If you had the money would you send your only child to private school?

[lostboysfallin]

Assuming that they generally have better facilities, more resources, smaller classes.

I think it depends also on your financial position. If you can only just afford it by sacrificing things that would also enrich your childs life then a good state school and some the "school fees" spent on family events / extracurricular activities would probably be a better option.

Children pick up on stress in the family and money worries are a significant cause of stress. Parents arguing about money all the time may counteract any of the benefits of St Cake's College. As someone with 2 children in prep school (which fortunately we can afford) private education is a huge financial commitment.

There can't be a single answer because there are so many variables.

only if i felt the school offered something that the state system didn't, that my DS required. The social aspect of walking to a local school and having local friends to hang out with is disproportionately important to me as a mum of an only, and where we live, this would not be possible were he to attend a private school.

More likely to consider it for secondary.

I can't think of any reason I would have used private education at primary unless something went wrong and we needed to remove DS without moving house.
Since I have access to at least 2 very good state secondaries in our immediate area (not only the UK, MrsLettuce, but a corner of London usually viewed as notorious) again, private school would be an escape route if we needed it.
Actually, as an only child I think it even more important that DS have the circles of friends living extremely close that state schools, with catchments, offer. Private schools tend to have children from wider distances.

We could, but have chosen not to.

On the basis that we have a local state primary that provides plenty of facilities, reasonably sized classes (or plenty of TAs in addition to teacher), and think the benefits for dds outweigh the benefits of smaller classes in local private schools.

It would depend on what was available locally, and what our priorities for primary education for our kids was, I think.

And like Blu, would use the private schools as escape route if needed.

Nope. Can't stand them. Idealogically opposed to them in every way. I think they teach children a terrible lesson.

Headfairy, how do you think they teach children a terrible lesson?

What lesson is that, headfairy?

Genuine question: would you stick to that ideological opposition if it meant sending your DC to a school with very poor ratings, crawling with gangs and drugs?

Or sending a child with SN to a school ill-equipped to deal with them?

Only if the local school was awful or if their needs at school were being massively not met.

We are fortunate in that our local schools are good and there's no advantage in sending them anywhere else even if we could afford to.

I think it's nice if children live near their schoolfriends so that they can easily socialise outside school, which I think is important. I'd rather they went locally even if it meant they had less facilities and resources at school if I had to make the choice.

depends

Lula - I think if you got onto the board of governors, you'd be very disappointed by how much you are able to help the school.

Alll governors can do is ask questions. If the HT chooses not to do anything about the issues you raise, you can't do anything.

There are people on threads this week who have not received a place at their local schools even though they have put down 3 or 4 choices. Not sure what happens if this is the case.

You just went to the school closest to you in my day.

Yes, and we will - although I always thought we'd stick with the state sector. We looked into moving to a "good" catchment areas but prices were ridiculously high. So we have decided to invest the money into education rather than giving it to a greedy landlord.

I have always thought 'No', but I dont know now. I have a child with SN, and if I could find a school that would support him properly (it doesnt exist, not even in the private sector) and had the money. I would pay without a doubt.

In a school the board of governers can not really do a great deal to help! The HT is very much in charge.

I can't see that sending your children to private school sends that message at all. My DCs don't even know that we pay for it yet as they are too young to worry about stuff like that. I find it quite offensive to hear comments like that actually.

Yes you have to have a certain amount of money to send them to private school but many people I know work purely to pay for school fees (ie the SAHM going back to work). Some private schools have much much lower fees than others as well. The DCs school is not a posh private school at all, the children are not stuck up and not necessarily more academic but they have a few more opportunities with regards to music and sport and the class sizes are small.

Lula, not every parent has the wherewithal to join the board of governors and change things around. I mean, obviously, or we wouldn't still have grim schools!

OK I'm going to get flamed for this, but I'll stand by it.

I think they teach children that those with money are better than those without. Little Johnny here gets a top class education with all the resources he needs because his daddy is a CEO of a blue chip company and his mummy is a high powered lawyer. Little Freddy here gets the lottery that is a state education because his daddy is a firefighter and his mummy is a teacher (apols for sexual stereotyping, I need a pee and I'm being lazy :o).

I think the world is unfair enough, and already skewed too far towards those with money. No need to reinforce it further at such a young age.

Call me an old hippy if you like, but it's what I truely believe. Passionately. And have done all my life. I come from a very privileged background, was incredibly lucky to have the choice, but I turned down the offer of private schooling when I was 13 as even at that age I felt uncomfortable with the whole concept of it.

:o

Lula - at DS1s state school the governers had NO influence as the HT was such a strong charactor - they were a good leader and improved the school but refused to take on board any other views at all. I guess the school was doing ok so maybe it didn;'t matter as much. I think its a real generalisation by both of us to assume that governors do have influence or not at every school as I am guessing it varies hugely!

I have led a pre-school committee and we literally had free reign to turn things around but not at the school.

I went to private school (in the US) on scholarships, as we were poor.

I come from a very working class background, everyone would have thought we were mad if we had turned down that opportunity!

The lesson I learned was to work hard and that even if you are poor, sometimes you can catch a break.

I have ideological issues with the fact that we need private schools in the first place, but I would not led that interfere with what's best for my DC if I could afford it.

lulu - A good board of governors may be able to fire the HT and turn a school around - given quite a few years (ie more than your child's life at school)

But if you have a mediocre governing body, you joining will probably not be enough to turn it into a good one.

And if you have a mediocre HT, you may be able to neither fire them nor improve them.

It's rare, but not impossible, for governing bodies to be able to do much to help a school.

But I think it is impossible for one person to do much to help a school.

The local community/ local friends issue is not necessarily clear cut either between state and private. The private school dd goes to IS our local school and a lovely 10 minute walk away. She has 6 classmates living in the area all within 10 minutes walk away. Not everyone ferries their children across town by car and school bus.

Yes...tried both, the private school was worth the extra. Kids a lot happier, both doing well, enthusiastic and smiley. We aren't rich,but there were very few 'stuck up' stereotypes..mostly people like us trying to do their best. Local state school is awful..if it wasn't then I would happily keep the cash!