going private . . .

[DimPrawn]

Oh course they HAVE to where you live in the inner city, or little SAS will end up talking like a gangster innit?

Here's the young chap in his school uniform 'innit?

[Freamon]

Speaking as someone who knows quite a few teachers (some of whom have taught in both the state and private sector) I can tell you that:

• The standard of teaching in private schools is no better than the average state school (in fact some private schools are much poorer, using much less advanced teaching methods) - the reason private school kids get better grades is because the population is self-selecting (parents who are themselves smart enough to earn the cash to send the kids to private school)
• 90% of a kid's success depends on the parenting, mainly the interest the parent shows in helping their kids learn outside of school. The ones who do badly in school have parents who aren't interested in them, or are too busy with their own lives to be around for them. The ones who do really badly have alcoholic parents / suffer domestic violence.
• OFSTED inspections are worthless as they are just a measure of how well a school can "perform" on a given day, and do almost nothing to measure what a school is like on a day to day basis.
• Schools that get the best exam results do not necessarily give kids the best *education* as measured by their job prospects / wellbeing in later life, they are just good at teaching to the test.

[DimPrawn]

Speaking as someone who knows quite a few teachers (some of whom have taught in both the state and private sector) I can tell you that:

• The standard of teaching in private schools is no better than the average state school (in fact some private schools are much poorer, using much less advanced teaching methods) - the reason private school kids get better grades is because the population is self-selecting (parents who are themselves smart enough to earn the cash to send the kids to private school)
• 90% of a kid's success depends on the parenting, mainly the interest the parent shows in helping their kids learn outside of school. The ones who do badly in school have parents who aren't interested in them, or are too busy with their own lives to be around for them. The ones who do really badly have alcoholic parents / suffer domestic violence.
• OFSTED inspections are worthless as they are just a measure of how well a school can "perform" on a given day, and do almost nothing to measure what a school is like on a day to day basis.
• Schools that get the best exam results do not necessarily give kids the best *education* as measured by their job prospects / wellbeing in later life, they are just good at teaching to the test.

Best to stop worrying about it really. As long as they don't go to the worst schools, and you invest time in helping them, and they are happy at school, that's the main thing.

[Pogle]

Best to stop worrying about it really. As long as they don't go to the worst schools, and you invest time in helping them, and they are happy at school, that's the main thing.

Oh my God i've not been on 'ere in ages and the first thread I look at, I find myself agreeing with DP.
Have I fallen down one of those parallel dimension thingies again?

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Oh my God i've not been on 'ere in ages and the first thread I look at, I find myself agreeing with DP.
Have I fallen down one of those parallel dimension thingies again?

I was very worried that DP was talking sense and I agreed with him too.

[Pondlife]

Oh my God i've not been on 'ere in ages and the first thread I look at, I find myself agreeing with DP.
Have I fallen down one of those parallel dimension thingies again?

I was very worried that DP was talking sense and I agreed with him too.

We seem to have fallen down the rabbit hole here.

[Sockpuppet]

I went to the roughest of tulip holes that the state system has to offer but I still easy bust through the 6 digit earnings a year barrier at 28. Why? Because not learning wasn't an option in my parents house. Public schools are over rated, I've yet to meet someone from a public school who could be described as vastly smarter compared to myself.

Send her to a state school. Save the £6k a year and stick it into an interest account. That'll make a hell of a dent in any student debt and you can send her to any university you want to here or overseas. That is what will give her more options.

[DimPrawn]

I went to the roughest of tulip holes that the state system has to offer but I still easy bust through the 6 digit earnings a year barrier at 28. Why? Because not learning wasn't an option in my parents house. Public schools are over rated, I've yet to meet someone from a public school who could be described as vastly smarter compared to myself.

Send her to a state school. Save the £6k a year and stick it into an interest account. That'll make a hell of a dent in any student debt and you can send her to any university you want to here or overseas. That is what will give her more options.

Don't bother sending her to school at all, put the money into buying a house in Wandsworth, and by the time she is 21 she'll be a billionaire without ever doing a days work in her life.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Don't bother sending her to school at all, put the money into buying a house in Wandsworth, and by the time she is 21 she'll be a billionaire without ever doing a days work in her life.

That's more like it - DP back to normal.

[BlasterBates]

I seem to remember the only public (i.e. private) school kid in our subject at Uni kept failing his exams. Spoke with a posh accent though.