Private to State Primary

[aroundthetable]

Because of the VAT and recent fees hike we are planning to move our daughter (currently in Year 1) from a small private primary school to a state primary. We've recently put her name down at a couple of options locally, which are rated 'good' in Ofsted reports.

Our son is at a private secondary and is currently in Year 10, so we've decided to keep him there. We can afford one set of fees but not two, with all the recent increases. And with their large age gap, we can afford fees for both for secondary as it will be one in and one out.

Having not had any children in the state system before, I was wondering if anyone has been through a similar transition at this age? Any tips? We're worried about our daughter falling behind with reading, writing and maths. Our son was at a private primary and did well there without any additional tutoring just practising with past papers on his own for about 6 months. He gained a place at a competitive London secondary at 11+.

Our plan so far is to do a couple of extra curricular things with our daughter outside of school (drama + music). Should we also think about some tutoring? And in what year? Perhaps Year 2 or 3 is a good age to start? We don't want to be overly pushy and take the enthusiasm our kid currently has out of her but also don't want to be complacent as we appreciate the class size is going to much bigger.

All state schools are different so hard to say which bits she will need extra support on. Keep up with sports in clubs, consider tutoring as she gets older.

I have taught in both state and private primary schools and there is no golden standard to either. Each should be judged independently. I have been impressed with the standards in both sectors with friends that have their children in both state and independent.
As well as each school being unique, so is each child, and just because someone is in an independent school doesn't mean they will be above average at everything!
I'm sure your daughter will do well if she moves, then at parent meetings or end of year reports, you'll be able to gauge if she needs any additional support. 😃

@ItWasTheBabycham and @MyTwoDads Thanks - yes, good idea to see how she will get on. We're keen to ensure that she has an all round education between home and school. You're right that it depends on the school - there were certainly some gaps with the private school too and our son who went there all the way through did lots of activities etc outside of school.

Will see how it is as we go along and keep up with our daughter's current interests + hobbies. She's very social and outgoing so I think that she'll be able to form new friendships with the change of school.

Our DS is in yr 6 at a "Good" state primary. It was requiring improvement when he started reception. He is exceeding expectations in all areas. We have just finished a year of tutoring and he was offered 2 places at independent schools, one of which we accepted. Our plan was state primary and then spend the money on secondary .

It depends on the child and the school. My ds who is quite bright and likes learning, went to a small rural state primary with an annual intake of 17. It was lovely for years R-4. Good facilities, big sports field and play ground. Good teachers. Year 5 was less so and year 6 was awful. The staff focused wholly on getting the weaker pupils through SATs by revisiting old material and ds was bored stupid.

By the summer of year 6 he was angry, miserable and frustrated. I should have moved him sooner.

He moved to a small independent in year 7 where he said he was about a year and a half behind. He did catch up though, and got 10 good GCSEs. He was much happier, and is now on track for three good stem a'levels this summer.

Keep an eye on your child's state of mind, encourage them to read and do lots of activities & science projects at home - weather, flora & fauna etc. Support their teachers wherever you can. Be ready to move them early if it isn't working. Hopefully you will be lucky.

One thing to bear in mind is that state schools are not allowed to keep a place open to fill when it is convenient to you. If a place comes up your daughter will be expected to start within a fortnight otherwise the bext child on the waiting list for that year group will get offered the place instead. If tge primary school is undersubscribed then you may have a little more leeway.

All advice above is great.

My DD went state primary then private secondary (competitive inner London).

We were told by tutors that state school kids are approx 2 years behind privately educated ones - I'm sure that's not universally true, but it was for ours.

What helped us was:

• starting "fun" tutoring in year 4, just writing stories and simple chatting about passages they read together
• playing Maths "games" online
• proper tutoring beginning year 5 on...
• using Bond books NVR and VR which she enjoyed as quizzes from quite early on
• doing some practice exams at centres... she hadn't had to do anything like it before

It all depends on your child, but yes, you'll probably need to invest a good chunk of time and tutoring, and be more pro-active as a parent so you can suss out how you think she's doing.

We moved our son from private to state after reception. He was fine.

DH is pro-private education and I favoured state, especially for primary, but was swayed by him into choosing a prep school. Although fees are not an issue, ultimately I didn’t feel comfortable with the prep for several reasons, including the bubble of privilege and the pressure placed on young children.

I am glad we moved. My son has local friends. There is much greater diversity amongst his peers. He is doing well academically, without being ranked against his classmates for the benefit of the parents. We are able to pursue his interests outside school and, as he gets older, we have the option to push him more or even move back to private if this feels appropriate.

