Independent School or save for university fees

[arrgee1991]

I think the right state school with an academic peer group, strong parental support and lots of opportunities will take your child anywhere they want to go.

That's assuming you get into the right state school. Get into the wrong one and you'll see the effect of the wrong peer group. If you really believe the home environment is the biggest influence, send your child to a low performing school.

Most of a child's development up to the age of 11 has a lot to do with their parents. From 11-16 the school, and in particular, fellow pupils is a big factor.

If my son would get into a state school where the 5 GCSE level was at 80% plus then fine. But it's not.

As for the better preparation for university, sadly some of the schools we have looked at wouldn't allow you to gain the grades you need to get into a decent one.

[arrgee1991]

Really difficult if options are limited in an area. I used to live in a comprehensive only area with some good indies but not state grammars. I was able to move to a place with state grammars which was the type of education we wanted. If I had to stay in the original area I dare ssy I would have been looking more closely at the local indies....

We moved into our area for the good faith schools, but after some redrawing of catchment areas, we found we had gone to the bottom of the pile and then became concerned about where our children would attend secondary school. For our daughter there is a girl's faith school, so not a big problem for her, but nothing for our son.

Initially the boy's grammar was my preferred option, but the more we found out about it the less we wanted our son to go there.

My wife sent my son and I to our local independent just over a year ago to have a look as we missed all the other open days as I was working away a lot. I had never considered independent schools at all until that day.

After the talk and being shown around, we were both sold on the idea and then came home and enthused about it to my wife who must have thought I had come back from Damascus!

We have applied to the two faith schools but are unlikely to get in due to distance, but the independent is now my preference. We will find out about them next Tuesday. If we get a place at one of them we will have to do some serious thinking.

[mad?]

I think the right state school

But many people do not have any access to this. In my own personal social group I am surrounded by friends who extol the virtues of state education, from the benefits of their homes in the shire counties. Funny how their commitment did not extend as far as staying in the London borough where we all once lived. I have no doubt that in those circumstances they would be in the indie sector in a shot, but they can afford to be sanctimonious from their middle class grammars. Ridiculous. I really don't think any of the sweeping generalisations about state or indie are accurate or relevant here as each circumstance and school is different. The reals quesiton is what are your options, within both the indie and state sector, and can you weigh up the relative merits and negatives of those individual schools, with one of the negatives being financial.

[arrgee1991]

The real question is what are your options, within both the indie and state sector, and can you weigh up the relative merits and negatives of those individual schools, with one of the negatives being financial.

+1

I have spent the last eighteen months weighing up moving house to a catchment area, the local comprehensive, daily travel of 30 miles to a grammar (assuming acceptance) and paying for an independent school. It has been an education in itself.

[lefol]

I totally agree with arrrge! I would rather pay for 11-16 and get ds into a grammar for A Levels if I can no longer afford the fees then, who knows the state system may have improved and all comps will be achieving 100% pass rates in five years time. In my view 11-16 is surely the age to prepare them for university and adulthood.

[arrgee1991]

I totally agree with arrrge! I would rather pay for 11-16 and get ds into a grammar for A Levels if I can no longer afford the fees then, who knows the state system may have improved and all comps will be achieving 100% pass rates in five years time. In my view 11-16 is surely the age to prepare them for university and adulthood.

In our area it is easier to get into a sixth form than the school itself. Also I believe that at the age of 16, you should be grown up enough to do the work yourself. At my school which I left about 30 years ago, A levels were more or less self-study. My physics teacher taught me nothing in two years. Perfect preparation for university

[Pushy Dad]

One of my previous bosses went on about how middle class parents should stay in the state system and fight to improve the schools as opposed to bailing out and going private. As some other poster said, its easy to spout these views when you live in an upper income catchment area where the 'fighting' consist of what theme to adopt for the school summer fair and similar stuff.

With regards to the posters talking about saving money and going for a 13+ entry, we considered that but disregarded it. We tutored our son in English, VR and maths for 11+ and he got an offer from Habs today (Yay!) However, for 13+ he will be examined in a wider range of subjects. At that level there is no way home tutoring is going to match the tutoring that the prep school kids will be getting.

As for the option of saving for university fees instead, I would rather use the money to finance my kids' degree at some North American university in 7 years time but the wife disagrees. Well, we have a week to come to a consensus.

[phaedra]

Take the Habs place Pushy Dad. Who knows what fee system will be in place in 7 years and if your son goes to The US, the bursary system supports a very wide range of incomes.

[Pushy Dad]

Our income is high enough such that we are considered well off and therefore don't qualify for bursaries but not so high that we don't have to count our pennies when it comes to higher education

[joop]

Just accepted the indie place as we did not get either of our grammar school choices. I think we will appeal but will not tell our ds as interestingly he prefers the grammars to the indie school so do not want to get his hopes up.

Will think about uni fees in seven years time ! You never know, might get divorced to save some money :