Independent schools v state

[purplerainbows88]

Hi all,
I am new here so forgive me if I breach any protocols!

I am starting to think about secondary schools for my DD who will be going into year 5 in September. I was state education and my DH went to independent schools throughout. He's anti independent! and I am undecided. I didn't have a great state school experience but I want to make the right choices for our DD. She's bright and artistic and very motivated so I wonder if we should be nurturing that in a smaller school with small class sizes OR saving our cash on the basis that she can thrive in most environments as long as she has nice friends and strong pastoral care.

Thoughts?

I think we need to be a little bit careful about statements regarding average/bit above average intelligence.

I have several properly award winning family members who went into areas like architecture, film, photography who are all dyslexic and were written off as average at the time in the state sector and then moved privately. I came to think that things have improved with regards to dyslexia in the last 20 years, but I increasingly hear that that is not the case anymore due to large class sizes and children with more severe needs requiring more teacher/TA input.

The truth of the matter is simply that some children develop later, that most large academic state schools assess intelligence quite narrowly. It is best to avoid sweeping statements. Many kids simply need a quieter environment to thrive as they process slower. That does not equal average intelligence. We just do not really know enough about the brain yet. I have 4 traditionally very academic kids who process quickly - does that mean they will be a success at uni? Not necessarily in any shape or form. They learn and memorise very quickly and score very highly in IQ tests. However, personality/attitude/work ethic all make a huge difference at uni. A top IQ child who puts in zero work and parties will not necessarily do as well as a more average child who has a fantastic work ethic and amazing revision skills which they developed from primary school age, precisely because they had to.

I think also think the state school landscape has changed a lot since Covid and advent of social media/smart phones and poor behaviour in young people.

A lot of the old research on attainment is simply already out of date, that even includes research on the importance of class sizes. If behaviour is worse and less attentive than 10 years ago then class size does matter more again. Coupled with less availability of experienced teaching, for example. So I always take these studies with a pinch of salt. Things have changed massively. State is and was absolutely fine for my DC, but we have seen a deterioration since Covid due to teacher shortages and a massive boom in private tuition/parents having to support more (and teachers somewhat relying on parents who can having to do that).

As someone who teaches in a state school, I don't think I can comment on how individual students cope at uni. I do imagine most schools try to teach independent study skills during sixth form, I was more thinking up to GCSE- although I'm sure there's a lot of pressure at some private schools to ensure students don't fail their A-levels!

I've never taught at university level- so I don't really know what happens at that stage. I do think this is why (in some cases) contextual offers for university have validity, even though I know some people on here don't support them.