Just wondering... how do you think the financial turmoil will affect private school applications this year?

[PrincessPeaHead]

It was difficult enough to see who the hell could afford boarding fees of £8800 per term in a boom economy... now? Do you think there will be a big move from boarding to private day options (cheaper) or in fact also a big fall in private day applications as people try for grammars/use the good local comp ?

Just musing really.

To be fair Scummymummy, a school where your daughter would be in the handful of girls not covering their legs would bother me. As would a school that effectively shuts down over Eid. To me that sounds like a religious school by default.

I think FC was meaning by default. This often happens and as combustiblelemon's post shows, it's just as likely to be 99% white Christian with for me personally,is equally undesirable. As I said, I want my kids to mix with other kids from a broad range of cultures and faiths but who learn and practise those faiths (or absence of them) at home rather than school.

It's not a religious school by default as the teaching is not religious.

xposts, CL.

It is a fact of the two state schools which are closest to me one is Catholic and the intake of the other although a community school is 99% Asian Muslim. In either school my kids would be in a tiny minority and would not be educated with children from a range of faiths and none and ethnicities. Their experience of other cultures would be drastically limited and dangerously so IMO when they live in a multicultural area. I also believe there would be very confusing messages which could affect their self-esteem (that's fairly typical where any group is in a tiny minority). While I'm more than happy for my kids to mix with Catholics and Muslims I don't want them to mix only with either group.

Exactly, mrc- a community school will be full of kids who learn and practise their faith (or absence of them) at home rather than school. This has been the case at both the schools my bairns have attended.

The teaching may not be strictly religious but in practice the school has to be influenced by the faith of the majority of its intake. Hence shutting down over Eid, Halal food etc. By the way as a vegeterian I'm not delighted by the prospect of Halal food. And as a feminist who wants my girls to feel positive about their sexuality not delighted by the idea of their beign the only girls whose legs are not covered. Equally horrified about the idea of them having to confess their 'sins' in a Catholic school.

Religious schools tend to talk about how their faith is reflected in the ethos of the school. I think that if you have a student body that is 99% practicing single faith, that creates a religious ethos.

Fair enough, 5c. But you do have a local non-religious community school not a local Muslim school. You just don't want to use your local community school because you don't like the intake.

Faith is not something you put down when you pick up your school bag Scummymummy! Particularly as children get older, it influences their world view.

It won't shut down over Eid.
It will offer vegetarian food.
It is a community school.

It's not that I don't like the intake Scummy. I find that insulting. I think I've explained my reasons fairly clearly and I feel very strongly about them.

Of course it does, lemon. And? I don't understand your point.

It is a community school in name. However, it only represents one part of the community. It may offer vegeterian food but it also offers Halal food which is not great for animal rights. It does shut down over Eid.

The intake isn't as mixed as you'd like then. Sorry- not trying to be insulting.

I don't believe you. Only a 100% Muslim school would do that. My children's old school had a very reduced attendance over Eid- 2 - 8 kids per class maybe- but always opened.

I'm white, RC and I guess MC. I actually do not want my children only going to school with 100s of other children just the same. My children get a far greater mix at independent school than they would at our 'nice white MC community primary'.

Good point, fio!
Don't most good schools offer halal food to those who need it?

UQD - "Surely a good education is essential whether you are bright, mediocre, or thick as two short planks?"

Yes indeedy. And that's not what's on offer at many state schools, hence record numbers of pupils now attending independents despite the "credit crunch"!

"I'm not sure about the implication that only very bright kids need extra-special attention." No - I could have added all sorts of children who need this attention (namely, um, all of them really - but they only really stand a chance of getting it in indie schools!)

For the children who really are bright or who have any kind of special needs, I'd say that, unfortunately, a private school is essential (and various Labourite ministers also appear to agree with me!)

Actually all the children bring their own lunches Fio.

The intake isn't mixed at all. I work at a college with a very mixed student population. We organise INSET during one Eid so nobody notices that 50% of the students are missing and the Muslim students get authorised absence for two days during the other which means lessons are very disrupted as you can imagine. In my nearest primary school none of the students go in - but frankly I wouldn't be happy if my kids' education was disrupted in this way if the school was open but in practice there were only a few kids doing wordsearches.

yes - fio is right there.
There is not a private school that could match my sons school for his specific needs.
I am very lucky and very grateful

I did say there were exceptions, to save people from having to waste their time correcting me!