Would you send your kid to a state school?

Are you okay knowing your kid will turn out an illiterate, tracksuited teenage parent? Or will you do the decent thing and send them to a school where kids called Arabella and Peregrine don’t get laughed at?

I'm not teenage parent, but am I sat here in a tracksuit. One can't ever really escape the gutter.

Sprog 1 is off to state school for at least 1 year of primary school in September. I look forward to the protection they'll offer through advanced knife skills and ability to hotwire a car in case we're ever out walking on a rainy day.

I hope that by getting them into private asap, their age and years of therapy will enable them to block out such memories. 

In principle yes although we don’t 

One very big plus of state schools is they have shorter fooking holidays. Unbelievable how seldom our kids’ school is actually open for business tbh. The cheeky khunts take at least two “inset days” a term on top of their eight weeks’ summer hols

What is the point of fee-paying schools?

You shovel an ever-increasing amount of money into their coffers and in return you get a hothoused kid who can pass exams and is all set for a career in the City that will pay enough to permit them to pay school fees for their own kid to attain a career in the City.

Spend the money on a starter house for them. Or a collection of Paris Hilton NFTs. Or blow and hookers. You'll be happier in the long run.

if its good enough for 90 per cent plus of kids its good enough for you.  This is what I would tell my kids if I had any before sending them to the local comp (probably).

I understand the pressure people who were privately educated themselves may put on themselves to send their children private but those educated by the state that have done well - WTF?  Why bother?

the friends I know who Go Private are usually professionals who can't reasonably collect their kids at state school getting out time

Edinburgh Academy, for example (waves at all the lawyers who send their kids there - hope you like wretched adults!), seems to have provisions until 5 or 6 even in early primary.

Not here in Cayman I wouldn't.  Anywhere else I guess it depends how good the state schools are.  Wouldn't have a problem with a state grammar school tbf. 

Anna, you could try to get them into one of the English stream college classes at a public school. Some are good. I’ve got friends whose kids have done them (but have really studied to pass the test).
If you are going for Sèvres just make sure you get them in early and get their English as good as possible. I have friends whose kids did not get in. British Council does some great programmes too. But you probably know about them. 

On the question at hand. Might do private. Will depend on what school is best for kids. Not sure the academic standard at the public schools will be good enough for one of my kids. He will need extending and probably only a private school will be able to do that. 

Interesting you mention Sèvres, badoit. It's on our radar, but maybe a little bit far? Especially for a little kid. It's a 30 minute bus ride. Would it be a no go if we waited until he was old enough to get the bus by himself?

From what I’ve heard, you should get them in as early as possible. My friend tried when her child was a bit older. Maybe 5 or 6 and he didn’t get in. But also depends on level of English. She spoke exclusively in English to him but without a little booster (ie British Council or time in English speaking country), can be a bit hard. 

whatever you do, it’ll be fine though, there are options in future. Another friend had her kids do intensive English and spent time in UK before the test to get into bilingual 6eme. But those schools are within Paris and I don’t think you are. I would try to think about options though cos often you need a multi year plan to get what you want!!

"the friends I know who Go Private are usually professionals who can't reasonably collect their kids at state school getting out time"

After school care would be much cheaper than sending them to private schools if that is the sole reason.

We sent ours state for KS1 and then moved to private for KS2 and then back to st8 for grammar. The problem with the outstanding state primary was that it just wasn't good enough and neither child developed properly there despite being totally different personality types. The transformation in both kids in less than a term of private was really quite extraordinary. A lot of people round here seem to end up doing this. My feeling is that state primary is fine if the kids are so bright they don't really need school or if the parents are able and willing to basically teach them in parallel. I wanted to believe, I really did, I find school fees far more oppressive than a mortgage but I've never regretted it.

sorry what exactly is Labour MP, Anna, about the statement “I don’t send my kids to state school but I don’t have anything against the idea”, which is what I said.

