If you work in an independent school...

[Chickpeaspices]

... do your children attend said school? Just looking for anecdotal experiences of pros and cons really. I teach PT in one and children attend very small local state primary but one is in Y6 so looking at secondary options. The most realistic and obvious state option is huge, good according to parents we know with kids there but not according to last year's Ofsted inspection, however new headteacher seems to be turning things around. At my smaller but with excellent local reputation independent school, I would say that there is about half of staff whose children attend. Obviously we get a discount but still expensive. On the one hand, would love to share the school experience with my kids and it would make family logistics easier, on the other I wonder whether they will be better off in a place where nobody knows them as so and so's child and mix with a larger pool of people at huge state but with much less extracurricular and enrichment opportunities. Any insights on your own experiences as teachers/staff in independent schools with children attending (or not) very welcome. I'm not looking for general opinions on independent vs state or advice on where to send my kids, thanks.

I think it's getting harder in terms of safeguarding and keeping a professional distance from students etc. If it's a small school then your child may end up having parties/ sleepovers with your students which would be a no from me, especially as they get older

But wouldn't you rather know their friends and what they were up to?

Not a teacher but 2 of My DDs friends were teachers at her Private school and 3 of DS's friends are too.
It doesn't cause any issues at all and they are treated just the same as everyone else

As a child of a teacher at secondary school I bloody HATED it.

Why?

My boys , 14 and 12 both go to the independent school I teach in and honestly it is brilliant. Plenty of staff kids here and never any issues - that said I haven't taught either as I teach maths and therefore we avoid it.

Because as a teenager your main aim is to separate yourself from your family - having a parent poking around in your space at your school was utterly mortifying.

Never been an
issue in the schools I worked in. The majority of staff had their children there, actually for many that was why they took the job.

To be fair mine was a state school maybe it is different at a private school. There were no upsides. Didn’t help that my dad was a high profile senior teacher who would do assemblies etc. My sister and I absolutely hated it. Was so jealous of friends with anonymous parents with normal jobs. Kids he had told off would come and seek me out for retribution. Fun times.

When I was at (Private) school one of my mates was the son of The Head, I think I actually went out with him for a bit
His Dad was awful and we all hated him but the family did seem to be able to navigate the whole thing pretty well, he had a daughetr the year below me as well and she was pretty popular from memory.
One of DD's close friends was a teacher who was known for being a bit scary and was also Head of Year, DD said it was weird calling her by her name when she was at their house and having a very different relationship with her at school but most Teachers seem pretty good at splitting home/school

I think if you're the only kid of a teacher it's harder, but if there's a critical mass then it's fine. My DCs school has plenty of kids of teachers so it's very normalised.