reasons to go private at reception age??

[MissChief]

interested in why people go private - driven to it thro perceived lack of alternative or automatic choice as no faith in state sch system etc etc?
We originally planned to go for state option as automatic choice - since then first choice rejected and having checked out prospectus & ofsted report, not overly impressed with school's quality either. think the area we're in (just moved) seems to be one where people go private where poss. I now think I'd actually prefer to make financial sacrifice of sending ds private in order to ensure he's in class of manageable size with good discipline, good moral ethos, decent food, daily sports etc. Not having been to private school myself though, perhaps I'm just being naive - is it really so much better (or have the various heads I've met done a good sales job on me!)

Also, yes 11 plus does measure potential, its basically an IQ test.

Agree that there's a certain amount of learning how to take exams possible but its impossible to "make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" as my (private and state school teacher) mother used to say.

Oh come on Cam - surely you are not really that naieve

The private schools practice them over and over and over and over again - how is that an indicator of IQ??? They are able to do so because they can cover the syllabus much more quickly that a comparable state school as they have less children in the class and the children tend to be of less extreme abilities!

I can't really see where there can be a lot of preparation for the 11+. A few practice papers, but you can get books from WH Smith to help with these.

Our DCs school have completed the syllabus by the end of the previous academic year. The tests are usually in Jan/Fec time leaving one whole term just to go over and over and over the syllubus again and again.

My father and I did research on all the independent schools in our town and visited all of them. Like Ameriscot, we never experienced any snobbery at all. Many of these schools are charities. Some of my husband's friends went to prominent schools on bursaries.

I was educated in a private primary school, but then chose to attend a state school that offered me the chance to live abroad and still graduate with my class.

How does the whole scholarship thing work then, Cam? Presumably it's means-tested, is it?

Naive is not a word that people who know me would use to describe me. Entirely disagree that there are not abilities at both extreme ends of the scale in private prep schools. There ceratinly is in every class in dd's school and I peronally know this to be the case in several other similar schools, including all those that my mother taught in.

Cam - at my DCs they are weeded out at 7

Most other indeps who have intake at 7 do so on the basis of academic performance. Hard to see how that leads to the same profile of intake as your local state primary?????

On the flip side of the state/private-primary/secondary mix:

My DDs are currently in a state primary school, and I definitely want them to go to an independent senior school. I asked the HM of DS's new school about their competing for places with children from prep schools. He said that they would be at a slight disadvantage, but this could easily be erased by doing some practice 11+ tests at home. Once she got there, she'd obviously be behind of French, but the school is used to this with 25% of their Y7 intake from primary schools.

I think you are thinking of a bursary rather than a scholarship, Dinosaur.

Yes, a bursary would be means-tested.

So how does a scholarship help if you haven't got much money then?

AMeriscot - its like its always been (for me included) - there will always be those who will do well in state schools but your average child in a state school will most likely to less well than your average child in a decent indep school. Class numbers alone see to that, never mind all the other advantages!

LOL! Usually on these threads the debate (or fight) is between those who are pro- and anti-private education. This time it's internecine warfare between the private school mob!

Dino - some scholarships at my DCs school are entirely funded (but not many and they tend to be sport or music ones) burseries will fund a certain proportion of the fees and are means tested.

Genetics is going to skew the academic profile of prep schools, but I think that most would call themselves mixed-ability all the way through.

In my boys' school, there is definitely a wide-range of abilities, but all can read and write by the time they leave . When I was a teacher in a state secondary, there was a worryingly high number of kids coming into Y7 with virtually no literacy skills .

It sounds like a minefield soapbox.

Having just read this thread in its entirety, I have things to say about various posts: Re affording the fees: yes, paying for primary school would be the same or a bit less than the current nursery fees, but nursery looks after my son for ten hours a day and I wouldn't be able to do my job (which pays the fees) between 9.10am and 3.30pm.

Re: better school food. I'm not convinced that going private means the food is automatically better.

I am also extremely disconcerted to read posts from people who have been turned down for state sector in their local area, as we have been thanking our lucky stars that our two nearest state primaries are both good schools that we'd be happy to send ds to. Heaven help us if he gets turned down for them.

And in answer to Misschief's original question - I would go private if I had a particular cultural or religious requirement for ds, or if he turns out to have special needs that our local state school couldn't cater for.

lailag

A few weeks ago DS did an entrance paper in English and Maths

It was then marked by the teachers at DH school and the English he got a very high mark for comprehension and essay

In the Maths he did very well in the topics he has already done IYSWIM

He has another year to go before he does the exam

In his state primary there are 25 children with a teacher and Teaching assistant and we are very very happy with it

Hello dinosaur, different scholarships are offered by different schools. Most offer all-round academic ones, but some will also offer single subject ones such as maths or music. Certain schools will also offer bursaries according to the child's background (usually for historic reasons) such as to the children of teachers, forces personnel, etc. Where means testing can come in is usually to do with how much the scholarship is worth (ie what percentage the reduction in fees is). Fairly recently the government brought in legislation (and this will please Bundle ) to limit the amount of the award to 25 per cent for purely academic scholarships in registered charity schools except for genuine hardship. The whole point of the charitable status means that the schools are supposed to offer some places to bright children whose parents cannot afford the fees.

Thanks Cam.

Bursery for means tested sort of thing

scholarship for anyone but is awarded for top score in entrance even if absolutley loaded with money

From what I've seen, scholarships usually give a discount of between 10% and 50% off tuition fees, and they are rewarded for academic, art, music or sporting excellence.

A bursary is a discount of fees (usually around 50%) to help out those who would not otherwise be able to afford them. There is a limited amount of money available for bursaries, and it will depend on how well endowed the school is, and what its ethos is.

AMeriscot - I can only assume therefore that there are a wide range of prep schools out there.

There are several children in my DD's class who will not move onto the prep school as they 'failed' the test at 6YO

They were far from illiterate!

This school is far from being the most academic in the area too!

The intake at 7ol - is 40 children from over 200 hundred who sat the test - those who scored the highest marks in the test which was an academic one!

I think it is fine to choose private education (as I have done it myself ) but please be honest about the advantages it secures for your children!

I think everybody has the right to send their children to whatever school they wish.

What irritates me no end is hypocrisy -

"Ms Abbott once criticised Labour colleague - now solicitor general - Ms Harman, for sending her son to a selective school in Orpington, Kent.

Ms Abbott said: "She made the Labour Party look as if we do one thing and say another."

and what does Dianne Abott do? sent her son to private school.