You may be pleasantly surprised by state schools. They obviously teach reading, writing and maths - so there is no reason your daughter will suddenly fall behind. There are shortcomings in the state sector, but there are also many advantages over private schools, in my opinion.

My ds is at a Good state primary and it is excellent.

Things to watch out for:

• you will need to shadow what’s done in school and top up in any areas you feel need extra support. For ds in y1 and y2 that was about 20 mins of reading per day, spelling and handwriting practice several times a week, apps for learning tables, mental arithmetic practice and more spelling practice. Adding effort at home somewhat cancels out the impact of being in a big class at school and gets your dc used to homework too.
• Enrich at home. Regular library trips, music and sports lessons, learn chess, art and stem together
• enrol in drama class to bolster confidence and community skills
• the free meals in KS1 are very small portions so you may prefer to send packed lunch.

I genuinely see no point tutoring until year 4 earliest. You need to focus on reading (including comprehension), and also agility in maths - once dc becomes good at the basics they will often naturally want to learn more and you can then start teaching more interesting things like fractions and ratios and basic algebra in whatever contexts you can fabricate at home.

Than you so much - lots of useful tips here that I will use.

We're doing packed lunches... more because my kid has a big appetite!

The drama classes are a good idea and I have that on my radar as my daughter is very confident and outgoing which I hope stays the case... also she seems to love any drama they do at school.

Reading is an easy one for us as we are family of avid readers so it slots into the day naturally. Maths is where we need to be a bit more active and have started some maths games on our way to school but will look into apps and other games for this area.

Since I first posted in September, we were offered a place in mid September at a state school we liked. My daughter is now there - she's thriving and I am pleasantly surprised at how quickly she's learning new things in a new environment. The class size is much bigger (12 at previous school and now 30) but as she is very social and outgoing that has been fine so far. We have been volunteering as a family at the school a few times too and that's been a great way to get to know people and for our daughter to gain a sense of belonging as we didn't start in reception. There are a few things that are not ideal but they are small and there were different small things that I wasn't entirely happy with at the private primary too so overall we're glad to have made the move.

My DC went to a State Primary and it served them well, they went to Private Secondary and there was no knowledge gap, the main gap was sports and they soon caught up.
Your DD is moving to State early and I am sure she will be fine

So glad she's doing well OP

Lovely to read your update!

Not all kids at state schools are behind in reading, writing and maths you know.

Maybe have a tutor in the one or two years before in maths and English. She will need to do 11+ exam. I discovered my daughter was very behind when it came to actually preparing for exams. In her state primary most of the kids who wanted to do secondary at the local private schools - like you the parents could afford it for those years - didn’t actually pass the exams. This was London though and the day schools are incredibly competitive and in certain areas of London there aren’t many options for boys

My daughter went at y7 to a strong state school. The only difference between children who had been to the academically “strong” preps (and there were a lot moving at y7) was that the prep school kids knew how to tie a tie.

In my experience (teacher, mostly independent schools), you can make up the literacy at home in a highly literate family by reading together, lots of dinner table discussion, lots of exposure to culture, museums etc to build vocabulary. Much harder to make up the maths, though, so that's where I would invest in a tutor or something like Mathsnasium. It tends to be the maths letting state school applicants down for year 7 entry into the independent sector.

I think it depends on what you're comparing! If we compare internationally, most UK students are behind in maths. PISA Scores by Country 2026 . Certainly, the Ukranian children who've moved here in the last four years comment on how easy the maths is in UK schools.

I’m a teacher, was in state for years, now in private with 3 children in state schools. When I say behind, I’m talking about comparisons to other British children. Bright children in half decent state schools are doing well. My go to a good but not outstanding primary and every year, about 1/3-1/2 get to grammar school. In the private school where I work, many kids are there because they have additional needs that their parents felt weren’t being met in state school, so actually exam results are lower if anything. Obviously there are advantages to private school but it’s a myth that all private school kids are way above their state-educated peers.

My dd went to a ‘requires improvement’ primary school in a very deprived area. She got a bursary at 11 to a very selective school which is usually top 10/20 nationally. We did no tutoring at all or even any prep, she was up to speed with both Maths and English.

When she started year 7, she discovered that the prep school girls were ‘ahead’ in things like French (she hadn’t done any), Science and the creative subjects/sports. Her primary school had focused on Maths, English and RE. But it didn’t take long to catch up.

If we’d had the money, she’d have done some extra curricular stuff at primary but we only managed piano lessons and swimming. She wished she’d done dance and learned how to play netball! But subsequent years suggested those were never going to be her strong points 😂