Do private schools really care?

[Sunflower123456]

I saw this link, and couldn't agree more as that's our experience too :

www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2014/aug/02/secret-teacher-autism-fees-private-school-teaching

It's not been my experience I would say there are really great private schools out there who really care and not so great ones.

In a small struggling school quite possibly. Bums on seats matter. However not ime in a thriving, oversubscribed one where they are often quick to oust.

This is one reason to avoid a school that is struggling financially...this is easy to check out.

A school that is full and has a waiting list won't need to do any of the things in the article. And yes, they will remove pupils if necessary.

However, also avoid the schools that make parents feel like they're lucky to be there!

That's exactly how the DGST school head teacher treated us. On the day we handed in the required one term termination notice, she even fabricated a bunch of lies about us to the social services. We complaint to GDST, but they just brushed the matter off, and refuses to follow their complaints procedure.

The school in question sounded much more like my children's state primary than the private they moved to.

When my son left at the end of year 3 he did not even get a leaving card or a goodbye from the head or the teachers. The two autistic children we know were both pulled out as treated as nuisances, my dd1 was traumatised by the appalling treatment of a boy in her class, she cried in her sleep about it.

I don't think poor behaviour and leadership are exclusive to one sector.

The school in question sounded much more like my children's state primary than the private they moved to.

When my son left at the end of year 3 he did not even get a leaving card or a goodbye from the head or the teachers. The two autistic children we know were both pulled out as treated as nuisances, my dd1 was traumatised by the appalling treatment of a boy in her class, she cried in her sleep about it.

I don't think poor behaviour and leadership are exclusive to one sector.

@soveryupset

You are quite right that improper behaviour is not unique to either the private or public sector.

However what does annoy is when the assumption is made, particularly by the government, (but also by some posters on Mumsnet (!)) that private schools are intrinsically better than state schools.

Sounds like the writer of the article was at a particularly poor school that happened to be private.

As others have said, it is not whether the school is public or private, but how well it is managed and run.

This article bears no resemblance to my own (or my children's experience) of private schooling, but I would not be surprised if it is a common story in schools struggling financially...

Not our experience. We were at a very oversubscribed school though so there was no trying to hang on to children when it really wasn't able to cater for a child. Equally, they did do their best with every child and in our experience were very honest. Then again, we weren't pushy or over-bearing parents.
Private schools are as diverse as state schools, you get the truly fantastic ones and the downright awful ones.

I don't have an awful lot of experience of private schools but a private school where i did some work a few years ago would only enter children for GCSEs if they were likely to get an A or B, if lower than that they just didn't get entered as if they got lower than C it affected their statistics. It was nothing to do with cost as the parents got billed extra for the GCSE entry fees anyway. At my state secondary everyone was entered for GCSEs in every subject they did. For some people a G grade is an achievement and at the end of the day its still counts as a GCSE.

IMO comes down the the HT. I had a miserable time at a private school where the HT only had time for clever, sporty all-rounders who were socially at ease with their peers. Anyone a bit quirky he rather took against and practically encouraged bullying - certainly did nothing to prevent it.

My sister had a very similar experience in a state primary, but fantastic in a private prep and a leading public school.

The bottom line is that private schools are businesses. They need income to keep going, and they would only accept above average pupils that would achieve good grades to make their schools look good. I am sure that GCSE/A level grades from private schools would be no better than state schools if they admit pupils of all abilities and backgrounds. Comparing private and state schools results is like comparing apples with oranges, but generations are fooled by the believe that private schools are always better that state schools as we did. Sadly, it is impossible to tell if a private school (and indeed a state) is good or bad until one sends their child to one.

We made a mistake sending our daughter to the NGHS, because no one cared when she was severely harmed. We found their complaint procedure and contract are only for show, as the HT and their GDST can freely choose to ignore them.

The bottom line is that private schools are businesses

Yes they are and I would have not thought it was very good business practice to keep children with behavioural or other difficulties in class. I do not mean to sound unsympathetic to parents who have such children but I know from experience that many more parents will leave if one difficult child is in a class - therefore I would question how a policy of retaining such children is "protecting" the bank balance of the school.

I know of a school who did/ does try to keep difficult children but their reasons are not financial. They seem unable to acknowledge that they cannot make a difference for that child. Meanwhile many other parents have withdrawn their DC from the school which has hit the bank balance I suspect.

Its poor management and stupidity at senior levels to keep one set of fees and lose six others.

My two DDs went to a GDST junior school, and one is still there in the senior school. The one who has stayed is dyslexic, as the school has a very good track record of assisting girls with dyslexia to achieve their full potential.

