Did you send your children to a private primary despite having good state options nearby? Did you send your children to a state primary even though you could have afforded a private primary? Why and why?

[WellWeathered]

What swayed it for you in the end?

Are you happy with the choice you made? Which aspects have lived-up to expectations and which haven't?

I'm currently very torn and would appreciate the experience and opinions (that's lucky then this been Mumsnet) of others.

being Mumsnet not been Mumsnet

We have opted for state primary as it is 10 minutes walk as opposed to a 20 minute drive. DS1 will be able to see friends easily after school - DS2 won't have to spend half his day in the car dropping off or picking up DS1.

The state primary is good/efficient the local Prep school is great at the social skills side but not actually better with academics.

We went for private because it was much closer to home than our state catchment school ! And because at that state school they said in their charter that they would try and hear my child read at least once a week ! At her private school they hear her read every day.

We really can't afford it - but felt we didn't have a choice.

We have sent DD to a private prep school despite having a good state school as our catchment school. We actually moved house to be in the catchment area as the school does have good reports, good SATs and a good reputation locally. However when we went to visit it, as we did with a couple of other state schools plus 3 of theprivate schools, it just did not feel right. We simply weren't too impressed, so we chose the best school for ours and DD's circumstances.

The school is about 3 miles away, a 10 minute drive. DD loves it and we have been more than impressed with the school so far - DD is in her second year. She has lots of playdates, etc. and not being walking distance is not an issue (the local catchment school was slightly too far to walk anyway). At present I feel we made the right choice.

Went private due to smaller class sizes, more emphasis on outdoor activities and wider curriculum. State primary schools around here are mainly good but secondary very variable. Now dc's are getting older I have reservations about level of individual support and equality of opportunity but on the whole both enjoy the school and what it has to offer.

WE chose private primary for ds ( and would have for dd, had she not been disabled), despite excellent state primary schools. We did this because the secondary state schools locally, both in and out of catchment are dreadful. There is a huge scramble for private places at 7, 9 and 11, when people locally start panicking about secondary. Places are allocated after assesment/exams and I didn't wnat to chance it that he would be bright enough(perform well enough on day etc) so got him in at age 3 ( when its just a case of phoning up and paying to reserve a place before child is 2). DS's school is 15 mins away on a good day, 45 mins on a bad day.

state primary

8 minute walk through pretty village

outstanding ofsted

could afford private primary but dont see the need

ditto Enid, although ours is 7 min walk

We currently having this debate at the mo. We might get dd into a very good state primary but we're border line. We probably have a place for her at a lovely small private school which we are very taken with but keep thinking we should send her to the state school if she gets a place because it is good. However, the private school still has things which are better - class sizes, some of the extra-curricular opportunities etc.

We have till next year to decide and haven't actually looked at the state school so will reserve judgement until then and hope we have a 'feeling'.

(i can do ours in 4 if I cut across the fields )

I have chosen the local state primary for my ds as, on paper and from as much as I can tell from a visit, it looks a good place to be. The results are 4th best in county, the children looked industrious and happy. I am also fairly confident that dh & I will be playing a significant role in his education. That said, if we were unhappy I would look at private at a later date and it is certainly more of an option when it comes to secondary level.

I have also looked at the local private school and felt it was a lot of money for extra french! I know there are good prep schools out there (I went to one which was fantastic & therfore have high expectations) but looking at what schools their students went onto at 11, the inspection report and dh commenting negatively on how the maths was being taught, was enough to put me off.

(ok you win - lol)

We have gone for an independant primary despite having a fairly good state primary just around the corner. Our reasons for independant were smaller class sizes, a recognition of the importance of a wide curriculum including music and drama and no SATS.

We are very pleased with our choice. There were other independant schools we would not have ever considered such as the hothousing alwyas comes top in SATS league tables one.

We're keeping fingers crossed that dd gets into brilliant state primary down the road (we're just out of catchment) and she's at the nursery at the mo.

But - its only an infant school, and although the middle school is good, its blardy depressing, doesn't have the sport, wider education options etc etc and I'm beginning to wonder if we might switch to private for dd and ds for the middle school years. Haven't discovered where we might dig the money out to do this though, so we'll cross that expensive point of no return when we come to it.

That's not terribly helpful though, is it?

Yes, all answers have been helpful so far.

Out of the state options we may have none of the schools have had an outstanding OFSTED report.

oh and another reason was that at our, then local, state schools ds and dd would have been on separate, if reasonably close, sites for all but one year due to split infant/ juniors.

Speaking as someone who teaches at an outstanding school (top 2% apparently), it isn't really outstanding. Only 13% of schools are assessed as outstanding but I have taught in better schols which were, in Ofsted speak, merely 'good'. I would only factor in the Ofsted report if it were failing/in special measures or it highlighted particular weaknesses that were pertinant to my child.

