School Fees - what we will do as parents for kids !

linescanner

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Thomas Gainsborough as the comp. if private, then St Mary’s in Colchester or the Hospital School in Ipswich....

Mine are at Woodbridge. Has gone downhill a little over the last few years. Quite a lot of Private schools have had to tighten their belts due to falling numbers and increased costs. Has impacted the quality and atmosphere.

RHS is a stunning setting
 
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Felonious Crud

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My eldest daughter is taking GCSE’s next year and she was lucky to get into Colchester County Girls Grammar school which is top of the country (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/educati...league-table-search-top-schools-gcse-results/) BUT....... having seen this school at work, it really works for some and DOES NOT for the rest. Kids at 14 having counselling and private tutors. WTF?

//

So for her, she will probably go to the comp in Suffolk as it seems to suit her personality based on feedback we have got from other kids who already go there...

We're lucky around here. Our boys went to CRGS for A-levels, and although they did well the pressure was a bit intense at times. Any school that considers a B to be a borderline fail and threatens to turf you out if you don't improve is clearly placing results above welfare. Happily, they came out pretty balanced and seem to be flourishing at uni. Whilst officially a 'state' school, CRGS felt more public than a lot of public schools: the huge funding from overseas students, the facilities, oak-paneled dining room, gowns... Not much like the comp I went to!

We looked at KEGS, The Ipswich School and New Hall, but neither offered meaningfully more than CRGS (certainly not in terms of value for money!), plus CRGS did have a slightly more varied cross-section of backgrounds and wasn't dominated by the gilded youth of wealthy families.
 

rossyl

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3,312
Lots of great and differing opinions.

It matters how good the school is, not if it is private or state.
It also matters what school is best for the individual child, again, not private or state.

How many people do you know, where siblings went to the same school. One was Head Boy/Girl. Whereas the other sibling didn't fit in.

Paying for education, doesn't guarantee a good one.

Aside from that, and being fortunate to have gone to a top Grammar, I am always favourable to the social mix that you get at a non-private school. In my year we had parents driving Brand New Original 8 Series to drop off their kids, Range Rovers etc...but we also had someone on free school meals.
We also had everything in-between, and being in North London had a big race and cultural mix. The result I think was great.

That said, friends from Private School seem to have networks that endure forever. There is almost a little Club. There is also a sense of confidence that can come from Private School. All of that can (possibly) lead to success later in life.

Ultimately, all of it depends on the child.
 

Felonious Crud

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It's the old school tie that helps the old-boys spot each other at 100 paces. At my school we had them tied around our heads.
 

JonW

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Lots of great and differing opinions.

It matters how good the school is, not if it is private or state.
It also matters what school is best for the individual child, again, not private or state.

How many people do you know, where siblings went to the same school. One was Head Boy/Girl. Whereas the other sibling didn't fit in.

Paying for education, doesn't guarantee a good one.

Aside from that, and being fortunate to have gone to a top Grammar, I am always favourable to the social mix that you get at a non-private school. In my year we had parents driving Brand New Original 8 Series to drop off their kids, Range Rovers etc...but we also had someone on free school meals.
We also had everything in-between, and being in North London had a big race and cultural mix. The result I think was great.

That said, friends from Private School seem to have networks that endure forever. There is almost a little Club. There is also a sense of confidence that can come from Private School. All of that can (possibly) lead to success later in life.

Ultimately, all of it depends on the child.

I agree with all of this.

One of the big worries I had with both of our kids was/is whether they are going to come out of having been private-school educated and be one of those arrogant public school kids who automatically assume they are superior because they went to a particular private school, such as Harrow, or Eton, or because they come from a more wealthy background than others. This is nothing against any of those schools in particular, but I suspect we have all met people in life who are public school educated and just come across as cocky, arrogant wankers...

It’s also tricky, because there’s a reasonably fine line between confident and self-assured, as opposed to arrogant and preening.

