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.

The PE is one of the main differences between state and private in my opinion - that and music, drama and languages. Being taught by specialists makes a huge difference.

in terms of PE, at my school KS2 do 4 lessons a week, including netball, hockey, gymnastics and swimming. Swimming is weekly from reception. They also do fixtures from y3+, a couple each term and everyone competes, not just an A team (this may not happen in bigger schools to be fair). I’ve never come across a state school that can offer anything like this level of PE input. 2 lessons a week probably, taught by a mix of keen teachers, teachers who avoid it at every opportunity and sports coaches. Swimming most likely a term in year 4.

@modgepodge my son is in state primary( outstanding) and swimming is a part of what they do in the summer term. Before covid parent funding also covered autumn term.
Most of his class swims very well btw.

Yes he likes hockey that he enjoys at PE and it is standard in state along with netball basketball, gymnastic, football as well as doing some traditional dances. More able kids are invited to squads, additional activities. And every single day there are additional clubs like tenis, multisports, martial arts etc. - these take place before and after school

Having said that my son is not a sporty type and enjoys that he is not pushed hard. He is a good swimmer

I'm sure it varies but where we are private is far more sporty at this age.

The kids do PE 3 times a week plus weekly swimming for years. From age 7 Tthe kids do compulsory team sports throughout the year in addition to PE. On top of this they can do additional sport via before and after school clubs and squads. They also have a long lunch break of 1.5 hours during which they can do clubs or play on the playground in addition to two other shorter breaks in the morning and afternoon for outside play.

This is a very academically selective school as well not even particularly know as 'sporty'

Depends on both the prep school and the secondary.
I know families that have done both, and speaking to the children they haven't had any negative issues at all. They have gone to a a mix of grammar and comp.
We will be doing private prep and state secondary too within next 2 years and I no longer have any doubts.

Its much easier for the average parent to directly support primary school learning than secondary school learning. Techniques and methods have changed but a good school will do sessions for parents to explain how to help with supporting the new methods. Despite the changes, primary school maths and reading is not beyond most parents.

For specialist subjects in secondary school most parents would need to hire an external tutor.

That sounds like a much better than average offering for a state school which is great. But it’s still only 1/3 of the swimming he’d get in a prep school. And all the children do fixtures - not just the sporty ones (of course for some this may not be seen as a positive!!), along with extras (IAPS comps etc) for the more able ones. In summer they all go off site to an athletics ground and do proper athletics (shot, javelin, track running, hurdles etc). I’ve never seen that in a state school. It’s all quite expensive and requires high levels of staffing which puts it out of reach of most state schools I’d imagine (plus SATS pressure means they can’t devote as much time to sports and stuff in my experience.)

of course some state schools will have brilliant sports offerings, many won’t. However I think it’s fair to say, on average, sport will be better in private - more of a difference there than in say English or maths, which will be fairly similar to state schools but in smaller classes.

A state primary can usually afford to only do one or two cocurricular activities well. So either art, performing arts / drama, languages, music, sport etc. They have to do a bit of them all as it’s part of the national curriculum but most will be done in a very cursory barebones way.

If those things matter to you then private primary particularly from year 3 onwards can be much better than state. In math and English it depends on how academic your child is. At an highly academically selective school the maths and English will be almost certainly be more advanced and a better match for an advanced child.

That said, it’s a luxury. There isn’t a obvious right decision as it depends on the specific state and private options you have, your child’s needs and your personal circumstances.

@modgepodge ·

if it is really predominantly about difference in sport then it would not be a good value for money. Paying 1-2k monthly for school just to have a difference in sport. It is way cheaper as a total to enroll kid to weekly after-school sport clubs and swimming classes, and crash courses.

No, it’s not just about sport. But in my opinion, having worked in both state and prep, it’s the sport, music, drama, languages where you see the major difference. I teach maths. My lessons are not wildly different to my lessons when I taught in state; classes are smaller so more 1:1 attention, very little disruption due to bad behaviour, I can go further ahead with the most able - but on the whole not a million miles off state school maths. Same with English, geography and so on. The sport, music, French etc is completely different to state however. That’s where I see the major differences. But other people will see it differently of course.

Round where I live the privates offer guaranteed access to wraparound 7.30am to 6pm with no booking needed. Of course most state schools have breakfast and after school club, but places are often limited. It is charged though!

@modgepodge I would think that most value is that more individual approach. But I recon that bad behaviour doesn't depends on of it is private or state. Maybe it is more controlled in private with more attention to the individual kids

@Phineyj yes if the wraparound care is included on the top of all sport then it makes a huge difference as people pay hundreds per month for it

Your child should be fine to go from a private primary to a state secondary. They will find it a bit of a shock as secondary schools will always be very different to primary schools, but they should catch up quite quickly on any academics they are missing.

My DD went to state primary from Reception to Year 2. DD has just got an offer into an independent primary to join year 3. I will be switching DD to independent from year 3 to year 6 and may switch to state for secondary. As others have said on this post, the younger years are important as it grounds them and develops their love for learning, and teacher focus and special attention is essential which independent schools give due the smaller class sizes. My DD I believe has potential to be very focused and picks up things easily when she is taught, but I realised she does not have that solid foundation and grounding from her current state primary as she has no motivation to learn and all she does is want to play and complains sometimes that she cannot concentrate because she gets distracted by other kids. There are about 30 kids in her class and she is in the average set, so you can only imagine teacher focus will be minimal, as I believe the focus will be put on the top 10% set and bottom 10% set. Also, I would rather take advantage of the lower fees at primary level so she gets that good foundation and should be able to perform well to get into a high performing state senior school as I think it may be challenging to breakthrough if your state primary doesn’t have a history of kids going to selective states senior schools. Sorry for the long post, I am passionate about this topic. I think at the end of the day everyone knows their child and what learning environment will be best for them. But I think it’s worth trying a hybrid education have some both state or private to see what environment your DC thrives in the best.

My DD was in state primary from reception to Y2, switched her to private in Y3. DD is doing very well in private, I am seeing more confidence, curiosity, broad knowledge and takes her activities and school work seriously. However, I will consider state for secondary as DD is currently building good soft skills and confidence in her current private school which I think will be useful no matter where she goes. Building the soft skills at a young age is good, so private primary is a good option. The extra co-curricular and style of teaching offered at private is what’s helping DD build confidence. Besides, private primary is a bit more affordable than private secondary.