State primary Vs independent school

[Flopsy145]

My village is lucky enough to have an independent school, very low fees (just cleaning, lunches etc) and also an academy state primary (not sure in terminology but it's not a CofE, instead part of a network of academy primarys in the area).
Main primary - pretty big and diverse, has a lovely preschool, according to parents of kids there if you're child is sociable and switched on they do well, if they are shyer or need a lot of support they can get lost a bit and often end up in the next village school which is much smaller. Obviously follows the national curriculum.

Independent primary - still very academic focussed with great results, big on being outside as much as possible, teaching life skills, very active and big focus on physical and mental health. My DD couldn't go until she was 5 so would have to do pre school and reception in main primary then move to independent for year one, presumably with a few other kids who will have to do the same.

I'm due to go view them both soon, but generally what are people's experiences with independents? My DD is my first so it's all new to me!

Background on my DD if it helps, no sen indicators, very sociable, active and is clever for her age, would probably be fine in either school tbh. She gardens weekly with my mum and myself, cooks with me etc and loves it so does like to be involved in "life"

Having run a Brownie Pack which included girls from both sots of school, I would say ordinary primary school if you want her to have any sort of life outside of school. I have seen so very many girls at the independent schools having to give up Brownies because they had too much homework to do both

you can’t really make the decision at the ‘state vs. Indie’ level, as there is such a wide range within state and indie. @BrownOwlknowsbest my children in private have less homework than their state peers. They also move through the curriculum at a slightly slower pace because they don’t do SATs, and it frees up more space for enrichment lessons. Other indies may be as you describe in terms of hothousing environment. Similarly some state schools offer a supportive and enriching environment, but the one we started in was very results driven and was constantly dropping planned forest school or other enrichment lessons in favour of extra phonics or maths practice, and all parent meetings were exclusively focused on tracking for SATs.

Visit the schools and see which is the best match for your child.

Thanks both I hadn't considered the homework aspect, I and DH especially, are very against large amounts of homework as believe home time is for family and other hobby clubs so he will 100% want her to go to the school that has less pressure on this front. Based on what I know of the schools this the independent in my area is less homework focussed, but I'll add that to my list of questions for both schools!

Do they both mean you are in the community and she will have local friends? That would be a factor where I grew up if you went to the local state village primary you knew everyone the kids that went to the private school in the nearby city didn’t have the local network.

As long as she's happy and settled I wouldn't move her from the other school.

Obviously if she isn't, it's nice to have the option of moving at the end of Reception to the independent school if you can afford it and that's what you both want. But I definitely wouldn't move for the sake of it if she's getting on well.

What do you mean by independent but you just pay for cleaning and lunch? How does the school survive?

Theres not really any other option if she goes to the independent as otherwise she will just be out of childcare for a year or 2, she's currently in a nursery setting. If she was very settled and had friends in pre school/reception it would definitely affect my decision as like you say I wouldn't want to take her out of that, unless the friends she had were the ones moving to the independent anyway

@letsgoskiing I know they do lots of fundraising, but they don't charge fees beyond cleaning, lunch and I think forest school sessions.

@TheaBrandt yes both in the village, one at one end of the road and one at the other. The independent is arguably more involved with the village community I would say with lots of fundraising and involvement in local fetes etc

So how do they pay their teachers? What's the risk of them going bust? What school is it?

The independent school doesn't sound like any independent school I've ever known. If they don't charge fees how can they be viable?

I would put her in the state school and leave her there, the having to move her at 5 would be a huge unnecessary upheaval.

I'm also very intrigued to know which school the independent is because the lack of any actual fees seem bonkers.

I don't know how they pay them really, they have trustees so they may pay to support the school. There's only 15 kids in the school but they're moving to a bigger site, all in the village, which is an eco school and they've been going for 10 years so not big risk of going bust I would say

There's only 15 kids in the school

15 in the whole school! Honestly I'd avoid it like the plague! It sounds incredibly claustrophobic and at risk of closing its doors at any point with no notice.

What are the hours at the independent? Where I live, it’s 7.45am until 4.45pm (before clubs), which is too long a day for DS. They also give homework from the start.

Yeah that's my biggest concern I think, although they will be on the larger site when my daughter goes but don't know how many kids that will be going up to. They also then all end up in the very very large state secondary in the next town so a very big shock to the system

That sounds like a very unstable school and significant risk of going bankrupt. Look up their finances on the charity commission website before you make any decisions.

15 kids in the school! God no way. Due to my poor sisters experience no girl of mine is ever being in a class with fewer than 10 other girls in it. No way.

How many children get taken into the Academy State School? I'm just wondering if it just sounds big in comparison to 15 at the Independent?

I'm sure visiting them will make it very clear to you which you prefer.

For what its worth I would go with the state school, sounds much more fun and diverse for your child, with more opporutnies for them to find friends.

The independent sounds really, really strange. Have you looked it up on companies house/charity commission to try to work out how on earth they’re paying their teachers?

Not to mention 15 kids of mixed ages sounds terrible for friendships- we’re actually moving our kids from a school with 15 per year group to a larger school as have found it lovely in early years but as they get older it’s bad for sports and friendships, friendships being the biggie since our eldest is also on the worse end of a heavily skewed gender split. I couldn’t imagine just 15 kids total! Sounds more like those study pods people were doing during covid than a real school.

I’d also be astonished if they could survive the labour proposed VAT if that comes in. So main primary all the way, especially as presumably she’d have to go there for reception anyway, another really strange feature of the private school. If she settles well and makes friends at the state school then I wouldn’t upend all that for what sounds like an inferior and less stable offering.

@saywh4tnow I think on average about 20-25 kids per class in the primary. Im seeing the pre school there tomorrow so will get a good feel for the place hopefully ☺️

Thanks all, lots of sage advice and lots of things I hadn't considered. As much as I love the premise of the curriculum in the independent I think for her, socially especially, the main school will probably be the best route and keeps her a bit constant with a good crowd to hopefully head into secondary with. When I attend the independent open day I'll feed back on here just to let you all know what I find out 😂

I wouldn’t touch the independent with a bargepole.

I’m not anti small schools- DD’s reception class this Sept will have 5 kids (at the moment at least) and the school is 60-70 total up to Year 6. But 15 is too small and it all sounds a bit iffy.

I do definitely believe in “feels” though. We had a choice of 3 excellent schools, all small, and the one we went for is aesthetically the least attractive but had the loveliest feel and a great head.

I voted independent on your original description but after hearing it only has 15 kids then unless that would suit her for some reason them definitely the larger school. From your description of her then I think she'd do better with a bigher premisis and more choice of friends and it will be less of a shock moving to secondary.

Is it actually a proper school? As on properly registered etc? It sounds more like someone's hobby...

Your normal State school school sounds small too, compared with urban schools. Our village school has 60 children per year!

I am of the bigger the better view - minimim two forms per year was my criteria . Tiny schools make me shudder. If you don’t get on with your peers you are stuck with them for 7 flipping years which can be utterly miserable and claustrophobic. A lot to be said for deep friendship pools..