Misc Private schooling or not?

[old.user4556]

I just wanted to get other people's opinions on the prospect of privately schooling (high school...) one's kids.

Where I live, the standards of state schools really aren't great at all. There are two towns reasonably close by that have good state schools (within the top 20 in Scotland), but naturally the property prices inside the catchment areas reflect this with new-build and nearly new-builds costing far more than the average property. For example (without going into specifics...), a four bed detached new-build in the not-so-good-school area may cost around £195,000 to £220,000 but in the top-25-school-area may cost around £300,000 through to £375,000 for a similar sized house.

I appreciate that's cheap compared to London and other places, but forget about that for the time being.

I've been chatting with my missus about the future and neither of us want our kids to go to the local high school because the school results are woeful (10% of leavers have five highers, a shocking statistic). This leaves two options:

- move to the good state school area and downsize the house
- stay in the bang-per-buck housing area and send one's child to private school in Edinburgh which currently costs £9000 per year (£54000 for six years).

See the method in my madness?

Anyway, I cast it open to the Freddies - private school, yay or nay? Pitfalls? Other ideas? Dislike the idea of private school for whatever reason? Ramble here please.

 

[caLLous]

If you can afford the private education then go for it. As you say, 6 lots of £9000 is less than the average difference in house price.

I went to a private school and didn't enjoy it one bit but that's nothing to do with the school itself.

Small classes, excellent teachers, good extra curricular activities, (probably) better catering arrangements, there are real tangible advantages to going the private route.

 

[ECA]

I went to a private school, and the benefits are there in exam coaching, sports/club/etc, but to get the most out of it you need to either have a motivated child, or pushy parents, neither of which happened to be the case for me

I think I would have benefited faaaaaar more going to a state school until ~GCSEs or maybe a year earlier, as it would have been a completely different social experience, but that could vary depending on the school in question and the alternatives.

 

[old.user4556]

I went to a private school and didn't enjoy it one bit but that's nothing to do with the school itself.

but to get the most out of it you need to either have a motivated child, or pushy parents, neither of which happened to be the case for me

That's what worries me, shelling out all that cash and my first born being a dumbass with no benefit of being at a private school. Can't polish a turd.

 

[ECA]

That's semi offensive

 

[Tom]

Schooling is only half the job, the parents are responsible for the rest.

Have you considered private tutors? A friend pays for one for his son.

 

[old.user4556]

That's semi offensive

Apologies, I didn't mean it like that .

 

[caLLous]

What ECA said.

But I didn't enjoy it for much the same reasons - I was a bit of a day dreamer and my family couldn't *really* afford to send me there. I got a pretty massive bursary based on circumstances and my performance in the entrance exam. Soooo.. heaps of pressure and I was mingling with sons of oil sheikhs and people that came to school in Ferraris. Parents thought it was for the best and it was a proper good school (like) but it just wasn't for me.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

I just wanted to get other people's opinions on the prospect of privately schooling (high school...) one's kids.

If your kid uses "one" like that, they have to go private school. Especially in Scotland, where anti-intellictualism rules the common man

 

[Rubber Bullets]

We are rapidly approaching this decision ourselves. Esme (see left) is now 10 and will be doing the 11+ in November. We are lucky that we have 2 very good grammar schools locally, one mixed and one girls only, and unlucky that if she fails to get in we have only a really shite state school as back up.

She is bright enough that she ought to pass the 11+, but if sh has a bad day then we will have no choice but to go the private route.

I went to a private school too, all boys, and it was miserable, I hated it, and did pretty badly, though to be honest I was a lazy bastard and would have done even worse in state school.

RB

 

[throdgrain]

You hated going to a private school, but you're prepared to inflict it on your kids?

God grown-ups are wierd ....

 

[old.user4556]

You hated going to a private school, but you're prepared to inflict it on your kids?

God grown-ups are wierd ....

That's the dynamic I want to know about though, is it really worth it if you're simply not interested in education / learning? Would being in a state school yield the same result?

 

[ECA]

They'd do better academically, but a short stint in a state school might get them to sort their shit out ( As I feel it would have done for me, academically speaking ).

And not to be sexist, but I think girls do a lot better private schools than boys do.

 

[Rubber Bullets]

You hated going to a private school, but you're prepared to inflict it on your kids?

God grown-ups are wierd ....

I know Throddy, I don't pretend it makes sense. First of all I think boys do better in a mixed environment, and that the issue is less important for girls, though it always used to be the case that they struggled in science lessons alongside boys, often this was as much to do with teacher prejudice than ability.

But the bottom line is that even though I hated it, I did better than I would have done at state school where they would have happily let my lazy ass rot. I'm not disappointed with where I am now in life, but am aware that if I had worked a bit harder, and actually lived up to my potential I could probably have done better.

Hell I might even be living in Thailand with my own company, a £20k 4x4 and shagging a size 4 model, who knows?

RB

 

[Wazzerphuk]

As someone who went to a shit state school with shit teachers and shit cunts everywhere, private would have done wonders for me. Probably.