Also check the date of the Ofsted report. The school my ds will go to had a good Ofsted overall, but it identified they didn't stretch the most able enough, especially in English. However, this was nearly 18months ago and of course the most significant innovation and improvement has come in (you've guessed it) pushing the G&T, especially in English.

Similar reasons to islandofsodor - no SATS, no National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies, daily reading, small class sizes, lots of music and PE/games. Also very themed/topic based curriculum.
It's also a Christian ethos school, which was a factor.
We decided against our two local well-performing state schools (in different boroughs, we live on a suburban faultline of educational achievement) for the following reasons

School A in dreadful borough, near bottom of league tables

• huge
• headteacher in papers for refusing to have a Christmas tree in case it offended other cultures (this in a largely white lower middle class suburb )
• very firm adherence (essential to maintain their all important league table ranking ) to NLNS and SATS drilling, it sounded very boring there tbh
• no after-school care on site

School B in much better borough with grammars and good non-selective schools

• huge
• Ofsted a bit iffy about pastoral care
• Lavish use of portakabins to squeeze more classes in
• after-school care in short supply and correctly targeted at families with greatest need

We've sent ds2 and will send ds3 to private despite having a supposedly excellent school nearby (ds2 got a place).

Why?

1. when I phoned to ask to look around I wasn;t allowed to. I was happy to go in a group. But no. Not allowed.

2. I have to meet ds1 from his school bus at 3.30 and put him on his school bus at 8.40- therefore I needed short bursts of before and after school care. Ds2's private school has excellent and flexible before and after care.

3. We looked around ds2's school and really, really liked it; Lots of emphasis on accepting difference and celebrating everyones strengths.

4. the state school (outstanding ofsted) has a reputation for 'driving autistic children out of the school.'. Ds2 is not autistic, nor is ds3, but their elder brother is and I didn't want them to see kids with ASD being treated badly.

We made absolutely the right choice. DS2 has just written out invitations for his 6th birthday party., He sent 2 to boys in year 6 (they are very good at mixing kids across the years) including one to a boy who happens to have Aspergers.

Absolutely the right choice.

And when ds1 goes in to collect ds2 and ds3 (rarely) and is totally insane - the headteacher is quite happy for him to sniff her computer......

Moved to a village so we could choose a state primary. Reasons:
10 minute walk through the village.
Part of local community - bump into friends at park at weekends etc as well as ebing easy to arrange playdates. - helped me make friends in new place too.
No hothousing - feel v. much that kids should not be pushed academically or extra-curricularly at this age
Our kids are always going to be very prievlidged - wanted them to go to a school where they realise that not everyone is so lucky as they are and hopefully appreciate their luck more.
I believe in and support state education (though admit I will be unlikely to when my only choice at 11 is private or local crappy comp)

But - if you are in an urban environment (esp. London)I think my reasons don't count. I mainly wanted my children to go to a school where the majority of parents share my values - in inner London I expect that would have meant a private school

Can I ask whether this is a cost you can wear comfortably?

I think paying for private ed is a sacrifice worth making (having benefited myself from prep school) but dh thinks it's madness. Fortunately we're not in a area where private ed makes sense, but it may well do when we move.

DD only 22 months, but we have just chosen a private prep school for her.

Main reasons (apart from dh being a snob ) were class sizes (at least one of our two local state schools merges classes across 2 years when intake is low (both village schools)), better sports (and other) facilities, including a swimming pool, and wanting to be sure that dd has the best chance of getting into a good private secondary school, as there are only 2 good state secondaries nearby, and we are bordering on catchment (neighbours had to home ed as their dd didn't get a place initially).

One of the reasons we then picked this particular private school is because they stream quite early, and we would like dd to be stretched in a similar ability group (speaking from experience of not being stretched enough in some subjects myself).

When it comes to class sizes - the state primary in the village next to us has a maximum intake of 12 children each year - we didn't want DS1 to go there because although it is a very lovely little school it is very very white - Dh is chinese and at least at the school we have chosen DS's won't be the only non white children. (I am white and in no way am I suggesting that white culture is bad I just don't want DS's to be picked on for not being white - I hope you understand what I mean)

Several of our local state primaries are fabulous (swimming pools, minibuses, flat screen computers, acres of playing fields, great academic records). And to think we moved here before we had children and had no idea what 'catchment' meant.

Happy me! And it will save me at least £280,000. (4 DCs @ £10k pa x 7yrs).

But we'll do private for secondary because the big local comp is pants. I am still puzzled by this local educational discrepancy.