Private primary or secondary?

[monstergoose]

We've been thinking about education for our dd recently and are in 2 minds about whether to go private for primary or secondary (or both?) I'd you could choose would you go for private (selective) primary or secondary?

sorry, nationwide tests or do you mean in private schools?

In this important to consider the (potential) competition and how prepared your child would be to sit an assessment

Laura, I think they meant external assessment of children at KS1 as opposed to the one done by teachers.

I wouldn't go for either. I'd go for whichever school in our area felt right, had reasonable stats and happy children.

In our case, that meant state for primary (having looked at both) and we don't yet know for secondary....a few years ago, would definitely have been private, but now it's a 'watch this space' situation.

I honestly think generalising about either sector is, at best, misleading and at worst could land you with a school you or your dd doesn't thrive in.

Defiantly pay for private for secondary.

Elf - this depends where you are. a lot of people where we live pay for the early years because we have a grammar school system.

Sadly private schooling in primary school is no guarantee of entry to a grammar school for secondary. If that is the only reason for choosing private primary school, it is a risky strategy!

By the way, did you know that private schools can employ anyone they choose to teach in their schools? Hopefully most of them will be qualified teachers but as far as I know this is still not legally required. Unless someone else can update me.

Agreed Schmedz

Elf, defiantly indeed.
(Gentle joshing)

Any strategy in this country Id say is very risky for schools.

I wonder in other developed nations has schooling sunk to what it has in the UK with people turning religious, paying for schooling when its against their principles....moving house,lying ....

People turned into moral hyenas just to get their DC a half decent educatin?

Primary. Foundation phase and little structured teaching until 7 not attractive where we are. We've just tried to move our 7 year old to state school to save a bit of money for secondary. Complete disaster for a number of reasons, so dd is staying in her independent school. Incidentally in her school there are massive waiting lists for year 4 onwards when parents realise their LOs are massively behind and won't pass the entrance exam for year 7. So it's all very well to plan to send your dc private for secondary but there may be no space at that point and without tutoring they may not pass the exam.

IdRather The Uk system is turning into a farce and no, this is not the case in other European countries.

If you can only afford primary or secondary, it sounds like you are not going for the top end very expensive secondary either way. The expensive boarding schools start at 13, but less expensive day schools usually start at 11, so the state option is a real possibility and lots of people move from state to private at that point.
If you start at state, you can always move to prep at 7 anyway....or at anytime in fact. Most of it depends on what your state options at each level are like.

chocolate as far as I am aware there aren't any 'top end' private schools in our area anyway! I'm not entirely convinced fee structure is related to academic standards anyway, I went to one of the top private secondaries in the country (consistently top 10) but the fees were comparable to the many other schools in the area.
How do people find the cost difference going from nursery to private schools, we figured currently we spend about 2/3s cost of private schools on nursery fees anyway so hoping we won't notice too much difference anyway so may be able to afford both...!

I think lots of kids do really well at primary level in state schools. In fact almost half my DS's class were working 2 years ahead in last years sats. Just a case of choosing the right school. You can always get a tutor for the entrance exam.

monster I think a lot of people find the jump from nursery to prep just fine. Your'e essentially going from extortionate to more extortiontae ...

It's as they go up the years it increses. You need to check where the fee hikes are. It's often year 3, then again in year 6 if the school goes to 13.

TBF Your area isn't over run with great private schools, but then again your state schools are poor too!

Back in the day QWEGS used to be a very good school. And Wakefield girls.

West Yorkshire is a pretty big place though, it depends where you mean? GSAL is a pretty good private school, very academic as it is QEGS but it depends where you live...

This article might be useful - it talks about the benefits of private schools.
www.isbi.com/articles/article.asp?title=why-pay-to-send-your-child-to-school-&articleid=51
This one gives tips for choosing a school
www.isbi.com/articles/article.asp?title=choosing-a-school-ten-top-tips&articleid=47