Private School Worth It?

[beantltc]

Would like to know an adult's opinion on private school and if you think it is worth the money compared to normal schools.

Yes. If you can afford it and it's a good school. No doubt.

It depends on the child, the school and the state alternatives. It’s really impossible to answer.

The problem is, if you or your children go to a given school (either state or private), it isn't possible to know what it would have been like if you'd made a different choice. So it's really hard to know whether private school is "worth the money". It does not necessarily mean that your child will get 5 A*s at A Level.

If you can afford it without a second thought yes. If you will struggle, no.

It depends - on the private school, on the state school, on the child, the family money situation and what you want for the child. We have some very good private schools and the money would be no problem but chose state because we have very good state schools, are pretty confident our children will do well in either and prefer a more mixed environment. So far we are happy with our choices - youngest starts secondary in September so will wait and see how that works out. Others would make different choices and they may well be the right ones for them.

Both my children went through state primary and are now at independent secondaries ( each child is at a different school from the other now).

It's definitely horses for courses. We tried our local state secondary for our DD; it has a great reputation locally, ranks high up in league tables etc but she has SEN and had a miserable year there. She is now at an all girls school and very happy. The pastoral care is excellent, the whole feeling of the school is much warmer etc. That said, not all the teaching is first class IMO; she has some excellent teachers and some less good.
My son is at a co-ed independent secondary. I believe it claims to increase student's outcomes in GCSEs by something like 0.6 of a grade, which I can believe because it is very hot on the academic side of school life. That suits my DS, who is bright and able but wouldn't suity DD.

Both schools offer lots of opportunities in things like sport, music and trips, which a state school probably couldn't in the same way.
For us, the whole package of both schools makes them more desirable than the state option, so we're very happy we chose to go private.

Given a child will do academically as well at a good comprehensive verses a private school, if you want to give them the best start in life... I think it would benefit them massively more to use your money on paying for university and a house deposit than on school fees.

A study in the guardian recently found that private schools improve children's attainment by one grade.

Not worth it in my opinion.

But the other things it gives you are - unshakable confidence, access to networks you wouldn't otherwise have and amazing facilities and opportunities for extra curricular activities.

I think some of these you can replicate yourself though with extra tuition, sports clubs etc.

Is it not more about the experience and the atmosphere than the grades?

It's definitely not about the grades for us. I would have been delighted to send DD to a good comp but we didn't get any of our choices. I can't say that our school is better than any state school but I will say we are beyond delighted with how well DD has settled in and is doing.
DD also participates in a sport at quite a high level and they also support this with giving her access to sporting facilities and understanding if prep is a day late due to competing.
DD has a scholarship but even the 50% fees are completely worth it to see her so happy, doing so well and she loves the fact it's a small school. We wouldn't take her out now but had she got a place at a great sporty comp we wouldn't have considered indi.

Great comps where we live, so not worth it IMO. Being in a big comp has worked really well for my DC and they have found their "tribes"

It all depends where you live!

I went to one ok private school and one horrendous one. I have taught at state schools and taught private school pupils.
If your state options are good, I would choose state and save the money for uni/house deposit.
Private school pupils get the contacts and many of them get an arrogance/confidence you may think beneficial for certain careers. The longer private school days suit working professionals. You won't get better teachers particularly. You may get a different kind of bullying - bullies with a lot of money and resources are very damaging. The pastoral care varies obviously but I had really good then nonexistent in my childhood. My children's large state school is okish. Unless you know you can easily afford it, it will may a difference to your lifestyle. Private schools may be under more pressure to get the grades and this pressure may be transferred on to pupils. I know of 2 parents who are very bitter that they 'wasted over £150k' on their child's education. Usually private school parents will recommend a private school as they don't want to have seen to have made a bad decision. State has worked well for my kids so far (first through GCSEs with ten As and above). My child's friends have mucked about and didn't fulfil their potential at state. One who went private buckled under the pressure and didn't do as well as expected. What I don't like at my children's state is they are hardly streamed which is not good when they could be stretched more.
My children are definately less spoonfed than at the local private school. I think this is why state school children do better overall later on at university.
as everyone else has said it depends on the child, the schools, the amount of disposable income you have. Good luck.

