So IF you had tons of wong, would you send em private?

[Hullygully]

Enough wong that you barely noticed the outlay and could still have hols etc?

for primary - possibly
for secondary - almost certainly.

i would be one who would 'make sacrifices' even.

the only reason i wouldn't would be if the local state offering was definably better for that individual child.

No I wouldn't, afraid private health and education are not on for me. Am surprised to be in such a small minority

Mutt - as I said upthread (I think it was this thread) there are some people who are very insular in independent schools, but most are not like that. We watch the news, we have "normal" friends, my parents and sister are working class . DS is just a normal 12 year old boy - he plays on his x-box, listens to music, eats pizza, plays football and cricket and loads of other sports, he tells stupid jokes, he is just starting to like girls and get spots.....

I am a Child Protection officer in a school, I see some heart-breakingly awful things on a day-to-day basis - and if that is what you mean by "Real Life", then I am glad DS doesn't have to deal with that.

No, Mutt. You miss the point. People are saying they would choose a comp because that would give their child the opportunity to mix with children from all backgrounds.

I am saying that that is not necessarily an advantage.

well, DH's alma mater seems to have done him some huge favours in terms of quality of education even though it was in some ways much more thuggish than my local comp...(he was one of the thugs)..and not even that great in terms of independent school.

and without revisiting seekers recent thread, in actual fact you'd meet more different types at most independents than at the comp in the swamp down the road...no-one travels to get their children in that school, many travel to get them out....

the principle at stake is my duty as a parent to provide the education that will be best for my PFB. her happiness for her time in school. her longer-term prospects. my political beliefs are utterly irrelevant to this one.

OK Mutt - we'll have to agree to differ.

I was going to say McDonalds instead of Pizza, but you know what this lot are like about McDonalds!

I didn't say anything about private education being an advantage or disadvantage, Mutt. I said it is not necessarily a good thing to mix with all types of people.

FWIW, I think the individual school is more important than whether it is private or state. I have children at both.

Mutt, you say you would take a good state school over a private school - "good" being the operative word.

Hmmm. I have found myself in exactly this position - with an OH who works very long hours out of the country for 45weeks a year and who wants to spend some of this money on an education for DCx3 (5, 3 and 1)

Last week he visited and I checked if he still wanted to pay for them to go to school. It's a yes. The school takes them from yr3, so that's in just over a year's time.

I spent so long wondering whether private education was possible, and now it seems it is I am spending much of my time wondering whether just because we can, we should.

I disagree with the stuff about wanting DC to meet children from all backgrounds. I was state educated (as was OH) and I didn't meet children from all backgrounds. I met no one who was the child of a doctor, barrister, financier. I played with no one who was the child of a drug dealer, prostitute, blacksmith (to my knowledge). I think at private school, these parental occupations would be in evidence

Please try and convince me that spending my Wonga on private education is a Bad Thing. Because I am struggling to equate the principles of my 20s with the reality in my 30s.

captain IMVHO paying for education is neither a good thing nor a bad thing.

It is enirely subjective as to whether it is omehting that feel you need to spend money on.

Why would anyone choose a crap school?

In this case, "choose" is the operative word.

Do you think those professional parents would choose it if it didn't have such fantastic facilities or results?

Or would they choose the best school for their DC, regardless of whether it was state or private?

Are they choosing a comprehensive education, or "fantastic facilities and results"?

If money was no object, I would choose to send my DC to private school - and pay for a dozen bursaries for children from less wealthy backgrounds to even out the class mix.

I think I am more likely to have access to a good private school with wonga than I am this rarity of a truly classless state school.

Captain I like that idea.

Absolutely categorically not.

TOSN - what a shock!

Well, she did ask....

Depends on the kid and the school concerned. I don't do posh, but I do like a bit of anti-state monopoly from time to time. I don't see why the Government should claim the exclusive right to tell me what my kids need to know.

yes.