Please help me choose a school.

[whichschool]

DH and I disagreeing.

DD 1(11) is very bright and motivated to learn. DD2 (7) is bright but not quite as keen. She is quite easily led.

We could, with a bit of financial tweaking afford to send them to a good selective private school in town. They would have to go on public transport but our house is near the stop.

However, DH 'disagrees' with private education and wants to send DD1 to our local school.

It's not a bad school. It has a 57% A-C GCSE rate (incl maths and english) but it's catchment takes in a few areas of real deprivation with eg high teenage pregnancy rates.

I went to a rough school and I know that it can be tough being a clever child in this environment and this is why I would rather send them to the private school. On the other hand I still managed to do well and have a well paid job, which is DH's argument.
So, is it worth pushing this or should I just see how things go in the local school?

Sorry this is long.

Have you both visited both schools together? Never go by results, Ofsted and reputation (just bear them in mind as a pointer before you go). Visit on normal working day -see everything and have a list of questions.

It's a tricky choice and one we faced last year, with our DD1 who sounds just like yours. We opted to go private after much soul-searching. DD1 absolutely loves being in a environment with children all of a similar ability to her. She really appreciates the difference between that and the local comp and is thriving. On the other hand, we are feeling the pinch and 9k a year is VERY scarey!

I agree with Piscesmoon that you should visit the schools together - DD was very clear where she would be happiest and we decided, as we could manage it, it would be worth it for her to have a fantastic education.

Good luck with your decision.

Do bright very able kids actually get mixed that much with the least able and least ambitious kids? We ended up quite segregated in my experience, especially in later years.