Really need a Plan B.....

[northernladuk]

Think very carefully before going down that route. Some good advice is buried in these threads:

http://forums.contractoruk.com/gener...er-school.html
http://forums.contractoruk.com/gener...ic-school.html
http://forums.contractoruk.com/gener...g-private.html

Indeed. Private schools don't guarantee a good future and nor do they replace good parenting. It sounds more like a fashion/lifestyle statement when banded around in comments like this.

It may actually be detrimental to scrape a living so they can go private and have to rub shoulders with the truly wealthy set round you.

I think a decision like that needs a lot more thought and research (and budgeting) than just being a throw away comment like that.

Personally I would keep that idea to yourself unless it comes off or else your mates will quietly laugh at you if it doesn't come off and you have to lower yourself to sending the kids to public schools

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Indeed. Private schools don't guarantee a good future and nor do they replace good parenting. It sounds more like a fashion/lifestyle statement when banded around in comments like this.

It may actually be detrimental to scrape a living so they can go private and have to rub shoulders with the truly wealthy set round you.

I think a decision like that needs a lot more thought and research (and budgeting) than just being a throw away comment like that.

Personally I would keep that idea to yourself unless it comes off or else your mates will quietly laugh at you if it doesn't come off and you have to lower yourself to sending the kids to public schools

We have had a lot of discussions about private school and ultimately decided that nothing less than the best would do for mini NWP2C. The state schools simply are not good enough and don't provide kids with the correct environment or education to go onto the best schools/unis. I would also avoid, at all costs, putting my kids through the kind of secondary school that I went to (meant to be very good by Ofsted standards and also in a good area).

Ultimately private school is not about the education for me - it is about the social environment and the quality of the people around your children. I have seen the class of students who come out of somewhere like Manchester Grammar school for example where the fees are 10k a year - no state or free Grammar school (e.g. Altrincham Grammer) can even compare to it. When I was younger I hated going to school because of the type of people around me and I am even willing to end up in debt to ensure my kids have a good experience of school and enjoy going there. You may not agree with me but that is my perspective on the issue....

[eek]

I have seen the class of students who come out of somewhere like Manchester Grammar school for example where the fees are 10k a year - no state or free Grammar school (e.g. Altrincham Grammer) can even compare to it.

A fool and their money are easily parted. Clearly in this case.

[sasguru]

A fool and their money are easily parted. Clearly in this case.

He's got a point though. Look at you: state school, thick as pig-tulipe and completely innumerate.
Although it's probably not fair to blame the school: you can't polish a turd.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

A fool and their money are easily parted. Clearly in this case.

If the money was on something other than your own kids futures then I'd agree with you....

[eek]

If the money was on something other than your own kids futures then I'd agree with you....

It depends. Where we are the state secondary school we got the girls into (on appeal) rates in the top 10 in the country, the local private schools are closing down very rapidly as the economics of running them falls apart. I know 1 child just leaving reception who is already on their third private school due to the first closing down and the second announcing their forthcoming closure.

Further north one of the better private schools on Tyneside gave up the ghost and merged with a local state primary to keep going.

Private education may work out fine, unless you get into the very best you may however just be creating a problem down the line.

[FirstCallCS]

Doing the same thing in the long-term can often make the most challenging of tasks seem menial. If you are passionate about something, then cheesily, persue it!

Although working in the corporate world, I would advise you take into consideration the financial opportunity costs. And all good plans have a backup (or two). How long will it take you to get the position you want? How is job security in the sector? I digress, just make sure it's realistic and inspires ambition!

Good luck with the new career route.

[RedSauce]

Better off spending a fraction of the cost of provate schools on 11+ tuition and send them to a grammar school

[doodab]

I'd say at that age there are better things to spend the money on. £6k goes a long way.

You can easily find private tutoring or out of school classes for languages, music, and a billion other activities. Numeracy & literacy you can encourage yourself, the real key here is to get them to do it under their own steam because they are doing something they are interested in. Give them access grown up / older age group books about things they are interested in and they will the information up like a sponge and their literacy will benefit too. "Toys" are a good investment. Coloured torches, prisms, magnets, rocks, fossils, magnifying glasses, bug hunting kits, cameras and so on are all relatively cheap and even really cool stuff like microscopes and oscilliscopes arecheap. Get a microscope you can attach a camera to, or a macro lens, and he'll be happy doing basic arithmetic to work out the exposure without even realising he's doing it. A Bigfoot is £25 and a great introduction to basic programming concepts. Hook a synthesizer up to an oscilloscope and there are hours of fun to be had and at the end of it an awful lot of stuff has been learnt, without even trying.

And after all of that you'll have £4-5k free to spend on a family holiday, or days out fossil hunting or to museums or even just time off during the school holidays.

[sasguru]

You lot are completely missing the point of private schools - it's who you get to know, not what you know.
Like it or not private (i.e. public)-school educated people are at the top of almost every institution in the UK and there is an informal old-boys network. Which I use to the max, of course