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.

No I had a choice and chose state.

No - certainly not.

If the posters saying no or never could elaborate it might be helpful, thanks!
Going to vist the state school tomorrow.

I do and I do!

We find the nearest state school has only catchment entrants from a sink estate and the council flats, with very few eastern European and Nigerian kids thrown in for good measure, so not much of a class / cultural mix there;
whereas the public school is local and there are a lot of different kids in it - kids come from all over to attend, different classes, different cultures, different religions and different income groups (some struggle for the fees every month, some pay all upfront).
All in all we are very happy with the public school, as the mix is broader and more realistic for who we are, and the facilities and support teaching are better.

"whereas the public school is local and there are a lot of different kids in it - kids come from all over to attend, different classes, different cultures, different religions and different income groups (some struggle for the fees every month, some pay all upfront)."

Yes- a wide cultural, and ethnic mix of well off middle class children!

"People always drone on about bad schools . But let's face it, it's bad pupils people want to avoid."

Not necessarily. DD goes to the best high school in the borough, but that isn't saying much. 90% of the intake are mid to high acheivers (only 10% of children don't attain level 4s or above in KS2 SATS) yet the results aren't where they should be given the raw material the teachers have to work with. It is a reasonably affluent rural area so most of the children get a lot of parental support as well. So it has got to be down to the teaching.

Yes. If we stay here I would certainly pay to privately educate if our money situation changes.
I am currently working out how to home educate instead (DS2 is 3.5).

DS1 (who is now 24) did get into Cranbrook which meant we paid for boarding, but most of the schools round here (Edmonton) are truly awful, with some honerable very,very over-subscribed exceptions.

No, I'm very happy with dcs' state secondary; couldn't really think of a better school for them. D:o their infants school.

Junior school was a bit crap for dd, but not because of a lack of ambition but because they were more focused on results and attendance than pastoral support; that wouldn't necessarily be better in a private school.

At least being in the state system meant it was easier to put pressure on the LEA to get the support dd needed.

Seeker I understand the point you are making that private schools are not economically diverse. However, they can be more ethnically diverse than community and faith schools.

The reality is that in many areas there are no really diverse schools i.e. most of the families come from the local social housing so are in similar income brackets or come from the expensive catchment area leafy streets. Having 3 middle class pupils or my 2 half north african sons in a school doesn't really make it diverse if most of the other pupils come from a broadly similar background.

"At least being in the state system meant it was easier to put pressure on the LEA to get the support dd needed."

I'm with you on that Cory if your child has special needs of any kind far better to be in a state school where you can force a proper assessment of their needs and the support needed rather than relying on small classes and the teacher's goodwill.

Yes and will be doing. Five years of indie secondary costs the same as the difference between my house and the exact same house in the village with the 'best' comp in our county (£55k) which still wouldn't be the best match for my asd only ds. May be thinking of state for sixth form though!

We can afford private but are putting DD in a state RC primary this September as it's outstanding and has excellent academic reputation; it's also small and at the end of our road.

We'll review the situation when it's time for secondary.

In the meantime, we can save the money.

Absolutely. As long as I made sure it was a good school, there are plenty of rubbish ones out there.
My husband and I agree that we would far rather give our children the sort of education we both enjoyed, rather than spending the cash on flash cars, holidays or a larger house.
People can quote league tables at me all they like, I'm happy to accept that there are a few state schools that can produce kids with 6 As at A level too. I'm interested in the breadth and depth of the education.

Just taken DS out of the local primary school in his reception year and put him into private pre-prep. Why? It's all down to resourcing. The local school is good but there were 30 children in the class, 19 boys and to my certain knowledge 4 children who were needy - mostly with behavioural problems. I should say that DS is one of them as he suffers with soiling which is not his fault but is extremely tiresome. He was coming back shellshocked and withdrawn. I was also tipped off that the TA was bullying him because of his soiling. He's now in a class of 17 and the school has the resources to help him. The teachers are certainly no better and the children are pretty much the same, just with richer parents. But resourcing matters and smaller classes particularly at EYFS are what most parents value most.

Sorry to throw the thread slightly but I am intrigued, those who do not agree with private education. Do any of you have private health insurance?

To me it's exactly the same thing and I am intrigued if people would then thow their principles out of the window if their child needed an operation or similar.

Personal example dd needed an operation, NHS waiting time to see consultant was 3 months then at least 6 for the operation from that. Bupa times were consultant the next week, operation the week after that.

Now does that really give the child a bad message if you can afford for them to have the operation asap, take the pain away and get it sorted quickly - and freeing up that NHS place for another child.

Or would you leave your child for 9 months because of your principles.

Personally we used our Bupa, and if that makes me a bad person so be it. However we still paid our taxes to the NHS... Just the same that some of our tax goes into the state school system, neither of which bothers me, we just choose not to use them.

Tough Dd sounds like your dd ASD, exceptionally academically able but also with a statement in the school of my choice (oversubscribed and out of catchment) because of course her statement gives her priority. It is a perfect school for her and no private school could do better not least because they'd be unlikely to fund the 20 hours of 1 to 1 support by an ASD trained and experienced TA that dd has and I'd find it nigh on impossible to get the LA to fund it in a non maintained school. Admittedly not all maintained schools are great with SEN but if you have a statement that is quantified and specified then it is the best option for a child with SEN tbh.
Ds also ASD is at an independent specialist school that is perfect for him so I am in no way anti independent schools but very glad the LA is paying the £50,000pa fees for him tbh

No not telling you I know better just saying that if the statement is specified and quantified then you have legal redress to ensure that it's met to the letter like dd's is and ds's is.
Not all schools don't support a statement and with the statement giving you priority of choice then you do have the option to put your child in a school that is supportive.
I'm really sorry about what happened to your dd that is appalling and the school was appallingly neglectful to allow that to happen.
Dd doesn't go to the local school even though it's OFSTED outstanding purely because that is no indicator of the school's suitability for a child with sen and our local school wouldn't work for dd.
When my dn entered his local primary the school had huge concerns for him and asked SIL to allow him to be seen by an ed psych. Dn is undoubtedly ASD with dyspraxia and probably ADD thrown in. SIL has always been in denial even though she has a dnephew and dniece with ASD with seemingly fewer difficulties and removed him straight away to the local prep with classes of six, yes they managed him because in a class of six it's easy and they didn't upset SIL by mentioning all his many difficulties and he was hugely isolated because he was very "odd" in comparison to his peers.He did get a couple of low grade A levels but he did miss out on SALT and OT and all the other services that would have helped enormously had he stayed in mainstream with a statement that his supportive primary wanted to put in place for him.

Oh and just to add I totally understand why you feel as you do, I'd have had the SEN supports guts for garters for that. I'm pretty fierce but I don't have to be with dd's TA as we work as a team to get the very best for dd.
It definitely is down to individual children in individual schools with individual staff isn't it at the end of the day?