Difference between Grammar School and Independent School

[mad?]

+1 to turned down grammar for indie... travel time/journey unpleasantness, DD's strong preference, a false estimation of our economic position, desire to have both DD in the same school and a knee jerk post other parent watching on exam day desire for a more rounded AND diverse experience being factors (but we are in a very nutty part of London so before I get shot down I would stress I would not expect these factors to apply elsewhere), DDs state educated prior to this.

[loveyouradvice]

Interesting debate ....

And totally agree with it depending where you are in the country AND WHAT YOUR CHILD IS LIKE!

For my DD, there is only one local all girls grammar - the top one in the country - but she is NOT megaacademic, and loves lots of out of school activities: I dont think she would thrive there althought it suits others. I want a more rounded education for her so will be aiming for one of the good independents... where they take the top 15% academically rather than top 5%.....although my DH and I are both Oxbridge scholars, we know academic results are NOT the only thing we want from a school.

Good luck to all in making these challenging choices!

[svg123]

I am revisiting this post once again as the results are looming on our head.
Still confused but I would like to thank everyone who read/wrote comments to this thread.

[sonic1]

Hmmm, my son is in at WGSB and yes he worked blimming hard to get there. However so do the children who have to do the tests for private schools. Look at the Habs papers, they are very difficult and no walk in the park. You cannot simply buy your way into a private school. Most are very selective. You can, however buy your way into WGSB (we didn't) by buying a flat next to the school.
Also, many parents sacrifice a HUGE amount to send their child to private schools, so think before passing judgement.
Just trying to give a balanced viewpoint.