Are private schools still worth it?

[NeedyRubySheep]

We moved to Camberley, Surrey at the beginning of the school year, my 10-year-old is starting Y6 in September (state school). We´ve started to evaluate the choices for Y7 and are very much on the fence regarding state or private school. Based on your experience, do private schools still provide "an edge". The price tag is so big, that we are wondering if it´s worth it.
We are considering Wellington prep college, Hurst Lodge and LVS Ascot, any parents with children there?

For state school it´s definitely Tomlinscote, which is rated as outstanding. Any parents with children there? My kid had a tough time leaving his friends in his previous school, he doesn´t want to start over again in year 7 and most kids in his school will go probably continue at Tomlinscote.
We are getting so anxious about the decision.
Thank you!

What do you mean by 'an edge'?

It depends on so many factors.

some private schools are immense. Some are rubbish.
some state schools are immense. Some are rubbish.

it depends on what it’s worth to you

I just mean more attention by having a smaller class, perhaps better grades as a result, and better chances of getting into a good uni. I realise it depents a lot on the child as well, but it might help. I was so academically driven, perhaps that won’t be my kids but I want to do everything in my power to allow them to thrive if they are.

better chances of getting into a good uni

A level exams are the same for all students, so no great advantage there

My DC has been in state up until now and is going private for 13+. State has been fantastic and if it wasn’t for the extra curricular for them at the private school in terms of performance sports offer they would be staying at their state school because tge school from an academic point of view is very good. That said the next 5 years are crucial for teenagers and I honestly believe the best place for DC is private in terms of balancing academics/extra-curricular/social - we will only truly know whether or not it’s worth it in a a couple of years. DCs academic trajectory at his current state secondary for GCSEs are grade 7s based are performance over the last two years - DC is tested at the end of every term with end of year exams in June. State definitely makes them resilient in terms of staying focused as unfortunately in none streamed subjects there are a fair number of disruptive DCs. What it has shown us as parents is the depth of character of our DC and their desire to do well. Hope this is of help OP.

Yes.

Tomlinscote doesn't have a sixth form (as is common with lots of state schools in the area). Farnborough sixth form college is outstanding, your ds will get an excellent sixth form education and support to achieve well in higher education. Think of all the money you will save to then pay for uni.

Our experience of an independent school wasn't the greatest example of optimum private education. I won't out the school because it's in a different area from where you are and it's got a different head now.

What I will say is, think very carefully about what each setting offers, what it's good at and if it sounds like it will suit your child/children. Look at areas like how much time they spend on the sports field, their results and the breadth of subjects offered. Small class sizes aren't everything. The most academic private school here has 26 in most classes, the best state has 30. If your child is doing a less popular GCSE option the class at the state school might even be smaller than the private school one. More people to bounce off can be better. A good state school trumps a private school on most levels.

The prep our DC was at was award winning. All the investment went to sports first, the classrooms were really scruffy. When we switched, the maths they had been doing was way behind the local state school. The trips they went on at the private school and the activities and project work they did had remained same since anyone could remember. The state school trips were much better, the activities were more challenging and there were no teachers pets or mysterious high academic 'attainment' awards applied without any foundation in truth but with much inevitability to sporty kids.

Yes if the private is a good one.

What is the difference in exam results of state vs the private you are looking at? This was what we looked at and we stuck with state as there was minimal difference in grades.

It very much depends on the school. If your DC can get into one of the very top academically selective private schools then it is absolutely worth doing. If it is a run of the mill school with a less restrictive admissions process then I rarely think it’s worth it now that Labour has made them far more expensive.

Not in my experience, not if your kid is going to an outstanding comp. My kids are 18 and 21 and went to comps with good progress 8 etc. Some of their friends went to academic privates with an 11+ test to get in. In terms of exam results I've not seen a massive difference between the 2 groups and all of them ended up going to their first choice universities.

I think a kid will probably have an easier time getting the results in a private school though.

Depends on the school! The 3 private schools you mention are very different from each other. I’d probably have different answers to your question for different schools.

Oh dear 😅 we´ve only started to research and register for the open mornings this week. I´ve now also included Lord Wandsworth to the mix, because I read good things on a different thread. We´ll go visit all and do some proper analysis. I´m quite confused as I did not grow up in the UK. School processes, GCSE, A-Levels are all unknown to me. DH went to boarding school from age 13, the concept is so odd to me, definitely not for my kids, and although he loved it and sees some benefits, he´s not so convinced about private.
I went to both, state and private back home and without a doubt the move to private was the best thing my parents could have done.
Thank you for your insights.

The additional cost from VAT is certainly on our mind! Thanks for the information regarding the process.

