school to give it a go.

Worst case, she hates it and struggles so we will move her back.

Best case, we save £100k in two years, and she comes back in Year 9.

Adolescence was nothing like any of my 4 kids (who went to 3 different city schools between them) schools. My DD goes to a school with quite a "rough" catchment and is thriving. It's also a new school. Good engaged teachers, wide range of kids. She has lovely friends, academically doing well, loads of sport and theatre stuff and is happy.

Two of the reasons I moved my son in Year 9 from a comprehensive to a private school was disruption in lessons and cover teachers not teaching him much. He had been state educated up to this point. It has been such a positive thing for him.
If you have to make a choice based on money, I would take the younger kids out of the private primary and spend it on your older daughter at secondary at least for Year 9-11. In my opinion, state secondaries are worse for disruption than state primaries. State secondaries also frequently have cover teachers in maths, science and business due to recruitment issues. You could then put your older daughter back in the state sector for sixth form.