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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

constant battles on the subject of private versus state education, so why didnt anyone mention this before?

153 replies

vvvodka · 09/10/2009 13:05

dc just been put into private school. and they do games. lots and lots and lots and lots of games. and i dont have to scout around for decent footie, or karate or whatever, they just do it all at the school, coz the school organises it. he now does about six hundred percent more sport than he ever did in his ofsted outsdanding state school.

and he meets a bigger variety of people. more skin colours, more accents, more cultures, just more variety of everything. not just in his school, but also in the schools that they go off to play matches against and that come to their school to play matches with. in dc1's entire seven year career at the outstanding state primary, he never once met another childf rom another school in an event organised by the school.

so far, i am very very pleased with it. i just am surprised that no one ever mentioned it on the state versus private threads on here. or maybe they did, and i had tuned out at this point? or is ofsted fibbing about that particular state school being outstanding?

OP posts:

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Original poster

vvvodka · 09/10/2009 14:34

misis, not everyone has a bee in their bonnet the way you seem to. if you arent going to say something nice, then please dont bother.

OP posts:

seeker · 09/10/2009 14:35

"they think its normal to be so insular."

Just remember that however diverse the children at your private school appear they have one very important thing in common - money! Your children really really aren't meeting a wide range of people - they are meeting a lot of different coloured rich people!

Original poster

vvvodka · 09/10/2009 14:40

i have just deleted what i just wrote, but i was getting sucked into the private versus state debate there. and i have nodesire to go there

dc has just gone to a new school which i am much happier with than his previous one. i wanted to share that and thats it. i do not want to get involved in any general discussions.

OP posts:

thedolly · 09/10/2009 14:41

MollieO - My DDs music lessons outside of school = £160 per term (excellent and very experienced violin teacher). In school lessons = £200 per term. Just pointing out how difficult it is to generalise.

There is a debate as to what the point is of paying for smaller class sizes - a poor teacher is a poor teacher and all that.

I've never got the less constrained curriculum bit. The NC is a 'resource' as much as it is a constraint if it is 'applied' correctly.

The wrap around care provision is a big plus for some (and as such the state are attempting to address it).

Can you tell that I have just made the mental leap from private to state?

seeker · 09/10/2009 14:41

Well done you.

Can't quite see the point of posting though!

Ivykaty44 · 09/10/2009 15:26

seeker - my collegues dd goes to a private school she got there on a full scholarship and doesn't have any money (her mum earns the same low wage as I do) so no not all children at private and public schools have lots of money and some on scholarships will be very poor but very bright

seeker · 09/10/2009 16:28

Somebody will come along soon with the numbers of children at private school on full or near full scholarships. It's not high.

Rhubarb · 09/10/2009 16:30

Look, you got what you wanted for your children and I am sure you are very pleased about that.

But I don't see why you would want to post that on Mumsnet and yet state that you don't want to get into a private versus state debate.

What was your reason for posting then?

hatwoman · 09/10/2009 16:40

vvvodka - to answer your question (why don't people mention this?) - in large part it's because the debates (certainly the ones I've seen on here) about private vs state aren't about which is "better". They go much deeper than that - they are about the impact of private schools on our wider society, they are about the role of the state, the rights and responsibilities of parents, they're about the tension between equality and liberty. very very few people would deny that private schools have good sports and extra-curricular facilities (and so they blummen well should given how much they cost). to be honest it's a rather banal observation that adds little to serious debate about public v private. which is why people don;t mention it much.

motherinferior · 09/10/2009 16:45

Wot Hat said.

And frankly the idea of paying for Lots of Games makes my blood run cold anyway.

hatwoman · 09/10/2009 16:49

HELLO MI! haven't seen you around for EONS. hope all is well.

Fennel · 09/10/2009 16:49

I was just going to post almost exactly the same as MI

lots and lots and lots of team sports is something I'd go a long way to avoid.

Elibean · 09/10/2009 16:54

I think its absolutely true that so much depends on individual schools, both private and state. My dds' state primary offers far more diversity in sports/arts than my private one did, for example.

And some schools are great at offering sports (which I would have hated) and not at arts, and vice versa.

Sounds like a lesson in Not Getting Complacent for Schools, of whatever sort!

vvv, glad your ds is happier now, regardless of debates.

SomeGuy · 09/10/2009 16:55

I do think the OP has missed the point to a great extent. It's not a case of 'oh why didn't I try this before', as if you were switching from Persil to Ariel and suddenly finding your clothes came out sparkling white, but rather that private education is too expensive for I guess at least 80% of the country. Many of the people commenting will not have had the option, or if they did, only by sacrificing everything else, do pay for private education. You treat it like a very easy change.

Why not start a thread in Travel saying 'I've just flown to Sydney in business class darling, I can't believe people actually fly in pleb class'.

cory · 09/10/2009 17:28

what SomeGuy said

for the vast majority of the population, this is not something that you can resolve by spreading the word that private schools are wonderful: we can't have them anyway

but presumably you had some sort of inkling that this might happen, since you chose to pay for one; so don't really know what the new revelation is all about

Hullygully · 09/10/2009 17:32

You are all v welcome to hit me, but I do know what the OP means. Having been v anti private mine moved there a couple of years ago (scholarships) because they "wanted harder work" (weird but true)and I was astonished at the difference and did think, well, nobody told me that.

I would never have thought of posting anything like that, because frankly who cares, but just felt a bit sorry for her..

Runs very fast.

tattycoram · 09/10/2009 17:35

I agree with Someguy

And the argument that dcs mix with a greater range of children at private than at state schools drives me bananas. Not round my way they don't.

MintyCane · 09/10/2009 17:47

It sounds hideous and if they are out on playing field all day its no wonder they have to have so much homework.

MintyCane · 09/10/2009 17:48

I am trying to hit Hully but I can't run fast enough because I went to state school.

policywonk · 09/10/2009 17:50

LOL minty

Hullygully · 09/10/2009 17:59

Minty - yeah, but so did I so I have the nous to dodge you. My dc would probably think the silver hockeystick had fallen out of your mouth.

Hullygully · 09/10/2009 18:05

That last post sounded completely mad. I fear I've tied myself in knots with my irresolvable hypocrisy and will go away now and hit myself.

MintyCane · 09/10/2009 18:11

seeker · 09/10/2009 18:41

My favourite ever quote on the subject was someone who told me very seriously that there was huge social diversity at her children's private school "There are as many beat up old Volvos as Bentleys in the car park"

QueensShiling · 09/10/2009 18:44

vvodka - I'm with you, sport (and lots of it) is so important.

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