We can't decide!!

[gremlindolphin]

I wanted to look round a secondary school for dd1 and just know that it was the school for her but have ended up with two I like - both very different! DD likes both and isn't really bothered (although one served better choc brownies on open day!).

One mixed comprehensive state, large but with good house system so its a smaller pastoral unit, 10 mins away, some friends will go there, 54% A-Cs for GCSE and has a good inclusive feel to it.

The other is smaller mixed selective independent (she passed exam having failed 11+), 20 mins away, 1 friend already there, more traditional range of subjects, 100% A-Cs at GCSE, again good feel to it.

We can afford the fees. Dd is fairly quiet and enthusiastic, current head says she will do well anywhere as her attitude to everything is so good and she has us to support her. DD2 is following on 3 years behind.

I went to a comprehensive and did okay although I don't think it was probably the best school for me. Dh went to very lovely public school and thinks that if you can afford it you should pay for your children's education.

I'm in such a muddle as i can imagine her at either. I am not really sure how any one can help me but any words of wisdom appreciated!!

I agree with you DH- if you can afford it, go private. The GCSE data you quoted says it all -better results are had at the private school you looked into. Further, your very own experience tells you that your comprehensive probably wasn't the best choice for you, so why should it be for you DD? If you're considering how many of her friends will attend her school, that is irrelevant - she will make more friends where ever she attends. If you are considering the proximity, ie, 10 minutes vs 20, - that really shouldn't be a consideration, should it? Well...ultimately the decision is for your family to make, but in my opinion, the choice is clear. Best of luck to your DD whichever you choose!

Can you afford to send DD2 to the same indie? If you can't will this bother you? We have DCs at both. They were educated privately till 13 then one stayed in indie ed. and the other is at our excellent local comp. I knew nothing about state ed. and am surprised and pleased at how good it can be. I'm in my 40's my state ed was not that good then so font necessarily let your experience sway your decision.
Your head thinks your daughter will do well anywhere so it's down to personal choice; can you really afford it? Have you taken the extras into consideration? Will you have you sacrifice other things? If yes do you all want too? Be honest with your self some people like to send their DC's to private school because they think it looks good one friend hideous mother women I used to know liked the fussy uniform at her DC's prep "when Im in sainburys after school with my DC's it tells other people I have enough money to pay for education!"
Having paid for education for the last 12 yrs IME when it's really good it's marvellous and worth all the sacrifices we have to make when it's anything but really good it's can be frankly mediocre and unless your circumstances are complicated or you're absolutely loaded probably not worth it if you have a viable free option.

Private if you can really afford to do for for both.

State if not - you have no real reason to send the oldest privately from what you've said. It is possibly dd2 when her turn comes may " need" private education more eg need to be in a smaller school for fear of getting lost in a big school etc etc

The indie is selective so don't be fooled by their excellent gcse results - if ou only take kids working at level 5 in key stage 2 SATS and they don't get results like that you are failing them- the comp takes everyone- including learning difficulties/ no parental support etc.

same as above really, private sounds a good option for your quiet but enthusiastic dd but only if you can do it for your other child...and dont get unexpectedly pregnant with a third child like I did- 3x school fees = nervous breakdown ;-)

If you can afford it then I wouldn't hesitate to go for the private school. In my opinion 54% A-C isn't good enough when you have an alternative option. Our local comprehensive has 87% A-C which would be more along the lines of what I would be looking for if I were choosing between a comprehensive and a good independent.

we turned down private for state secondary but our school was 85%+ A-C. I wouldn't have gone for a comp that was only in mid 50s and I am not a pushy mother
IMO if money is not the issue then go private

The private one.

It sounds like your daughter will do well at either of them; however, the private school will most certainly have higher expectations of your daughter than the state one will, so she would do better at the private one than she would at the state on.

Only if she's happy with the underlying ethos. My DS1 never did well at his prep but is doing better than they ever predicted at his excellent state comp. He would have hated DS2 's highly selective independent boarding school being unable to comprehend or conform to their ethos/ work ethic.

