State or private primary?
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littlebaker
- Posts: 148
- Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2010 6:48 pm
Re: State or private primary?
Thanks to everyone for all of your comments. Chatternatter I sympathize. I have so much to say but I don't want to go on and on especially not here. Our current school's motto is 'Aim High' I now think they may be referring to the top bar of the climbing frame 
I think my main concern was the detrimental effect the joint years seem to be having but I have searched a wide area and no other state school with single years has space for my two DC. I shall continue to deliberate until I either lose my mind or the will to live 
I think my main concern was the detrimental effect the joint years seem to be having but I have searched a wide area and no other state school with single years has space for my two DC. I shall continue to deliberate until I either lose my mind or the will to live Re: State or private primary?
As we are having a sensible discussion on the merits of both here I would like to glean some info from private parents.
How often is your child's class teacher not the one actually teaching your child?
Also regards to mixed age groups it shouldn't have a detrimental effect. A good teacher will always differentiate work according to ability and depending on the cohort you can sometimes get a wider ability in on large single age class than in a smaller mixed one.
How often is your child's class teacher not the one actually teaching your child?
Also regards to mixed age groups it shouldn't have a detrimental effect. A good teacher will always differentiate work according to ability and depending on the cohort you can sometimes get a wider ability in on large single age class than in a smaller mixed one.
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guest27
Re: State or private primary?
With the introduction of the new type of 11+ in our area, the local Prep school has no more significant GS passes, and last year its GS passes were actually lower than my son's state school. Our son actually attended this Prep school from nursery, but we took him out in year 4 as we felt the money for fees would be better used towards extra private tuition at a fraction of the cost. He passed the 11+ with an extremely high score and more importantly has enjoyed his time at his state school than he ever would have by contiuning at the Prep, wasting his time with heaps of pointless homework no more directed at passing the 11+ than flying to the moon. I can say this since my daughter attended the private school to the end of Y6 and also passed the 11+ with no problems. We are so glad we made this choice....have saved thousands of pounds and got the result we wanted without the pointless homwework which is only repeated at the GS anyway. I agree with previous posters on this forum who have said you cannot buy a brain.
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guest27
Re: State or private primary?
Magwich 2 wrote :
"..........and had fewer distractions from badly behaved pupils"
It is a complete misconception that at state school primaries the children are swinging from the rafters like monkies, hardly do any work and are way behind the private school children. Of course we can only speak from our own experiences, but having seen both sides of the fence we belive that there was more bullying and bad behavior from the private primary. Taking away the braided blazers and chocolate biscuits provided for parents evenings, when you actually look at the children and the work, we know that to have left my son at his previous school would have been of no more advantage to him. The work he covers at his excellent state school is covered in both depth and volume. The children are well behaved and the teachers devoted. Having both sets of books in front of me as I type this, I honestly cannot see the difference apart from the crest on the front of one of the sets of books. I am sick and tired of people knocking the state sector, the results speak for themselves.
"..........and had fewer distractions from badly behaved pupils"
It is a complete misconception that at state school primaries the children are swinging from the rafters like monkies, hardly do any work and are way behind the private school children. Of course we can only speak from our own experiences, but having seen both sides of the fence we belive that there was more bullying and bad behavior from the private primary. Taking away the braided blazers and chocolate biscuits provided for parents evenings, when you actually look at the children and the work, we know that to have left my son at his previous school would have been of no more advantage to him. The work he covers at his excellent state school is covered in both depth and volume. The children are well behaved and the teachers devoted. Having both sets of books in front of me as I type this, I honestly cannot see the difference apart from the crest on the front of one of the sets of books. I am sick and tired of people knocking the state sector, the results speak for themselves.
Re: State or private primary?
Surely you cant generalise, as they are some fantastic state schools so are poor ones too. At my DD's primary only 14% passed 11+ compared to 25% average countywide. I know one prep school in the Medway area that has 95%+ pass every year for 11+ and while you cant say its all down to the school, I can see why some parents pay that extra bit. Its all very much down to the individual schools you are comparing with and how brainy the child is.guest27 wrote:I am sick and tired of people knocking the state sector, the results speak for themselves.
...running back to my Kent closet
Impossible is Nothing.
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guest27
Re: State or private primary?
Sherry_d, as I said, I can only speak from my own experience.
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littlebaker
- Posts: 148
- Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2010 6:48 pm
Re: State or private primary?
I'm a bit confused guest27. You mentioned bullying and bad behaviour at the private school but you kept your daughter there until yr6 even though you removed your son? Am I reading this wrong? You also said that your son passed the 11+ but mentioned he was now at an excellent state school. Did you mean GS or did you choose a comprehensive even though he passed the 11+? Sorry, it is late in the day maybe I'm just tired and reading your message badly. You seemed quite disappointed by the private school and I'm confused that despite this you kept your daughter there and continued to pay the fees.
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guest27
Re: State or private primary?
Littlebaker, to clarify my post.
My son has passed the 11+ and is in the last term of his state primary school waiting to take up his place at the GS in Sept.
I kept my daughter at the private school until Y6 for a couple of reasons. Firstly, until you complete the full primary private route with your first child you do not know what is offered at each stage until you reach it. It is only with hindsight that we could see that my son was not going to be offered anything that could not be offererd elsewhere for free, with a bit of extra tutoring. (Every child in my daughter's class also had extra tutoring as well as the private school). Secondly, I did not want to remove my daughter because as far as she was concerned she was happy since she had nothing to compare it to. She was doing well work wise and there seemed no point in removing her by the time we realised it had been unnecessary. It was a case of damage limitation.We console ourselves with what we have saved and try not to think about what we have spent.
The bullying did not involve my children, it was observed and my daughter learned to keep her head down which admitedly has been a useful lesson.
I forgot to mention in my previous post about the only difference in the books being the crest on the front of the private set, something my husband reminded me of. The other difference being the dog eared, yellowing, falling apart and out- of- date text books that we frequently got home. I have spent many happy hours sellotaping them together and my husband and I still look at eachother in awe when we see the quality of the books at my son's school. You can guess which school they might have originated from.
My son has passed the 11+ and is in the last term of his state primary school waiting to take up his place at the GS in Sept.
I kept my daughter at the private school until Y6 for a couple of reasons. Firstly, until you complete the full primary private route with your first child you do not know what is offered at each stage until you reach it. It is only with hindsight that we could see that my son was not going to be offered anything that could not be offererd elsewhere for free, with a bit of extra tutoring. (Every child in my daughter's class also had extra tutoring as well as the private school). Secondly, I did not want to remove my daughter because as far as she was concerned she was happy since she had nothing to compare it to. She was doing well work wise and there seemed no point in removing her by the time we realised it had been unnecessary. It was a case of damage limitation.We console ourselves with what we have saved and try not to think about what we have spent.
The bullying did not involve my children, it was observed and my daughter learned to keep her head down which admitedly has been a useful lesson.
I forgot to mention in my previous post about the only difference in the books being the crest on the front of the private set, something my husband reminded me of. The other difference being the dog eared, yellowing, falling apart and out- of- date text books that we frequently got home. I have spent many happy hours sellotaping them together and my husband and I still look at eachother in awe when we see the quality of the books at my son's school. You can guess which school they might have originated from.
Re: State or private primary?
Not "every child" Guest 27!
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guest27
Re: State or private primary?
Magwich2, every child was tutored, mainly by a paid tutor or some doing papers at home with family. Some did both, some had more than one paid tutor! From what I understand this is still the case. This is no criticism for I believe it is essential to gain a GS place. Just why pay for it?
