Private primary school to state secondary

[Purtyburty]

What are your thoughts on sending my child to a private primary school, but then to state secondary school? Our local state primary is not a great fit for our child for several reasons, plus academically it underperforms national average. It is a big primary school, and our DD being so timid and having not attended nursery as I am a SAHM, I don't think such a big setting would be good for her. There is a wonderful private primary close by which we visited and absolutely love. That being said, I don't think we could afford private secondary school as well, especially if we had a second child. Our local secondary school however has excellent results, outstanding ofsted report and we would be very happy to send her there.

It doesn’t work here, private to state does not go down well at secondary.

Generally your money is better spent on secondary. Are primaries in general that different to each other? I’d probably give it a go and see.

Does not go down well with who?

Lots of children from the local indie join the local secondary at Y7 where we are.

The children who have moved from private to state have not been very popular. Not all of them have had problems, but some have had big ones.

@Cheeesus thanks for your insight. Could you elaborate on what you mean by big problems. Bullying?

i know a girl who did it and was fine and her sister is about to do the same

Yes. General violence etc. But that’s just one state school. And some people have been fine as far as I know.

Pretty common where we are and is exactly our plan for our DC. Both in an excellent prep because we were not keen on our local state primary schools but will be moving a couple of roads down so we are guaranteed catchment of our excellent local state secondary within the next couple of years.

Becoming more and more common with cost of living, rising fees and potential for vat to be added onto school fees.

I also know several adults who did this and were happy at school

how would an excellent secondary compare with the facilities and smaller class sizes of a private primary? just wonder if it would be a shock for the children moving.

Loads of kids from our private primary go to state secondary schools. Local primary schools aren’t great (except for people who can afford to buy houses for 1 million plus), two local state secondaries are good.
Plus local primary schools have no before/after school care, private schools do. So working parents really struggle with state primary schools, but at secondary that’s not an issue anymore.

In our case, the secondary facilities are better than our small prep - which has excellent facilities for primary but the size means it will struggle to come close to the secondary.

The class sizes and size of school will be a big step up but this also was the case for me coming from a single form entry undersubscribed primary to a 7 form entry secondary comp. I can't see a massive difference between this and what my DC will have

Our eldest went independent until 11 and then to a state grammar , as do hundreds of other children in this area and he had no issues at all .

Hello i really need help.

my son had one taster day in independent school. He really loved it. Now they sent an email they want another taster day and head teacher wants to meet me. He loved the school. What do u think? Will she not offer space? What could it be? Ive attached the emAil they sent

Hard to tell, really. There are so many variables. At my state secondary it wouldn't be an issue and nobody would notice. The change to secondary is so different anyway there will always be adjustment.

The only thing I'd point out is that private primaries are not obliged to teach the national curriculum or prepare their children for SATs. Erm.....I've usually found this puts private school kids at a disadvantage.

I haven't come across any private primaries which are preparing their students to the same level academically as the state schools. This may well be an issue only in my area though.

In general I find private primary kids have had a 'nicer' experience, and are more confident- but they're not pushed as hard academically. FYI I haven't found this to be an issue past Year 7.

Very common to do private and move to state at 11 here as we have some incredible secondary schools, and grammars. No problems I’m aware of.

I feel like private primary to state secondary is a pointless waste of money to be honest and your child will be in for a shock when they make the change

Please can someone help on my question im abit worried

Start a new thread

@Hello5688 we can’t tell you what that school is thinking as we don’t know. But, to help clarify your thinking:

1. They haven’t definitely decided against him, as if they had, they wouldn’t bother doing another taster day.
2. They haven’t decided yet whether to offer him a place yet either.

My guess is that they have an unresolved question they want to sort out before making a decision. Perhaps he was very quiet, or he seemed a bit unhappy with the school, or they couldn’t get a feel for his academic level and want to be sure he can keep up. Or maybe they saw some behaviours they think might indicate special needs, I have no way of knowing. But they have a question they’re trying to answer.

I work in a private prep. Every year about half go to state secondaries! Admittedly a good chunk of them go to grammar (contrary to the post above, we do teach to the national curriculum and our classes are above average in terms of results, despite not doing SATS). However every year we have a few (maybe around 1/5 or 1/4) who go to bog standard state secondaries. The vast majority do very well from
what we hear, I’ve never heard of violence aimed at the because of the primary school they went to!!

It is a massive jump in size from our tiny prep to 1000 in a secondary, but the same is also true for children who attend small village state schools. I was one of these. I adjusted fine.

OP it depends on your area. In our area it is very common for children to go to Prep school and then at age 11 go to a state grammar school for secondary.

What I can tell you is that Prep school is very very different to state primary. The teachers are more strict, but also give much more individual attention and do much more teaching as opposed to crowd control. Children get a great grounding in all the main sports. Your child will become much physically fitter at a Prep school and have a higher level of academic knowledge than a child of the same age who went to state primary. For a well behaved quiet intelligent child who loves sport, Prep school can be bliss. For a bouncy rough and tumble child who isn’t interested in study, Prep school may suck.

Ask the Prep school you’re interested in what senior schools their children progress to. There may be a list on their website. If several children from that Prep school go to your local state secondary (which I suspect they do as it’s outstanding) then the transition will be easy. If however your child would be the only Prep school child going to a rougher state school it may not be a good idea.

For a bouncy rough and tumble child who isn’t interested in study, Prep school may suck. 😂😂😂
Sent that bouncy loser kid to state school, to join all the other physically unfit and thick mishaps!

DD goes to a prep school and about 30% go on to a state secondary - there are 2 outstanding comps in our area, plus some grammars within travelling distance and a couple of semi-selective state schools. It doesn't seem to be an issue socially - the prep is fairly relaxed and doesn't attract the super posh. And the state schools tend to skew towards a fairly middle class intake because the area is quite affluent. So I think the prep school kids blend in well enough. I've seen 11+ destinations in past years though where some kids have gone on to less sought-after state schools and that has surprised me.

Our DD is 5 so we aren't yet sure if we'd prefer the state comp (we'd be in catchment for one) or a selective private secondary. The facilities are far better and conditions are generally nicer at the private schools, but academic results are only slightly better.

Some of the most popular people in my secondary school came from private primary schools. I also have several friends whose dc have done this and after private primary education have really excelled in state secondary schools and were academically ahead, good at sports in the new schools etc.

It’s fine and not uncommon in areas with top secondary schools.

I think if the demographics are similar it won’t make any social difference. Where we live state school parents and private school parents are both relatively well-off and live in similar houses etc so there isn’t some huge chasm between kids in different sectors.

I know a few children who have done this with no problems. The only issue is getting a place at secondary school. In my area, places are allocated to feeder primary schools ahead of the general distance criteria, so anyone at private school is bottom of the list as they're not at a feeder primary.