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?.

Well, I said I couldn't really, in all honesty. Though to be fair, you did say the schools had little or no space around them.

Each to their own and all that.

My children's old London state primary school had a lovely big field around it, with allotments of one side, a park on the other (oh and the local dump on the other = you can't have everything!). I think the reference to no space was actually to some of the smaller private preps (often a big house with a smallish garden). I was quite happy with our London life (I grew up very happily in London too) but now I live in a small town with very easy access to real wilderness and my children will have very different experiences. They haven't decided yet whether being out of a city is OK yet though

All the local state schools here have big enough playgrounds, not acres of land of course, but big enough to play sport, and the east end is full of wonderful parks, so many that some are harldy used. I think you can probably say the same about other boroughs.

Ds went on a nature trail on the marshes last term and his class goes to the park every other week. And now it's spring of course it will be picknick after school with the mums/carers. And it's all free!

Yay McCloud for sticking up for state schools

The fear fear fear generated in the media is totally baffling to me. Why would anyone pay 10k to send their kids to the prep school round the corner from us when the state primary two streets down is so fantastic? Sometimes I think they're the victims of some huge hoax. My parents scrimped to send us private despite excellent state schools nearby and though they'd never admit it, I do think it was largely to ensure us the 'right' (as they see it) social status.

But I think that the snob element of state v private is a bit of a red herring cos there is tons of snobbism in state schools. Just listen to people talking about catchment areas and faith schools... I regularly hear people say things like "I'll only send my child to (insert name of v. high achieving comprehensive school)..."

Our school is pretty MC and one of my friends dc's explained that 'so and so' was a 'chav' to his mum the other day. He had identified one of the less moneyed kids in the school (ironically he is one of them too ) and his mum was and explained what chav meant and that it was an unacceptable name to call someone.

QUOTEWhy would anyone pay 10k to send their kids to the prep school round the corner from us when the state primary two streets down is so fantastic?QUOTE

Maybe the children at the prep school don;t live in the cathment of the excelelnt state primary.

My dc's go to a prep school and there is a good state primary in the next street. However children travel from a wide area to the prep. We live 7 miles away.

We have two excellent primary schools within a mile of where we live. Unfortunately the school that is in our catchment is recovering from being in special measures. Also none of the local state schools do anything approaching to wraparound care or holiday cover.

Oi. Fuck the fuck off with the rude stuff about Guildford !

I have lived in London ( North, West, East and South East), Kent and Oxfordshire. Guildford is the nicest.
Love it here - love it.

And if you can point me in the direction of another place where DH can easily get to his location specific work and I can get DS2 an outstanding school catering for Autism then I would love to hear from you.

If my kids want to mix with the hoi poloi I just invite the rest of our families around thanks. The notion of private school parents and children existing inside a bubble is shite.All their cousins are in state primaries and secondaries. They all get on really well - and DD still meets up all the time with her friends from nursery who are at local infant schools.
I went to a big fat comp. I want my children educated in single sex schools and i need loads of activities on site as I cannot get DS1 and DD to post school clubs with DS2.
If a local state offered that I would go.

I am sure there are those who have 'classist' agendas but my reasons don't include avoiding anyone. But then OP assumes all private school parents are the same - just as all state school parents are the same presumeably.

No one has mentioned the parent's afternoon teas, the wine drinking and the tasty nibbles on offer at private schools. It's enough to make a person feel sophistimicated . That is a bubble that I as a parent am happy to be in.

thedolly none of that at ds's school afaik!

Maybe it's a boarding school thing? Are you day school MollieO?

Pagwatch, I grew up in a very 'English' village very close to Guildford with ducks and church spires etc. Very pretty but very Daily Mail territory I have to say!

Yep day school. Free nibbles - another thing to add to my list in favour of boarding

wondering why people might opt out of state education just because your local option is fantastic is just as blinkered as parents not considering state at all

My younger two dc go to our local state primary which, according to OFSTED, is outstanding. It is a lovely school in many ways and my dc are/have been very happy there with many friends. However, it is not particularly academically rigourous (all of mine have been frustrated or been able to get away with coasting), there's very little extra-curricular stuff and the clubs that are put on are run very sporadically, the playground is concrete and not very large and although we have a large common 15-20 mins walk away the children never go there.

I've decided that it's good enough for primary especially as we do loads with them outside school, but I can perfectly well understand why parents might decide to opt for something else, and remember, we're talking about an 'outstanding' school here. If you're happy with your local state school, then great, but please don't then slate other people for opting out of state - their options might be completely different from yours

IslandofSodor

Maybe the children at the prep school don't live in the cathment of the excelelnt state primary.

Nor do I. Most the state schools round here are pretty good, both in the city and surrounding villages. There's a fair bit of choice and no huge pressure on any school. Still people choose to send their kids private. I do find it baffling but I'm not having a go. Education is a very personal choice and one person's dream school is another person's ohmygodwilltheyeverlearanyrealvalueswithallthosedisruptive/stuckupkids?

Delete as applicable

The issue about wraparound care is a real one - private schools often have much better wraparound care, even though in a lot of cases, they have fewer working mums than the state schools. I know someone who sent her son to private school for the after-school care as she was a single mum working FT.

We have very good state schools in our area and the breakfast and after-school clubs are getting better all the time, though my ds's school doesn't have either so I use a childminder and my husband and I do other pick-ups and drop-offs through flexi-working and working at home. I think it's worked better for us that there isn't an after-school club as it made us think more creatively aout what we were going to do and now we get to spend more time at home with ds and it's useful when you need parcels delivered/boiler serviced etc. Sorry slight thread drift.

However, I think the main reasons people send their kids to private school is exactly to keep them away from the disruptive kids (and yes you can have rich kids but parents paying for an education are incentivised to get value for money so will sort their child out) and for the good sports facilities that many private schools provide.