Thank you, I´ll write down questions for when we do the open day visits, so many things to consider.

Thanks! I was wondering about sixth form. We are factoring the cost for sure. I´m pondering if it´s best to continue with state and do tutoring if needed, and we could cover all the sports clubs and extra curriculum activities.

OP, you have moved to a good area, settle into the primary school and see where is takes you, you may be pleasantly surprised. Surrey has the highest percentage of pupils in private school in England - 20%, but it is also one of the hardest hit by the vat on fees so the percentage of parents considering a private route at 11 at your primary school will be smaller than before 2025.

Come on OP. Smaller class sizes - yeah but then can have more kids with needs put there by the council or parents who knew mainstream wasn’t for them. Our local state has academic clinics in case kids fall behind

Better grades? Well the ones near us are compatible for A level results.

Better facilities - nope the three around us don’t have facilities our local state does.

And edge to uni? Nope, sometimes it can go the other way. Otherwise it would bias private schools which it isn’t allowed to do (anymore).

Experiences? I have no idea what the local private schools do. Offered at out local state - ski trip to Italy, Spanish trip, French trip, German trip, Greece trip and Costa Rica and then local trips including a STEM day at Cambridge.

Have I ever hired someone in business because they went to private? Nope.

I have been to both and we can easily afford it and I wouldn’t waste the money. What if your kid doesn’t want to go to uni or wants to do something that an expensive education isn’t needed for? I work with someone who spent close to £450k and her kid wanted to be a physio. Great career and he’s doing well but really didn’t need his very expensive education to do that.

Save your money. Have amazing adventures and holidays. Give your kid awesome things to remember.

But completely understand this is my opinion and others eill be positive the other way. I would visit all of them and see how you feel. Research grades. Ask about tutoring etc.

I don't know how competitive those schools are but 11+ exams will be in the first term of year 6 and you are fairly late to start prepping, IME of a competitive Surrey school.

LVS Ascot is the least competitive school in Surrey / Berkshire, it has no entrance exam.

The difference between average private schools and highly selective academic private schools is huge.

No state school will produce anywhere near the same exam results as the top highly selective private schools.

Those schools are of course very hard to get into. They make grammar entry look like a breeze.

Agreed. I mean a Harrow or Eton isn’t the same as the local private schools which are more a dime a dozen and frankly will
take almost anyone.

Grammar schools are a whole other thing ….feel very lucky I don’t live in a grammar area.

Absolutely it's worth it.

But the real worth of private school comes not in exam grades, nor even in university offers, but rather years down the track in a professional environment when the work ethic, confidence and soft skills instilled by private schools enable their alumni to rise above their state-educated peers.

Academically, I don't think there's much in it between the sectors. A clever kid will do well academically almost anywhere. It's the other stuff - the soft skills, the resilience, and the confidence - that stand to private school kids in the long-term. And in most professions, it's these soft skills - not raw brainpower - that matter most in the long run.

As a friend of mine recently said admiringly of her boys who are now working like Trojans from dawn to dusk in the City, they just find it normal to put the hours in, because that's what school was always like for them. In my region, the average state primary will run from something like 9am to 3.30pm, with some ropey after-school club sketched on for a few more hours of doing not very much. Most of the local Prep schools, in contrast, will run from something like 8.15am to 5.15pm, with further clubs and co-curricular activities scheduled even after that. It's a totally different world. The kids are constantly active and engaged.

If you can afford it, or even semi-afford it, absolutely go for it.

(Caveat: there are, of course, bad private schools and great state schools - I'm talking in the round).

I blame independent schools for letting their fees get so high - the private school I went to 25 years ago (which I loved) has put their fees up by what adds up to more than twice the rate of inflation since I was there BEFORE the vat was even added. The change in fees over that period equates to more than twice the rate of average UK wage growth over that period too. They’ve built a fancy new swimming pool and hall, but to my mind that was completely unnecessary (there was a leisure centre 5 minutes walk from the school anyway) and class sizes are no different. I see the same pattern of fee increases across all the local private schools in that period since the late 1990s. Now naturally fewer people can afford the fees, they’ve got less of a pool of pupils to draw on and more of a sense of instability about their futures and it makes for a less attractive school offer, coming at a higher price.

I taught in a very well regarded independent school for ten years too. It was a lovely place but the kids that were excelling were the ones with supportive, academic parents, who I suspect would have done as well in a good state school. max class size was 24 vs 30 in state. The extra curricular offer was amazing too but the school thought nothing of pupils missing lessons to go to sports matches or extracurricular trips and I often felt it had an impact on their academic progress.

I haven’t ruled out private secondary for my children but I see it as a very different cost-benefit calculation to the one my parents were making in the 1990s/ early 2000s.