 

[chipper]

i was actually thinking about this myself a couple of months back for my 4 month old son, private schools offer so much more academically compared to state schools unfortunately currently its something i just cant afford or id sign him up in a heartbeat.

the pitfalls are the many extras you will have to pay for school trips abroad sports equipment specific uniform requirements not the generic alot of schools have.

i hated my comprehensive the teachers were shit and didnt care there was little to no support and i feel i suffered for it ofc i played my own part in my bad education but i often wonder if id be where i am today if id gone to a private school

my cousins went to private schools one of which is now currently one of the top sound stage engineers in the world. you should always go fo the best education available for your children.

 

[DaGaffer]

Its been mentioned tangentially in a couple of comments here already; two issues, it will cost you a lot more than the 9K a year that you think it costs, second issue, boys tend to do better in private education than girls (as in, the performance gap between private and public is higher), but, only if its a mixed school. Girls do better in single sex schools.

I went to a private all boys school and if I had a son I wouldn't put him through that, I hated it and I definitely feel in hindsight I'd have been better staying at my local comp (unusually, I was given the choice by my parents). However, as I have a daughter and another girl on the way, I'm considering it for them (slightly different setup in Ireland though - my main reason for doing it is to keep them out of the nearly ubiquitous catholic system; private offers a way around that).

 

[Raven]

Some of my friends went to private school after leaving the village primary. One is a geneticist and gets paid little for his work...something to do with DNA testing. Another fills a chair quite high up in the council and get paid bucket loads for not doing a lot (by his own admission) one or two others have mediocre jobs. Pretty much the same spread for those of us that went to the comprehensive.

Point is, if you can get your kid into a decent comprehensive then there is little point paying for them to go private. The private schools nearby may not be that great either and unless you want them to board you may well end up having to move anyway. People I know that boarded hated every minute of it.

As for home tutoring. No no no. A child does not only develop by learning in lessons but by interacting with others of a similar age group, out of lessons.

 

[ECA]

As for home tutoring. No no no. A child does not only develop by learning in lessons but by interacting with others of a similar age group, out of lessons.

Private tutoring != Home Schooling.

 

[Raven]

erm, quite. Not sure that anyone said it was did they?

 

[ECA]

You seem confused.

 

[Chronictank]

If you can afford the private education then go for it.

It's silly not to really

contacts, facilities, fast track into the higher end of uni's etc etc...

 

[chipper]

dont get me wrong if there was an excellent comprehensive close by that offered comparable results to a private school i would for sure send them to that school, anything else is just snobbery. unfortunately there are many towns and cities that just dont have excellent schools i know when it comes to my son starting comprehensive i will find the best one in my local area and try to get them in that.

 

[Huntingtons]

(10% of leavers have high fivers, a shocking statistic)

i dont really follow the english grading system, but isnt a high five the ultimate score?

 

[old.user4556]

Lol, I'm such a twat; I meant "10% of leavers have five highers". Apologies .

A large number of courses need 5 highers in a single sitting, and only 10% of pupils in that school were leaving with 5 highers. Doesn't look good.

 

[djpringle]

We're thinking about it to for our 3 year old, just moved and one of the reasons for moving, not the sole one mind, was to guarantee a place in the decent local primary school later on. Our local middle school is good as well but there are plans afoot to change everything from 3 to 2 schools for the whole area so it could all go pear shaped.
Have a year or so to make the final decision to send her private, which if I am still working out of the country will probably be a yes. If we do, it opens more opportunities for better quality upper schools, something which is a problem locally.

 

[Chilly]

Do it, send them. My parents could have sent me but they're sentimental socialists and didnt approve. I'm constantly annoyed at how poor my education is compared to others where I work.

 

[Job]

Stepdaughters just left private school and she's gone to her 'A's in Southport KGV, we're just not in the income bracket of her friends parents and it starts to tell, they all got brand new cars on their 17th birthdays and not one of them ever invites us round, quite simply snobs, simple as that, the Doctor/dentist/lawyer brigade, the wife's a teacher FFS, we're hardly Shameless.

Her friends were nice until about 15, when 'guess what daddies got' started, it's only cos she's the best looking by far that she stays in their circle and she's got on to that and moved on.
Public school made her polite, no scouse accent and a bit of a snob herself, the teaching was so-so and an ever ending push to get their figures up came before the students best interests.

 

[ECA]

Stepdaughters just left private school and she's gone to her 'A's in Southport KGV, we're just not in the income bracket of her friends parents and it starts to tell, they all got brand new cars on their 17th birthdays and not one of them ever invites us round, quite simply snobs, simple as that, the Doctor/dentist/lawyer brigade, the wife's a teacher FFS, we're hardly Shameless.

Her friends were nice until about 15, when 'guess what daddies got' started, it's only cos she's the best looking by far that she stays in their circle and she's got on to that and moved on.
Public school made her polite, no scouse accent and a bit of a snob herself, the teaching was so-so and an ever ending push to get their figures up came before the students best interests.

That kind of dickish snobbery never happened at my (private) school.

 

[Yaka]

i went to a piss poor state school where only my form teacher was worth his salt. after i left high school it was time for my brother to go and my parents did the right thing by sending him to a private school. he was better for it.

by the time my kids are old enough i hope to be able to afford private school