Going Private.

[nyebevanshair]

Will have to make a decision about which secondary school to send DD to - 2019 start,

In the very lucky position of having the option of a very lovely private school for about 25% of usual cost (DH works there so gets a reduction and grandparents will help)

Local state schools are good, although are going through a chaotic reorganisation from 3 tier to 2 tier and as such DDs friendship group will scatter to 3 different schools.

Is this a no brainer. I think I'm over-analysing and am terrified of making the wrong choice.

If you can afford to, then do it.

I wouldn't hesitate in sending her to the private school, especially as your DH knows it and likes it.

Have had kids at nice state and private. Things the Indy does better in our experience:

Better food, more of it, better organised lunch times with sittings and staff eating in dining room.

Better healthcare, nurses fantastic at assessing and treating minor ailments (maybe because it’s boarding and day?). Local state can’t give a paracetamol.

Calmer. Calmer in class. Smaller school with more quiet spaces and calm activities at break and lunch (may not matter to your DD but great for my DC).

Better singing and music. The state school has great music groups too but relies more on teaching arranged by parents I think.

Exercise and sport- much more on offer for everyone and just more PE in the timetable.

Can teach off national curriculum.

Homework better planned and teachers reply to emails from DC if clarification needed.

Fewer supply teachers.

Loads of high quality clubs and activities. We are spending much less money on extracurricular stuff for DC in Indy than we did on DC in state.

We told our DS that he couldn’t go on expensive trips. He looked at website and noticed that few people go on the exotic trips. We just couldn’t afford expensive trips on top of fees whereas the DC that went to state did do school skiing etc. So far he doesn’t mind and there are plenty of families that have same approach as us.

If you can afford it and are confident that your financial circumstances won't change significantly / you have contingencies to avoid needing to transfer later then do it.

Do you have other children? Can you affoed to send multiple?

If affordability of private fees is dependant on the large staff discount, I would think very carefully about how happy your husband is to be tied there for the next 5+ years and whether his job is very secure.

Aside from that, just choose whichever you prefer as a fit for your child. It might be the private school, but won’t necessarilly be. View both schools with an open miand gake it from there.

View both schools with an open miand gake it from there.
Very true.
See what you get for your money.

A number of our parents openly looked at the local private and us. They decided that there wasn't much in it so why not keep the money for enrichment opportunities and send them to us. The parents openly said if they didn't get into us then the local independent would be it, but why spend that much money for such a comparable education.

Good advice. Will have a good look round all options before making a decision.

I would, if I could afford it (and I'm a socialist )

My DS were both totally let down by their schools. Primary wasn't too bad, but secondary was horrendous. No strong leadership, constant turnover of teachers, poor quality teaching. And this was a school with a good ofsted. No surprise they got a notice to improve at the end of last year, but too late for my DS.

If I could afford it, and had to do it over again, I'd be putting my DC future before my principles, unfortunately.

The education in a private school should be comparable if they follow the NC, but the wider education and confidence building available at a private school should be much better.

On top of boarding fees we paid out a King’s ransom for music, drama and dance lessons! Ours did do a lot of trips (I strongly support them and DD1 was a linguist) but fortunately neither DD were picked for the £3000 hockey trip!

If you cannot see a difference in the education, see a very broad range of activities on offer, high class music, drama and sport, to mention just a few things, don’t pay. What would you be paying for? If you see exciting teaching, well equipped classrooms and facilities, and plenty of activities and opportunities to gain a broad education, then paying about 25% is a bargain. Lots of teachers children get into their schools on reduced fees and obviously it’s a massive pay rise! Why would the teacher move on?

We chose to go state at 11 and have not regretted it al all. I value most that my DD goes to school with a cohort of kids which is representative of the world around us and not restricted by either ability or money. It’s sometimes not perfect and there are resource issues which I’m worried about but The school is committed to fighting for a good education for all of the kids and I value that over either my DD will come out with the extra 9 at GCSE - she is learning a lot of lessons oitsode the classroom on how to operate in a world which is full of people of all backgrounds. Of course you get some of that at private schools but as they are only accessible to those either with the money or the high ability they can never provide that kind of real mix. I have not regretted our decision. My DD and her friend’s do quite often articulate this feeling that somehow their school is not as good as the private next door - that is not from having any concrete data to make the comparison but more that our system somehow makes you feel and the kids feel that state is not quite good enough... which makes me all the more want to support our local school..

We have wondered about state vs private for two DCs at different times for both junior and senior. The cost element aside, our thoughts focused on the fit to our kids’ abilities and interests. We were shocked at the inadequacy of the curriculum in some of the smaller independents for example. Modern languages, computer science and academic focus. can all too easily take second place to waffle subjects, holistic lala and violent herd games. Our nearby comp has massively better offerings. Think about fit to needs above all.

View all schools, if you haven't seen enough on open day, ask to look around again. You may find some schools are better prepared, show more interest in your DD and perhaps suit her better. Will she have to do longer hours at the private school in later years, ie will she have to stay until 9pm for prep? This would mean a long day, but at the same time she'll have hours she'll have to do homework in and won't get distracted by what's going on at home.

As mentioned before, is your husband happy there and confident he'll be there in five years?

With regards to them attending school with a cohort that is representative of society my daughter attends an independent school and her fees are reduced by scholarship plus bursary. Whilst there are definitely off the scale wealthy girls there, there are plenty of girls from families that scrimp to afford fees that are heavily discounted by bursary.
A year ago we were devastated that DD received none of our preferred secondary schools but it has genuinely worked out for the best. She adores her school, is happy and has a lovely friendship group