Private School or East Ren School?

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I need some opinions. I have two children - Eldest P3 in August and youngest will be in P1 next year August. I would like to send my children to private schools but DH prefer to move to Newton Mearns/ Clarksto instead of sending our children to private schools. Private School or East Ren?

Totally depends on your finances. If I could send my kids to private school and still comfortably have a nice house, holidays and days out etc I'd do that. Moving to East Ren would be the most cost effective solution with multiple kids, so if money was tighter, I'd move. The likes of Williamwood, St Ninians and Mearns Castle are all very high achieving schools academically and you would be setting your kids up well education-wise sending them to any one of these.

My choice would be private as long as it is comfortable financially for the family. The ‘good school’ areas (speaking from experience) are only good because of the cohort but they are still state schools and can’t match the low class sizes, opportunities, facilities in general that a good private provides. We moved to a ‘good school area’ and have ended up going private as we were so underwhelmed with our local school. Lovely area, great families, teachers etc but school full to bursting, 33 in classes, portacabins in the playground, very little social/eating space due to numbers.

Private if money is not a factor. Other option is stay where you are and transfer to private for upper secondary - very normal to do this in Glasgow area. If you already lived in E Renf this would still be my answer.

If you're hoping to get the private school experience at an East Ren school you won't. They're still state schools with limited budgets and as the PP said many of them are full to bursting with big classes (probably twice the numbers in a class than at private) and increasingly a reduction in PSAs so even less chance of 1:1 attention if struggling.
You could argue that the exam results are in part due to parental expectation and the ability of many to pay for tutors for their children.

Given Swinney’s track record and indecision I’d opt for private if I had that decision to make. I live in Mearns and work in education so know the excellent schools first hand.

When you say you work in Education, would you be able to say exactly what the differences are in exam results? I’m having to fill in a freedom
Of information act form to get a breakdown of results. Only A-C passes are shown / what is the breakdown of children a roving A grade passes in 5 highers?

We made the same choice - except we moved to East Dunbartonshire for the schools rather than East Ren.

No it's not the same as private, but the state secondaries in Bearsden and Milngavie are pretty much the best you can get in the state sector. Brand new school buildings with good facilities, good head teachers, good teachers, on the whole.

Yes parents in our area are pushy and want their kids to achieve, and will question school decisions and challenge them. Especially over the last year. Yes some kids have tutors (my DD had one for maths) but not all by a long chalk. School put on extra revision sessions during the Easter holidays or after school to support kids who are struggling - and in my direct experience they are prioritising the kids who are hovering around the 50% mark and could go either way to push them into a solid pass rather than hot housing the able pupils to guarantee an A band 1 pass.

Loads of extra curricular stuff like debating, sport, D of E, drama. Active PTA and Parent Council.

Schools are full but once they're full that's it - no placing requests. Catchment children still get a place.

It all depends on your preferences. Personally we felt that choosing to move meant that we were investing in an asset (the house) which isn't going to lose value. The extra money we had to spend to live here is less than the costs of sending 3 kids private. More importantly though, it was about them having a good set of friends locally, within walking or cycling distance. I do have friends who send their kids private and their friends live all over the city, so they're constantly driving them all over the place.

Ultimately though each choice is equally valid and you have to make the decision based on your preferences and what works for your family.

I'm having a similar issue, except my DD is in S3. Do we move her to a 'better' state school or a private school? We loved the private school we visited and its probably going to be that option, although it is dearer.

I worked in 'good' schools in E Dunbartonshire and also in Williamwood. Regarding Williamwood - it is massive, with loads of kids and that made me uncomfortable.

E Dunbartonshire schools - Douglas was brilliant, Bearsden and the others not so much (I worked in them all - not a teacher).

We did look at Douglas for our DD and we got told no places, and even if we moved, still no guarantee of places as there is such high demand and lots of people moving just to go there.

So something to be aware of when moving to a 'better school' area. It might not actually guarantee a place.

Uma East Renf publishes its 5 Highers at A stat (or certainly used to). Last I checked it was around 13%. Comparative figure for Hutchie is around 40% (Academy and High School are similar with St A only slightly behind). If you delve into subject choice the difference is even starker and I think there may also be a difference in whether they were all achieved in one sitting.

If I had the money I would have sent mine to private even though it doesn't really fit with my socialist leanings. For me it's about other things than exam results that my DC might have benefitted from.

My two did go to a top state school though not East ren. One did better academically than the other though I'd say they are equally bright. I'd not blame the school for that though. They had some lovely teachers, some really competent teachers and some meh ones. I think teaching isn't necessarily different overall, leadership influences and parental support is where the difference happens imo. My friends DH teaches in one of the worst schools in Glasgow, he rarely has anyone pass above Nat4 but he loves it and the kids, he tutors privately and does well for his tutees.

They are both doing really well at university, anecdotally, East ren schools have a higher proportion of uni drop outs than average, not sure if there are stats on that, it is said that they are overly supported and struggle with independent study.

you got any links on the uni drop out thing @RedactedTaeFeck? That's interesting

I've not looked for any stats, it might all be anecdotal but I've read it mentioned on here quite a few times so maybe worth looking into. I would guess that drop outs at the bottom end of wealth might also be high just because of affordability.

Looking for a tutors for my 15yr old boy in National 5 Chemistry /English/Modies. Can anyone recommend anyone? It’s important for him to have face to face tutorials.

Hi,
looking for tutors in Chemistry/English/Modies (National 5)for my 15yr old son.Can anyway recommend anyone.It is important that the tutorials are face to face.

@Connor1973 you would be best to start your own thread instead of resurrecting zombie ones