are preps schools worth the money??

[Sallysue]

Are prep schools worth the money??
Has anyone experienced state and prep schools and can share there thoughts on the matter???

It depends on many things.. How good your local state schools are, whether you can envisage your child happy there. How well you could afford to send your child privately. What the private schools are like, what you plan to do at senior/secondary school level.

My DDs both went to state infant & junior schools and then onto private Senior school. Firstly because when they were younger I could not afford prep, but also because the state schools they went to were very good. My eldest DD was unhappy at the state secondary, so we moved her, and subsequently her younger sister to a private school.

DS is about to start at the state infant school - we could afford to send him privately, but like the infant school so he will go there. We will look at sending him to Prep at 7, even though the local state junior school is very good, primarily because there is a shortage of Boys' Senior Schools locally, and we want to maximise his choices, and the Prep will do that.

Advantage of a good Prep over a good State school tend to be smaller class sizes, and better facilities - whether it is worth paying the extra depends on how easy that is for you and how important you think those things are.

It depends entirely on the school and what your child wants from it.

There is no 'typical' prep school just as there is no 'typical' state school. There are good and bad, great and crap and all levels in between

Look at the school you have available and the decision may well make itself.

All you can possibly get here is the views of parents about their particular schools which speaks nothing to your situation

I think that is depends on the prep school that you would use, and the state school that you would otherwise use - if you have a good state school and a mediocre prep school then not worth in IMO, if it is the other way around then maybe.

Where I live the I believe that the catchment state primary is better than the private prep, so my children go to the state school (and they get to walk to school in the morning, and benefit from the community feel of the school).

Its not possible to answer this without knowing:

a) what the state option is like
b) how much of a financial sacrifice the prep school would be
c) how good the prep school is
d) other factors, eg how far both schools, after school activities etc

If you would like your child to go to an academic school when they are older and you feel that they:
are a bit quiet, need more individual attention from teachers, need things reiterated until they "get" them, need to be prodded to learn, then prep schools are worth it because you get smaller class sizes and more attention is paid to progress and the targets are stricter.

If your child is outgoing, well motivated, happy in groups, can work on their own and "get" things quickly then a prep school can't add much.

Prep schools are smaller and cleaner than a lot of state schools and generally better sports facilities I have noticed but I chose state school as our local one is excellent and DD is thriving. I have noticed some of the quieter children sort of fade away in a class of 30, but DD has no problems in coming forward and joining in but if she was a shrinking violet I would probably have chosen soemwhere with small classes so she got more attention.

I really depends what you are looking for. I was looking for no STATS testing, early exposure to lots of modern languages, daily sports, performing arts in the regular day and single sex education. None of which were avaliable in our local state primaries.
Though ours is probably not a true 'prep' school as it is not aiming to 'prepare' for 11 plus, it is part of a 3-18 school aiming for international Bacc.

As pagwatch so elegantly put it, there are no 'typical' models and all schools (state and prep) have to be seen to make any meaningful decision.

My daughter started at a pre-prep, but we moved her to a state school for reasons which may not be applicable in your situation.

It is also so dependent on the child - the prep schools around where we live are either very academic or have a reputation of being able to better accommodate those children with learning disabilities.

HTH

Ds started off in a state school, he did return for a term and a half (to a different school) but neither were able to meet his needs.
The prep school he went to had alot of children move to a state secondary but to be honest, I couldn't see the point. Most of them were so far ahead they would have found the first year or so boring. Mental maths/verbal reasoning are not needed in the local state secondaries but were taught at the prep school. I think it was more for children who sat the common entrance exam to go to private secondaries. The prep school was alot smaller, the children were ferried from all over though so ds wouldn't get to see any of his friends during the holidays or at weekends. We left when a new head took over, he was a bit of a loon who wanted 'easy children' IYKWIM. He was very religious aswell which caused endless problems for ds as he wants to question everything.

State secondaries don't need mental maths and verba, reasoning? Someone needs to tell the authors of the primary maths framework as it contains lots of both!

just out of interest lizcat - wehy did you want single sex at primary level? (sorry for hijack!)

Whether it is worth the money depends on how hard it is to find the money, if it is a struggle and requires many sacrifices then it may not be worth while. If you can afford it without noticing then you may as well. It depends on your local schools and what your child needs.

To be honest, I can't ever remember using mental maths or verbal reasoning at secondary school. In the state school ds was (briefly) at last year he didn't have these in his lessons.

The curriculum in secondary schools has changed massively in the past 5 years. You can't judge what happens now from your own education. I also find it hars to believe he had no mental maths. It wouldn't be done every lesson but never?! how do you know btw - did you secretly record all his lessons?

DS (11) did 3 years in the state system and has been at prep school for 4 years. As far as we are concerned it has been worth every penny; not only are their academic results very good but it is all the extras - music, outdoor club, much more sport, school plays. They also have lovely facilities.

However, there is another prep school in our town and I would not waste the money sending him there so it very much depends on each individual school

mnisooaddictive I wanted single sex, because my personal opinion is that girls do better in all girls education. IMO girls and boys learn differently and that teaching both boys and girls together particularly sciences can be very challenging. I will do everything in my power to keep her in single sex education till she is 16, I have even stipulated this in my will should I no longer be around to determine this.
My DD attends 8 weeks a year of supercamps with boys and gymnastics and swimming every weekend where both classes are majority boys so she gets lots of other exposure to boys.

wot jeffvadar said

It depends on what you want and whether the school you choose provides it.

My DD goes to a small prep school for girls and we love it for so many reasons. It is, for us, worth every single penny.

Thank you Lizcat, I wasn't criticising I was genuinely interested! Just being nosey I guess!

It depends on so many factors, for our daughters we considered prep to be a worthwhile investment, we wanted a good solid foundation and for them to progress to the local grammar schools which are excellent and will meet their individual needs.
For our son I think he will go to state primary to play in the sand/water and I'll do the majority of the teaching on a 1 to 1 basis which no school state or private can offer and then he will go to private senior school because the provision for boys isn't very good locally.