Anyone thinking of sending your kids to private school?

[fullyautomatix]

We did this recently. The school in the area we are living had a "Good" rating. The school in the area we want to move to had one school with Outstanding rating and it was a church school which meant parents attending church had priority.

So we had to get a house within .4 miles to have a chance if at all and there was no property in that range for sale for months. Finally decided to move house near a private school instead. Costs 2K per term and we can afford it but more than that, there is the satisfaction knowing you have done your best for the kid.

[Lumiere]

Mine is in prep, the fees are around £10k a year which is quite manageable for a few years. The alternative was an average local public school.

Didn't want to move the house as it would be roughly the same, taking into account selling fees and stamp duty, but definitely much more hassle.

The plans are to try to get him to a good grammar school at 11, would the move still be a disaster as someone said earlier ?

[mudskipper]

Mine is in prep, the fees are around £10k a year which is quite manageable for a few years. The alternative was an average local public school.
The plans are to try to get him to a good grammar school at 11, would the move still be a disaster as someone said earlier ?

Depends on the school. My lad goes to a so called super-selective grammar in an area where there aren't many grammars, so very stiff competition. Probably more than half the boys have come from private schools. If you're in an area (like Kent) where there are still lots of grammars, you'll probably find fewer kids from the private sector.

[Zero Liability]

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

At least he looks good for his age. Can't say I blame him, quite a few of the people who read the Mail probably qualify in the "too stupid" category, anyway. Pays to check who you're replying to, but I doubt he has had any existential crisis over what he did, considering that soullessness is a prerequisite to be a recruitment agent. I'm sure there's many estate agencies where he would be considered a paragon of professional ethics and etiquette all the same. Whatever people say of recruiters, I find estate agents tend to be far stupider on average.

[DodgyAgent]

At least he looks good for his age. Can't say I blame him, quite a few of the people who read the Mail probably qualify in the "too stupid" category, anyway. Pays to check who you're replying to, but I doubt he has had any existential crisis over what he did, considering that soullessness is a prerequisite to be a recruitment agent. I'm sure there's many estate agencies where he would be considered a paragon of professional ethics and etiquette all the same. Whatever people say of recruiters, I find estate agents tend to be far stupider on average.

Whilst I totally accept the consensus of stereotyping of recruitment consultants and estate agents there is a refreshing "know where you stand" honesty about the games they play. What we get up to however is nothing compared to the sales and business tactics of the large corporates that you guys work for. The difference being that these companies are much more sophisticated at conning us and the stakes are considerably higher

[d000hg]

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.

Special measures can be a good thing as it attracts lots of funding and support to fix things - and 3 years is a long time. But, do you have to send them to the nearest school, can't you choose these days?

Moving isn't a bad shout, with so much time to plan.

That's what we are doing, daughter is starting at the local Montessori in two weeks, mainly due to lack of decent state schools around here. The good one has a catchment area about about 500 metres, such is the demand.

Matt

Some (maybe lots) of state schools employ such methodologies such as Montessori, forest school, etc, etc. It's much more about the individual school than the methodology they use, just as in software development where good developers will do well using any methodology and bad ones will stuff up no matter how agile they try to be!

[cailin maith]

Mine is in prep, the fees are around £10k a year which is quite manageable for a few years. The alternative was an average local public school.

Didn't want to move the house as it would be roughly the same, taking into account selling fees and stamp duty, but definitely much more hassle.

The plans are to try to get him to a good grammar school at 11, would the move still be a disaster as someone said earlier ?

I suppose 10k isn't so bad if you've already been spending close to that on nursery fees every month.

[scooterscot]

I suppose 10k isn't so bad if you've already been spending close to that on nursery fees every month.

£10k a month on nursery fees

Packing up contracting, opening a daycare centre this afternoon.

[Uncle Albert]

I suppose 10k isn't so bad if you've already been spending close to that on nursery fees every month.

You're spending 10K a month on nursery fees?

[TheFaQQer]

£10k a month on nursery fees

Packing up contracting, opening a daycare centre this afternoon.

This!