It depends on your secondary choices. Our local school is amazing but you have to be Catholic to get in. So we had little choice really. We didn't want to risk him going to an ok comp (he is intelligent but lazy and easily led!) Our other DS in all honesty would have suited the local comp and I am sure would've done very well there. So IMHO we are wasting money on him but we did it for fairness.

I would definitely send my DC to state school if they were good or outstanding then top up life's experiences with clubs and holidays.

I don’t think looking at studies and research on the subject is helpful as there are so many variables at play.

As other have pointed out some people have access to very good state secondaries while others do not. The state education system is a complete lottery. It also depends so much on the child. My dd is quite academic and loves school but she is a bit “quirky” and anxious, and so she would have been completely lost and unhappy at the state secondaries offered to us. She is very happy at the girls independent school she attends. Having said that, if sending her there would have required huge financial sacrifices then we probably would have considered other options (such as moving closer to a better state school).

As others have pointed out, the issue is not whether to go private or state but what your local options are. If you have a good -primary or secondary-state school on your doorstep , then don't waste your money. Its also generally easier to switch from state to private if things don't work out than the other way round ie if your local state school is way oversubscribed your DC will probably never get in whereas there is always a place at a private school somewhere , even in London. Indeed I have three or four friends who switched from state secondary to private in Year 7 and they all settled in really well in their private schools. Conversely I have known people who started in private schools and want to go state trapped as they didn't realise that they couldn't just waltz into their local state schools.

Sorry I should have said their DCs all settled in really well in their private schools rather than my friends as they are a bit too old..

What SoupDragon said...

But our experience:
Less worth it for highly academic, self-motivated kids who will probably end up doing well in exams anywhere
Less good for special educational needs, unless the school specialises in this area - provision is usually better in state.

As others have said, it may improve exam results by a grade. However DS (at top 30 independent school) has uni offers of AAA for Sept. If he'd gone to our local, outstanding 6th form college, would have got a contextual offer for the same course for ABB .

If you do it, do it for the small class sizes, extracurricular in sport, music, drama, debating etc. Don't assume it's an automatic ticket to 12A*s at GCSE and Oxbridge.

Agree with Wonderwine's post.
I would add that the most disapointed parents I have known are those who made huge financial sacrifices to move their DCs to Indys at 11+ instead of an oustanding local comp. It is5 years later when they are trailing around the same Unis as their state primary parents looking at the same courses to get higher offers that they start to wonder why they did it, particularly if a trickly adolescence meant that their DS has not performed as well at the chosen school as they would have expected. But I live in an area of very good state schools where friends DCs have done spectacularly well.
I still think preps are great though with their daily games afternoon and specialist coaching at a very young age, but I do have very sporty DCs.

I am surprised any Outstanding 6th form college students get contextual offers. These are usually reserved for the worst performing state schools that are unlikely to be outstanding.

There's a lot more wiggle room for state school applicants if you miss your offer. DS's school admit that they get tough offers and if you miss them by a grade that's it and that they are not so tough on state school applicants. They are quite open about it and I think it will become more widely acknowledged over the next few years.
And if being at an Indy is pushing your results up by 0.6 of a grade, fair enough.

Depends on the child, really. I think a non fee-paying grammar will be as good in many ways, and I know my mum wishes my brother had gone to the grammar my sis and I went to rather than going to the same private school as our dad, as she felt it was an equally good education.

That said, private school excel at giving a sense of confidence (some will say 'entitlement') for boys, although I find not so much for girls IMO.

I am surprised any Outstanding 6th form college students get contextual offers. These are usually reserved for the worst performing state schools that are unlikely to be outstanding

Me too - until I spotted Bristol University's Contextual Offer List for 2017/18 - including Balcarras, Barton Peverill, The Howard of Effingham, Kingsdale and Camden school for Girls under 'Aspiring Schools.' I know families with dc at 3 of those schools and they all live in homes worth over 1 million pounds - laughable really. Perhaps Bristol are regretting some of their previous contextual offers and making offers to much higher achievers on the sly? Or their data is wrong. Camden are boasting 74% of leavers to RG Unis on their website - why do they need contextual offers?

Clavinova - well spotted! And really annoying. I just checked their list and it's strange what schools they include and which ones they don't. Maybe it's how hard heads push to be on the list?

There are also private schools on the Bristol Contextual Offer list, btw.

re private schools on the list - that's just silly! I really wonder how Bristol chooses?