There's a state school in Newham where the teaching is so good that Oxbridge is seen as second best.

Their brightest students target full scholarships to Harvard, Yale and MIT (worth $200k per annum plus with tuition fees, living costs, flights, family visit flights etc all covered).

I would definitely send my kids there if we were in the catchment area.

Might actually move there as it goes.

The answer is obviously ‘it depends’. Some state schools are very, very good.

Some fee-paying schools, e.g, Charterhouse, are very, very bad. 

Young Master K does not go to a state school, but that is only because the only decent local state school is a cafflick one, so I died on that hill and Mrs K got her way on the alternative. 

Their brightest students target full scholarships to Harvard, Yale and MIT (worth $200k per annum plus with tuition fees, living costs, flights, family visit flights etc all covered).

I would definitely send my kids there if we were in the catchment area.

Eh. There's a bit more to this than just being the brightest students. Google is your friend.

Brampton Manor has a selective sixth form (which is the case for lots of state schools) so the catchment area is not really relevant.

 

Partner I used to work for, asked why his kids didn't go private, answered looking a bit offended 'they're not stupid, they don't need private schooling'.

In everything else he was an arse, but that made me cackle.

I feel like if I send my kids to private schools they will be well trained to end up like me. If I sent them to state school the weight of expectation will hopefully be lower. 

My old man was a grammar school boy who was very successful in financial services. I'm a public school boy who had been moderately successful in law, fortunate that I find a particular area of law that is objectively boring to be quite interesting.

I would prefer my children to be happy mad artists. 

Private is clearly better, but if they are passably intelligent, a good state school is fine and certainly the cost delta isnt justified.

A good state grammar is probably just as good as private and the saved 100-150K would be better spent on other things.

Tho tbh I am starting to think I should send the Worfettes to a private school for a year or two simply because natural justice demands that somebody laughs at posh dim witted children named Arabella or Peregrine….

I would definitely send kids to a state school. I think you’d get the same outcome with good after school clubs/activities and some tutoring or tutoring them a bit yourself.

The thing I liked about boarding school was the facilities and being around my friends.

You could probably recreate a similar experience at a state school.

If you want to fully recreate an English boarding school just pay a local thug to beat them up weekly but at random.

State school plus paying attention to them and helping them along (not paying a tutor) is the best approach. 

Unless your a thicko you'll be able to help them with home learning until at least secondary school and get to spend loads of time with them too. 

Private school a last resort if you only have stabby schools in catchment, but in that situation you're a dickhead anyway. 

If you want to fully recreate an English boarding school just pay a local thug to beat them up weekly but at random

Local thugs won't cut it. No quality English public school education can be had without Eurothugs. 

No. My siblings and I were in private (day) schools from the start as were my children (and my siblings' children) and the next generation but it entirely up to anyone in the family to do as they choose and I certainly would not have any problem if someone did not choose that for their own children.

 

I don't think their names would be mocked anywhere as they are pretty standard kinds of names.

Somewhat late to the thread, but I thought it only fair to give laz a chance to apologise to me for his flat contradiction when I said that upon his return to the uk he would educate his children privately.

"Are you okay knowing your kid will turn out an illiterate, tracksuited teenage parent? Or will you do the decent thing and send them to a school where kids called Arabella and Peregrine don’t get laughed at?"

We did send our kids to state schools, unlike the socialist Diane Abbott. Our daughter got a*a*a at A-level, and did Arabic & Social Anthropology at SOAS, where she got a 1st which included getting her BA thesis published in an anthropology journal. Our son got b b c in his A-levels and chose not to go to university, wisely in my view given the precipitous descent of universities into wokery. His career as a musician is developing quite well, and he supplements his income by working as a teaching assistant. At present he is volunteering in a school in Columbia.

How can you reconcile being a labour supporter/lefty with sending your children to private school? Fighting against inequality whilst spending hundreds of thousands to perpetuate it.