The junior school is hugely oversubscribed with around 10 applicants for each casual place arising. Therefore, if parents decided to leave the school because the teacher gave them "bad news" about their child, the school would have no difficulty in allocating the place. So, there would be no benefit to the school of withholding the truth from parents.

I don't know if there are any autistic girls at the school. I suspect there may well be, but it's not my business, frankly. I know there are/have been girls there who are visually impaired, and with physical disabilities, as well as lots with SEN such as dyslexia and dyspraxia. It is academically selective, so a child with HFA but who is gifted and talented may well fly through the selection process.

I really hate this kind of article, based on one person's experience of one school, that says "all private schools are like this" or indeed, if it said "all state schools....". I have experience of three private schools. Two have been very good regarding SEN. The other couldn't wait to get rid of one child with SEN, and later, when my DS was diagnosed with dyspraxia, the so called SENCO didn't even bother to meet with me to discuss it or arrange an IEP. (His excellent class teacher did, though.)

So, I could write an article that said "two thirds of private schools are very good for SEN" which would be just as accurate as the one linked to. Ie, not very.

Our daughter wasn't difficult. She's well advanced in her class but she had mild eczema before she attended the NGHS. It turned into severe eczema after two terms there. The HT refused to allow her to bring packed lunches, even the school contract stated it's allowed. The HT even refused her to attend the private school unless she eats their canteen lunches which had obviously exacerbated her eczema. She just didn't want other children to bring packed lunches to a private school, for any medical or religious reason. Now that our daughter can bring carefully controlled home packed lunches again in a state school, her eczema is back to mild, and our nightmare is finally over.

Hmm, yes, well I can see that's difficult.

At the GDST school my DDs attend/attended, the severely allergic girls were allowed to bring in a packed lunch, even though it is school policy for all junior school girls to eat school lunches. For those which less life threatening allergies and intolerances, the school would prepare special lunches - there is a list in the dining hall of all the various needs for each child. Girls in the senior school are allowed to bring a packed lunch.

So, again, your difficulties, while real, do not necessarily reflect the experience of every child in every GDST school, let alone every private school.

I have a friend who has a chld at a small alternative independent school known to be friendly but not acedemically high achieving. They have had a problem with undiagnosed autistic children not getting the help /diagnosis but she feel the fault is often more down to the parents who are unwilling to accept a diagnosis and are hoping that there child will do okay in an alternative education system. I don't know enough about it to know how the school handled it.

It seems every GDST school is different. The NGHS wouldn't make specially prepared lunches for our daughter. Their cook just took stuff out of their standard meals for her. In fact, we had to bring our own dairy free margarine to their cook for our daughter. (Our daughter was given dairy margarine for an entire term, even though we had informed the school beforehand she's sensitive to dairy.)

We made a complaint about the NGHS HT to GDST, and their Chief Executive supported the HT, saying that school lunches are 'particularly beneficial' and then the Chairman refused to organise a panel hearing even though it's part of the complaints procedure. The Chairman's excuse was that the hearing won't solve anything.

As I said before, private schools are businesses, and they would do anything to protect their interest, even if that means breaking their own contract and complaints procedure, and there is nothing parents can do about it. Their attitude was take it or leave it. We left, and so glad we made that decision because our daughter is so much better and happier now.

OP - did you contact the ISI? You should also notify Ofsted if she was in Reception when the incidents occurred.

I agree that there are many good independent schools in Nottinghamshire, who have a high regard for the welfare of their pupils, and your experience is likely to be specific to the ethos of this particular Head and school.

I am glad that your daughter is happy in her new school. It must be such a relief for you.

Yes, we've written to the ISI, and they have referred our complaint to ofsted one month ago. Unfortunately neither one of these organisations would involve in individual cases, so bad schools can easily cover up concerns and bad HTs can get away with almost anything. What really angered us is that on the day we submitted our termination notice to the NGHS, the HT contacted the social services and fabricated a bunch of lies about us. We proved to the GDST that the HT lied but the chairman still refused to organise a panel hearing, because she knew the HT had no case to answer. GDST's primary concern is to protect their income, schools & HTs, and pupils welfare is secondary.

Would you consider legal advice?

ISI has no bite , it is a very inward looking body sustained by those in that sector. If it were a safeguarding issue you could report to the LA , even if a private school.

We have contacted a solicitor, but we were told that libel in the private domain is not winnable. If the HT had made those false allegations against us in a public domain accessible by the general public, then there would definitely be a case. Apparently the social services spent a lot of time on following up false allegation cases, and the accusers are rarely cautioned. Thankfully the social services dropped the case against us on the same day, because it's clear the HT was a ***.