private school - is anyone going to put their hands up and admit

[HerHonesty]

that one of the reasons why they are sending their children to private school is because they dont want DCs mixing with chavs/plebs?.

One of the main reasons for having our five at private schools is so that they are not exposed to disruptive behaviour.

The other is to get a fuller educational experience.

No.

I don't want my son in the same classroom as anyone disruptive, I don't care if they're a "chav" or a viscount. I hope that a private school will be tougher on discipline.

I had a choice of one school in my area....which is not really a choice....I went there and hated it

don't think you can assume all disruptive behaviour is eradicated from private shcools any more than it being inevitable at a state school. More disciplined yes but it still occurs. Being "chav" doesn't mean you can't afford to go private either - think WAG, c-list celeb ....

No, I won't admit that because that is not one of the various reasons we chose private school.

Of course it still occurs, children are children regardless, but if a private school is tougher on it when it does happen then that is good enough for me.

Better class of drugs at private school.

Agree with LIZS

doodle2u, now theres an angle! lol! given threat of sending our own DC's to secondary school in aldershot, yes this is a factor.

One of the main reasons I'm not sending my children to a private school is that I want them to mix with a broad range of people.

Besides which, any grown adult who labels a child 'chavvy' is a waste of space, as far as I'm concerned.

agree with scienceteacher as to my reasons why we are going to send DS1 to private secondary.

btw was privately educated myself and have taught in private sector - there are plenty of 'chavs' in private sector if you want to term it that way ('new money').

a woman i know (from church, of all places) admitted it to me.

no one will admit this outright- but really, deep down, if you peel through the carefully articulated layers of their argument, the answer is pretty much always a variation of your op.

i say that without judgement. sometimes it is a very tough choice, and i know there are schools (both private and state) where i wouldn't feel comfortable sending my dcs, not because of the children- but because of the parents.

Thats the whole reason we dont sent our DC private (yet). Private schooling is perfect academically but can lack socially IMO plus one of my pet hates is the unofficial class divide in the UK. (dont get me started )

Absolutely not the reason what.so.ever.

They have friends from all social groups- some very well off, some landed gentry, some working single mums, most just struggling by financially to buy their children a better education than what is available locally in the state system. What they and their friends all have in common is a desire to learn, and are not constantly having to deal with disruption and low-level violence instead of enjoying their childhoods.

all social groups except the ones with not enough money to send their kids private. that rules out a significant chunk of the population...whatever. i guess the working single mums give the school street cred, is that it?

Huh? no! What a ridiculous thing to say.

Why do you want to know, HerHonesty? - Is this the reason why you are sending your DC to private school (assuming that you are, of course!)?

Well I'll admit that one of the reasons that mine are educated independently is because I don't want their education disrupted by people who don't want to learn.

No. That is not the reason we send our kids to a private school. Educational attainment, small classes, slightly better facilities, better discipline and better after school and extra curricular activities are the reasons.

...um, smaller class sizes is my decider...DD is 5 and very bright and prefers adults to children currently. Her teacher says that sometimes, with 30 in a class there is just not an adult available for the kind of attention DD likes so DD gets to work on her own quite a bit.

I'd prefer her to get more interaction with the teachers. She is already getting bored...

Her teachers are all lovely and very good, but they do have a lot of children to look after!

Well Quattro, that's the case for the majority of parents who use the private sector. The trouble is some people have a bee in their bonnet over this mythical desire for elitism that they see parents who use the Ind sector as having. Somehow that gets turned into class prejudice which it just isn't at all. I know a few parents with boys at MGS. None of them give a fig about the fact that a huge chunk of their fees go towards offering free places to bright boys from poor backgrounds.

It doesn't apply to me because my state catchment school is outstanding. Very affluent intake and zero tolerance policy for behaviour. I pay for the facilities and the wraparound care. TBH, it's not even about exam results for me. It's about enjoying the experience.

I think if you actually took time to question fee paying parents you'd see that very few have an interest in keeping their children away from working class children. In fact that's a ridiculous notion.

I know I have a choice that most parents do not. I don't exercise that choice to keep my kids away from anyone but to give them the best experience I could.

I can.

My children go to a private school in New York renouned for being tough to get into academically, according to wikipedia (so not sure just how reliable the figures are) it has a 14% acceptance rate. I do know that it assesses all children for entry, though obviously the methods of assessment vary according to the age of the child. What it does mean is that my children are being educated alongside other bright children whose parents place a very high value on education.

The school is so oversubscribed that any child who is disruptive or clearly not suited to the school academically can be(and is) asked to leave. This obviously means there is a fast paced and dedicated learning atmosphere tht keeps the older children on their toes.

By sending them to such a school we aren't avoiding 'chavs' but children who would disrupt their learning either through bad behaviour or slowing down the pace of the lesson. Obviously some of those children could be termed 'chavs' but a lot of them wouldn't be.

A good education is one of the most importnant things you can give your child and me and DH will go to any lengths to provide a first class one for our children (I accept we are lucky in that we can afford to 5 sets of top New York City school fees, a privilege not afforded to many)

In recent years most of the parents at my DS's private school are 'self-made' - involved in local construction, retail, restaurant businesses, rather than 'professionals' (lawyers, dr's, whatever the 'posh' stereotype you might be getting at is). So I'm not quite sure what social elite it is you think populate private schools?

I think who you are surrounded by at school depends on the area you live in, not whether you pay or not.