Thank you so much for all your thoughts! It does help hearing from different people. x

What are you leaning to now OP? I have a similar predicament. My DC is working towards level 5 but has SEN and I think he may get lost in the local comp. I might have to sell my house to afford fees though

Um. It's 54% of all kids who pass GCSEs. Her child either will pass or won't.

Odds are her child will be in the top half of the school and therefore will pass.

You can now see on the league tables which % of level 5 kids passed their GCSEs. If the number was 90%+ I'd be happy.

You can also see which % of level 4 and level 3 kids passed. A far more interesting statistic.

I'd be very happy to send my child to a schoo where half the kids passed - if my child was doing well at school.

Private and state schools will teach your child different things. It all depends what you want them to learn......

Remember that some schools are still using the old system of where a GNVQ in Hairdressing is worth 5 GCSE league table points. I wouldn't touch any school with a 54% rate when you could afford to send her to a better school. It wouldn't even cross my mind.

Sorry to say but of figures and data aside, there are less likely to be disruptive pupils at the indie.

The ofsted "outstanding" comp across the road from me gets 64% A-C GCSEs but the horror stories I hear about the behaviour of the pupils there from DD's friends makes me glad we can afford to send her to an indie. Her school is mildly selective (middling to strong level 4s will usually get in fro year 7) but they still get 98% A-Cs with 70% Ato B grades.

The league tables are a real eye-opener. Thanks indigobell

It is the GCSE equivalents being included in the figures that makes it all confusing. It is difficult to separate it all out and find out the GCSE passes.

Look at the full league tables from the dcsf.

It states:
average point score per pupil (best 8) - all qualifications
average point score per pupil (best 8) - gcse only
average grade per qualification
average grade per gcse
average entries per pupil - all qualificaions
average entries per pupil - gcse only

all broken out by high attainers (level 5s), middle attainers (level 4s) and low attainers (level 3s)

should be enough info there for you to get a full picture of their results.

Although also their exact exam results should be available for you to download from the schools website.

I'm very happy that the school I've chosen does well by level 3, 4 and 5 kids. Because that was important to me.

Who is not to say the independent doesn't do well by Level 3,4,5? In fact it looks as it does exceptionally well for them.

Thanks Indigobell. I did see those figures and the one that interests me most is the average point score per pupil (best 8) - GCSE only. I would be interested if that figure was broken down further into high, low and middle attainers.

Collager - odds are an indep with 100% pass rate didn't accept any level 3 kids in the first place. (or sometimes they accept them, and then exclude them just before exams)

Migsy - the figure is broken down by attainers. Message me the name of the school if you want me to have a look for you.

Mmmm, how ridiculous IndigoBell. If that was the case then most independent schools would go under!

"I'm very happy that the school I've chosen does well by level 3, 4 and 5 kids. Because that was important to me."
IndigoBell I must be either completely stupid or just a rubbish uninterested parent because I haven't got the faintest idea what you talking about!! I don't know what a level 3,4 or 5 even is! Should this be be important to me? Why should this effect my choice of school?

Levels 3, 4 and 5 refer to year 6 SATS levels. Whilst parents may not understand what this means when looking at a schools' stats, I think it does reflect the overall ethos of a school - whether they write Level 3 kids off for instance, or really work with them to achieve the best results. So happygardening I'm sure you're not a rubbish parent just becuase you don't know what Levels 3, 4 or 5 mean, but equally I think Indigo is taking a very sensible approach to see what these stats actually mean - and yes I'd be much happier with a school that values their lower ability kids as much as the brighter ones.

Colleger I also think it's quite reasonable to assume that very few private schools have kids entering year 7 with Level 3s, given that Level 3 is considerably below average.

The other thing you may like to consider is that the comp should enter ALL their students for GCSEs (thus 54% may be good) and the indie may not enter those who won't get a C. You need to ask outright if the indie enters ALL the students for the exams or not, or doesn't let those who won't get the higher grades take them, and yes, this does happen.