One of the ways we are trying to avoid it happening with our kids is making sure they realise how ridiculously fortunate they are, regularly exposing them to a broad range of people, perspectives, and trying to make them think about how others feel. However, the reality is that my kids experience of growing up is going to be fundamentally different to mine, we almost certainly are “spoiling” them to some extent, and therefore it’s more likely that to some they will come across as privileged posh kids who are a bit of full of themselves....
 

slay

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409
Slight correction though - not everyone needs to worry about depreciation costs
I've not got kids so can only comment on my own experiences as a kid.
I was bright at junior school, nearly top of the class in most years, passed the 11+ (I was in Conservative Trafford which still had Grammar Schools) and went to the local Grammar school, the facilities were poor, crumbling 60's building, full of asbestos, two school computers and a head master who thought he was running Eton. We had a lad in our class as he broke in, started a fire and nicked the top loader video player. Some of the teachers were great, others were awful. I didn't exactly help myself in the final year but scrapped enough to get into 6th form college in Eccles in staunch labour held Salford. It was completely different. Teachers treated you like adults, and were your friend. I struggled with the curriculum as i didn't do half the stuff Salfordians did at their Comprehensive especially in Pure Maths. I even learnt to play rubgy without flankers.

What I'm trying to say is State Schools are a mixed bag but parents must get involved with their kids education, ensuring that both the parents and the teachers push, help and guide the child. Some parents blame the schools 'for not teachin them nuffink' but like charity education starts at home.
I guess that is one of the reasons I am prepared to sacrifice all the nice cars that I could have or would have bought, just to ensure that my kids have the right school environment in what I believe the most important years of education.
 

Phil the Brit

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1,499
I got the answer. don't have kids.
Never had them and never wanted them.
Can't stand the sight of any kid under good conversational age.
Now a domestic pet, that's a different matter.
 

Ewan

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6,757
Back to, I assume, the original point. The depreciation and/or running costs on the average forum Maser are but nothing when compared to the costs of sending a child to boarding school. You could easily buy a 3200/4200 for the cost of just one term of school fees. Whether you think that’s good value or not (the school or the car) is up to you.
 

iainw

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3,386
Back to, I assume, the original point. The depreciation and/or running costs on the average forum Maser are but nothing when compared to the costs of sending a child to boarding school. You could easily buy a 3200/4200 for the cost of just one term of school fees. Whether you think that’s good value or not (the school or the car) is up to you.
an old Italian car is never going to give your nearest and dearest the chance to do the career of their choice ‘be happy’ and earn a considerable amount in their lifetime. Surely the sensible thing is to pay for both? :)
 

mjheathcote

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Yes for sure a private education doesn't always guarantee results.
If you have it in you, yes, however there were kids in my class that left without passing a single O level, after paying school fees for 9 years.
They entered the system at 7, didn't have to pass an entrance exam at that age, and continued through.
The quality of the teachers was also very mixed, some very good, some I recall shouldn't have been teachers at all!

Interestingly my 4 closest mates, well over 30 years later, are all from school.
 

Wack61

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That said, friends from Private School seem to have networks that endure forever. There is almost a little Club. There is also a sense of confidence that can come from Private School. All of that can (possibly) lead to success later in life.
.

Oh there's definitely a club

My friends daughter who won a place at oxford was at a freshers party , a group of girls asked her what school she went to , when it wasn't one of the private schools they just dismissed her like she was unworthy of their company.
 

CatmanV2

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48,547
Oh there's definitely a club

And yet I can honestly not recall the last time I met someone from my old school 'club' . Must have been about 20 years ago. And he was the only one I'd met for more like 25 years.

C
 

MrMickS

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3,951
I spent a lot of money on school fees for one and a half of my kids. At the time I was persuaded it was the right thing to do. I wouldn't do it again.

No regrets though, if I hadn't I wouldn't be where I am now and driving a Maserati. I'd probably still be being sensible.
 

Wattie

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8,640
Well I’ve just signed our little one up for “private education” following the realisation that I could not justify spending the money on this rather lovely thing which was as good a QPv Gts as I think I would find.
Lovely tan interior with carbon fibre paddles, inserts etc....
Unfortunately our catchment school has a terrible reputation so relying on out of area applications was too risky in the end......and logic won the day over my manmaths.552715527255273
 
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Ewan

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6,757
Where is that QP GTS for sale? I can’t see it on Autotrader or Pistonheads.