Schools, private vs state?

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fredT

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My oldest is starting school this year and I'm doubting our decision..

To be honest I have been lazy on the subject and haven't put a whole lot of thought on it, as back home (Sweden) the system is very different and you just seem to go to the local school and that's about it.

Most of our friends are sending their kids to private school but I have previously written it off as more or less just snobbery. We looked at the local state schools and decided on a small catholic (wife is catholic) school that had a very warm family feeling, dismissing the local 'trendy' school and private schools.

Have I likely hampered the kids education, or was my initial instinct right that private schools is more or less badge snobbery?

Thanks,
Fred
 
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Schools have OFSTED published results - what do they say about the school of your choice?
 
Private,your kid would be taken in consideration more closely.Will learn more
When I we sent our eldest,after 4 years classes abroad we were rather shocked on education level in the Uk. Literally he was 2 years ahead with knowledge.
Schools are very different in Uk and it took us some time to get use to.Seems more like a all year holiday.
We study at home,weekends with him programmes from back home just to keep him focus
Yet in the end we decided to live in the Uk so will leave my opinions on this subject

If you can afford private, I wouldn't hesitate

Rgds
 
I think a private school will push the pupils to achieve all they can and from what I've seen the pupils do achieve more when it comes to results, my nephew started off in a private school which I think laid a good foundation and now he is in a local school going from strength to strength. My siblings, cousins and I went to local schools and apart from my bro and I who disliked the idea of same sex schools went on to the local gramma schools, in hindsight I should have gone to the gramma, where they would have pushed me on. All my friends were at the gramma school and got really good results. If I had the money I would put mine into private schools to start off and then off to gramma once at 11+ but looking at 30k per child.
 
It's a very good school by all accounts, and outstanding in ofsted reports (2011).

My concern is, would a private school be much better from the perspective that they will have more options later in life?
 
I'd rather be stupid and be at a private school than intelligent and be at a state school.

All about who you know and not necessarily what you know...
 
They teach better grammer (or is that gramma) in private schools.:D
 
Such a dilemma and one that thankfully we don't face in NI where the best primary schools are at least equal to the best prep schools.
 
It's a very good school by all accounts, and outstanding in ofsted reports (2011).

You've done well getting them into a good school - even where I live, rural Cheshire, the good village schools are rammed with kids being bussed all over the place.

My concern is, would a private school be much better from the perspective that they will have more options later in life?

Which university they go to is much more important. Being privately educated potentially could be more of a hindrance than a help. Uni's are always under pressure to favour state school kids and it must be pretty devasting to parents who've spent a fortune educating their kids only to feel they've lost out on a uni place to a kid from a state school.

That said, there's a popular and quite large private school near us and the local kids that go there seem more confident and out-going than the state school kids. They seem to be taught to an altogther different level.
 
I'd rather be stupid and be at a private school than intelligent and be at a state school.

I know that was tonque-in-cheek, but many private schools will ask kids to leave if they're "not benefitting from the education provided." They don't want kids who are going to pull their results down. Happened to the son of some friends of ours, and he was a top class sportsman, and they still wouldn't keep him.
 
All about who you know and not necessarily what you know...
This concerns me

That said, there's a popular and quite large private school near us and the local kids that go there seem more confident and out-going than the state school kids. They seem to be taught to an altogther different level.
and this.


However.. Can an "outstanding" school really be so far behind the private schools as to make a big difference when it comes to learning?
 
This concerns me


and this.


However.. Can an "outstanding" school really be so far behind the private schools as to make a big difference when it comes to learning?

I would suggest that attitudes at home are almost if not more important than the school attended. I would also suggest that when a large fee is being paid then the attitude at home will make sure that the results are going to be good.

A bad attitude at home will ruin any child no matter whether they go to private or state.
 
I would go private... but then again, that's how I was educated.

Consider looking at statistics for how people were educated... one I saw somewhere recently was about our MPs... Over one third (35%) of MPs elected for the 2010 Parliament attended fee-paying schools, which educate just 7% of the school population

IIRC, most PMs since the war came from the old boys club as well... it really is down to who you know and now what you know.

Then again, I am biased. The school I worked in never failed any students. If a student had failing grades, the on site psychologist would be called in, support teachers and tutors would get involved and the student would be coached back to a good grade. Then again, it was the second most expensive school in the UK... only Eton beat it...

M.
 
At the end of the day if the pupil WANTS to learn they will regardless of where they are placed to do said learning!

Tony.
 
Catholic schools tend to be better than state, better discipline. But if you can afford it go private. My wife has been a teacher in both types of school. The pupils in private schools in general, will come from better backgrounds have better educated parents and so tend to be better behaved. You do actually get what you pay for.
 
Catholic schools tend to be better than state, better discipline. But if you can afford it go private. My wife has been a teacher in both types of school. The pupils in private schools in general, will come from better backgrounds have better educated parents and so tend to be better behaved. You do actually get what you pay for.

What a load of ****.

Tony.
 

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