Moving to private for improved home learning

[TwelveLeggedWalk]

HAs anybody - or is anybody considering - moving to the private system for a better home learning set up?

I have DTs in Year 3. They are academically able (I know, I know! everyone on MN says that, but DD1 got top available marks in her SATs so objectively she clearly is) and we've considered moving to private at some point because we suspect they'd benefit from an academically selective environment. But we don't have the cash to make that an easy decision, and they have been absolutely loving their (state) primary - big classes, but loads of activity and buzz and a brilliant community vibe.
Their home learnign provision has been not bad since Easter, but it's not a patch on what friends with kids at London day prep schools are experiencing. DH and I are both f-t WFH so limited in how much we can do beyond the basics, but I'm seeing kids of their age being effectively taught online by private school teachers so requiring much less parental intervention.

But then much of what you pay for at private - facilities etc - wouldn't be available and they'd lose their network of lovely friends, even if they are just names on a chat room at the moment.

Anyone else thought about this?

If online learning is your main consideration are you sure it’s worth it? All year groups will hopefully be back at school by September latest and there are only 5 weeks left of this term for private schools.

As an interim I'd look at online tuition if you need support at home during lockdown. It would be far more affordable and you and end it after lockdown if needed.

Mine are at a private school (and its a stretch for us). school fees are so worth it, now even more than before. We both work from home fulltime, so n

Private schools with business sense might want to consider starting summer school programs (online, RL or both!) for students from other schools, to cover their holiday periods. If they can find the extra staff to do the work!

I have with one y4 child. Totally worth it.

With the other y4 child we are trialling an online only school (there's a few, including Interhigh and myonlineschooling) and so far we have been very impressed. He is clinically vulnerable so this gives us the option to keep him home longer.

With the y1 child we are using outschool (adhoc online lessons) and tutors. (plus she does online drama and dance with her normal teachers). Alongside that she loves the CGP workbooks for her year and y2.

It has definitely meant we can work more.

But just as importantly the children are much happier. I loved teaching them but I can see how much they benefit from having classmates again and from getting feedback and coaching from teachers.

I don't see how this will be resolved in September and there is a good chance of further lockdowns.
Plus I think it is going to be tricky where some children have learnt nothing. And even before all this our y4s often got fed up because their brains werent being stretched enough.

State educated not keen on private.

If dd weren’t year 6 she would be enrolled in local private tomorrow. The local state primaries provision during this has been woeful. Not their fault they were instructed by the government to support vulnerable families and to park education entirely. It’s actually shocking

We have 1 in private and 1 (younger) in state. The state school provision has been really poor. The private school provision has honestly been excellent. My youngest would not want to move because of their many friends at school plus they love it there so, not thinking of moving them. Hoping they'll catch up when they finally return. I don't think I'd move for the benefits of the online provision but if you are planning to move them anyway then I guess it will depend on when you feel it will be best to move them? Who knows when schools will look like they used to?

Can't you set them work to do? Twinkl is a fantastic website with loads of resources

@WeMarchOn a lot of us are working v busy full time jobs. And Twinkl is no substitute for actual lessons.

I was teaching them and setting work but alongside by own job that is frantic because we are part of the coronavirus response I was getting very close to burnout.

Plus actually they have thrived from getting "classmates" again too

my DC is moving from state to private in y7 and frankly having gone through all the selection processes and everything, while it has all gone as well as can be expected, I wish we had switched over to private for y4 or y5. the school we are moving DC to actually starts from yR so we could have done this a couple of years ago. we have found y5 and y6 at our generally lovely state primary to be detrimental because there is a growing element of "too cool for school"/"why bother" culture among kids who in younger years were reasonably enthusiastic about learning. if you can find a way to make the financials work then I would definitely look to move your DC now. it's not just about the lockdown teaching. consider what schools will be like when fully reopened after lockdown. the biggest challenges for most state schools will be carefully coaxing the children who have been completely disengaged from education and haven't done any home learning to get them to re-engage and catch up. the bright students and those who engaged with the set work during lockdown will be mostly "marking time" waiting for their peers to catch up for most of the first year back. I am sure teachers will try to offer differentiated challenges but the gap between top and bottom of each class is about to get much much wider and there's only so much differentiation that is possible.

@Yinu yes that's my worry. They were already failing to differentiate enough for our y4s before lockdown.

Interesting replies, thank you.

