Anyone thinking of sending your kids to private school?

[eek]

Some Church schools take non-Christians but you need to be clearly of a different religion i.e. Muslim, Sikh, Hindu not atheist.

They claim it's to increase diversity and more closely represent the local community especially if there are a few Church schools in the area.

Personally I think it's to increase their brain washing as even if your kids don't change religion unless the people are completely evil they will think of Christians as "good people" for the rest of their lives.

Current corporate policy for church schools are:

Catholic - look after they own and take other religious children on top if space.
CofE - community school with little special treatment. The school can (and will) give priority to children attending the local church but beyond that they will just take the nearest children...

I can dig up the policy review that resulted in the new CofE approach but its hidden in a lengthy document.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Anyone thinking of sending your kids to private school?

Will be 3 yrs before we have to make the choice - but a long expensive road if this choice is made. Local juniors is in 'special measures', so 3 years for them to turn around if not prep school for our little gorillas.

Mini nwp2c starts private school this week. It's expensive but it is by far the best school in the region. If we had an outstanding primary school available then we would take that but putting him in sub standard schooling doesn't really seem to be an option.... Currently I am paying for it but hopefully wife can start working in a year or so and cover the costs of schooling leaving me to take care of everything else.

[ZARDOZ]

My two-penneth.

If you live somewhere will poor schools you may have no choice.

But, in general, a good state primary will make little difference over a independent with the caveat being...

State schools can fail kids that are either exceptionally gifted or are bellow average.


Find a state primary with an outstanding ofstead report (Grade 1) or one that is outstanding in some areas and is on the up (overall Grade 2 with some Grade 1s). Ideally one that feeds into an outstanding or very good secondary.
If the class sizes are small, even better. Consider moving if needs be. Much easier to find such schools in rural areas.

There is one other caveat. The "who you know" maxim applies with some Private schools. I know of friends who went to Independents who got good jobs because of the old school tie. This was useful in one case for a chap who wasn't academically gifted, if he had gone a state school (or a lowly Independent) he would be stacking shelves in Tesco.

[ChimpMaster]

We thought about this for years. And we wasted years by not putting our kids in private school - a guilt I still feel today.

If your kid is bright and has potential then you should do the utmost to cultivate that ability and let them reach the peak of their potential. If you can afford private schooling, and it is better for your child than the local government funded schools - then go for it - why wouldn't you?

At first our plan was to keep the kids in the local school and provide private tuition when needed, topped up with '11+' training when the time is right. The local school is good - not Outstanding - but still good, but not good enough for kids who want to excel and who can excel. Government funded schools have a duty to educate students to a general level, and so long as the brightest are 'OK' the teachers will expend most of their effort on those that struggle, to bring them up to a minimum standard. The smartest kids will not be challenged, they will not be pushed.

This is where we eventually felt let down, so we have this year taken our eldest out of the local school and opted for a good private school. Yes, the fees will hurt, and they will hurt even more when we will send our other kids to the same private school soon, but the rewards and joy I will feel through their education will more than compensate.

I would never want my kids to grow up and feel that we let them down by not giving them the best opportunities within our power.

[scooterscot]

It would be good to get some idea of fees with respect to income. A ratio of sorts. I see all sorts of numbers being flung around.

Currently our international school here in Munich, of which they are two, one is more footballers children whist the other a slightly better reputation.

Costs start around €10k a year anyway. But I know come the time we might be in the same situation as other expats and consider a move back to the UK instead. No to keen on that.

[DodgyAgent]

We thought about this for years. And we wasted years by not putting our kids in private school - a guilt I still feel today.

If your kid is bright and has potential then you should do the utmost to cultivate that ability and let them reach the peak of their potential. If you can afford private schooling, and it is better for your child than the local government funded schools - then go for it - why wouldn't you?

At first our plan was to keep the kids in the local school and provide private tuition when needed, topped up with '11+' training when the time is right. The local school is good - not Outstanding - but still good, but not good enough for kids who want to excel and who can excel. Government funded schools have a duty to educate students to a general level, and so long as the brightest are 'OK' the teachers will expend most of their effort on those that struggle, to bring them up to a minimum standard. The smartest kids will not be challenged, they will not be pushed.

This is where we eventually felt let down, so we have this year taken our eldest out of the local school and opted for a good private school. Yes, the fees will hurt, and they will hurt even more when we will send our other kids to the same private school soon, but the rewards and joy I will feel through their education will more than compensate.

I would never want my kids to grow up and feel that we let them down by not giving them the best opportunities within our power.

The problem is what if your children are not bright? Are they therefore less deserving of a decent education? If anything they need an even better system that will find and bring out the things that they are good at and enjoy and make the best out of whatever academic prowess they have.

Government funded schools have a duty to educate our children to the highest possible standards and we should not tolerate anything less. we should not allow ourselves to accept low standards just because they are delivered via the public sector.

[scooterscot]

The problem is what if your children are not bright? .

I see a future in recruitment...

[DodgyAgent]

I see a future in recruitment...

I hate to admit it but a 2:2 at Oxford Brooks in business studies is a shoe in for recruitment

[JustinTime]

I hate to admit it but a 2:2 at Oxford Brooks in business studies is a shoe in for recruitment

Errr, I think that you'll find that that should be "shoo-in".

[DodgyAgent]

Errr, I think that you'll find that that should be "shoo-in".

And not too badly paid for thicko profession. However a lack of intellect does catch up occasionally:

Gary Chaplin email: £200k recruitment exec sacked for telling jobseekers to **** off | Mail Online