groaning under the weight of private school fees!

[pearso]

Hello,
I've got one child at private school, the other still at state primary for another year and we're dreading the decision next year about what to do. It's very unlikely we'll be able to afford a second set of school fees. Is anyone else in a similar situation? I'd love to hear from you if you are.... I'm also writing about it in my column for the Evening Standard so wouldn't use names but would love to hear what people think, especially in London and about any experiences good or bad.
thanks!

Grammar schools though were a huge route out of poverty for so so many as they were taken out of the working class into a middle class life until we abolished most grammar schools. In other words the system worked and since we abolished it fewer of the poor get the univesrities and all those in Government, in the media, in boardrooms who got in via the grammar school route well some of them seem to have lost that route. I think the Sutton trust found that was so - that things are worse now under labour in terms of social mobility than they were in say the 1960s. That of course might be that all those with poor genes who are very thick are now concentrated working class and never will make it through but I don't think it's quite reached that point yet.

BoffinMum on Mon 12-Jan-09 12:02:36
"I defy anyone to argue that being paid to sit on a sofa whilst babysitting in the evenings, during which you can work your way through your reading list or draft an assignment, detracts from your studies."

No, but there seem to be very few babysitting jobs going round my neck of the woods. Most of my students who work do so in shops and similar, shooting out of the door the moment I stop speaking, no time to hang around for discussion. My feeling is that there is not a plethora of jobs with flexible hours and understanding employers.

When I was a baby sitter as a teenager I always seemed to have children who were either still up or who woke up. I ended up reading stories or playing games or sitting in the dark with them trying to get them off to sleep.

My three at this stage have had various casual jobs over time. It depends where you live if there are any. One worked in a restaurant. She also was on a catering company's books who will let you fix your times and you go in for events to help serve drinks etc which is quite flexible work.

I agree with Xenia that abolition of grammar schools has been one of the key factors in widening social inequality.

It's funny but the new labour academy of "all shall have lots of exam results and all shall have A*s" has resulted in a lot of costs for employers of graduates.

It is not possible to differentiate between the bright and the not-so-bright. So employers of graduates now mostly have processes that involve at least one aassessment day, sitting tests that basically establish whether or not the graduates can read and write.

Late in the day - Quattro, though I agree with you and with Xenia about grammars, and can never understand why the Tories won't campaign for their return (esp. given that like other bits of the welfare state inc the NHS they ARE for the middle-classes primarily - this doens't make them dreadful since one cure for social division is for everyone to become middle class, and anyway grammars also hugely benefitted bright working-class kids and are mianly decried by the middle classes who dread their child not getting in) - waits for flames, whoosh whoosh - the all-must-have-As idea long predates Blair and Brown and has its origins in Crosland and the creation of comps in the first place. Surely though grammars could be revived but with much more flexibility and possibility of movement across types of schools?

Perhaps because the Tories have closed more grammar schools than Labour ever did.

I hate to say it, but having been privately educated and then nearly losing my place at the school due to my parents' financial difficulties (the school, thank goodness, allowed all three of us to continue there and gave my parents an interest free loan to pay over a longer time) - I certainly did consider the future schooling of my children and future financial stability when choosing a subject to study at university and by exxtension, my career choice. It was very much in my mind that if I wanted a certain standard of living, and security, that I had to do well and pick my career wisely. I don't think I was alone - many of my schoolfriends came from similarly modest backgrounds and future income certainly WAS an issue when deciding on a career path.