Sorry, I realise I missed out a key point here - which is that I am very doubtful that full-time 'normal' schooling will resume in September. Or if it does resume in Sept that it will go through the winter when we enter flu season, as anyone with flu symptoms will end up in isolation again along with all their contacts... so I'm anticipating (at best) a rolling series of 14 day periods at home.

I also have to share concerns that those kids which were doing well academically, and have been able to access work during the past few months, will be left to drift once back at school as the teachers' limited resources will, rightly, go to those who have been struggling over lockdown. I would love to think that schools could be flexible and mix the year groups/bubbles to reflect that but realistically I appreciate that's v.unlikely with all the other timetabling factors they have to consider.

WeMarchOn Yes, I could teach them myself... if I didn't have a full-time job. DH and I obviously nervous of whether our jobs will survive the recession so that is a factor too. If I lost mine I'd be very able to come up with some more stretching lessons, but at the minute I am working, and so school is shoved into a couple of hours in the morning. Hence my wondering if proper engaging all-day online teaching woudl be better, but that only seems available in the private sector.

(Also we do have twinkl and we were in isloation before school closure/home working set. ONly this morning did DD explain the 1-3 star system on the sheets, so I was able to download the 3 star version of the exercise they'd been set by their class teacher. Am fully aware that makes me that parent but hopefully by this point her lovely teacher is past caring!

Sorry... should read 'AS we were in isloation before school closure'. So they had me fudging some lessons for a couple of weeks before the school homelearning packs came back.

Interestingly that also taught me that they respond much better to work set By a Teacher than By Mummy!

I would use one of the online schools that offer a full curriculum. Interhigh, myonlineschooling, etc, theres others too. I wouldn't pay private school rates when you're not getting the whole private school experience.

Would it not make more sense to find online tutors, since this will be only a stopgap measure?

The thought has crossed my mind. The provision given by our school hasn't been terrible and they are doing their best, but when I see what my friends at private school are getting, it pales in comparison.

I'd also say that friends with children at private schools in the current relevant year groups are all going back full time as the classes are so much smaller it is doable - no blended learning. That might be a consideration as well, given there is no guarantee things will be back to normal in September.

My two are in private and the home learning resources have been nothing but outstanding including the live lessons.

It is a big factor as we make the decision for my DS starting reception this year. Plus small class sizes mean that time in school will be maximised rather than a rota system.

Use an online school! I work for one
We've had lots of new students since March.

3 new children have started in my kids private reception class since lockdown began.

At the beginning of lockdown I was grumpy we only had a 10% fee discount. Now however I'd probably pay 10% more to ensure my kids carry on getting what they have been getting. The teachers have been amazing, the work set incredible and the plans to ensure academic progress is assessed properly and plans to catch up very reassuring.

We've had face to face music tutition, Regular group chats for R and Y1 plus daily work based on teaching videos. I'd say the extracurricular activity is still pretty good even in lockdown.

Mrskeats, could you tell us more about online schools please? I hadn’t heard of them before this thread and I am thinking about getting ds2 some kind of extra provision. Am very worried about what next year will look like at his state primary, which is doing very little now.

My son who has started at one of the main online schools says it is 1000x better than what his school were providing. He looks forward to the lessons each day and chats about the things that he learns in them. He is a bright child who loves learning and having his brain stretched and I have been really pleased so far. Quite a lot of homework is set but he is a child who loves homework so this has made him really happy. They do quizzes in class or get to contribute answers/ read aloud. They also have group work time during the lessons which he really enjoys.

He was starting to show signs of depression and he is like a different boy now. We were doing our best to teach him and provide workbooks (in amongst helping 3 other children and working full time) but this suits him much better.

@flowerycurtain yes our other son has started at a private school and 2 other children joined at the same time as him. He is thriving too, we are very pleased with it.

As a teacher on maternity leave currently, I am shocked with what the government guidance is. The headteacher of our school has instructed teachers to only provide revision materials and not advance with anything in the curriculum as there are disadvantaged children unable to access the work and therefore, it isn’t fair on them if they get further behind. Imo, the attitude should be, advance as much as you can and then we will add provision for the children unable to do it when we return.

If you can afford private fees then I would definitely move them. Both of my dc are registered and will start at a prep school when the time comes. I in no way think that private school teachers are any better than state school teachers (I work my arse off for the students I teach) BUT I do think that the learning environment of smaller classes, specialist teachers in prep, range of extra curricular and the ability to ignore the government guidance and do what’s actually best for the children is what sets a private school apart.