iPom

Good post. It's true that private in Aus is not the same as private in the UK.

iPom

The private schools in your area might run lower than the state schools, but that's not true of this area. I think that's an important point to make.

__________________________________________________ _______

Look at both hub's schooling and mine. Both freaking awful. I was educated in spite of our school... dunno how that happened...
Parents who have terrible schooling are more likely to seek a different way of doing things for their kids.
Whether this turns out to be 'the best thing' in the long run, the important thing to realise is that there's not just one way of doing things, and that it's ok to follow the alternatives. If it turns out to be crap for my child, then we'll see that and do something about it - You think we'd let our kids go unhappy and unchallenged at school? I don't think so. At the moment it's the best thing we ever did for our children, apart from love them unconditionally. It's THAT good.

OzTennis

The headteacher of the government school where I work (650 not 800) knows every pupil by name and most of their parents and what they do as well and has met them personally. He is also able to tell you a number of years down the track what each pupil did after leaving school. This doesn't only come because parents are paying!

Having taught in both systems I completely disagree with your statement that the 2 systems aren't comparable. OK terminology differences eg Public = Private; State = Government; Comprehensive = State etc and fees for non-government schools are relatively speaking more expensive in the UK but you have 2 fundamentally similar systems operating side by side in both countries. The private school system in Australia in case you weren't aware was initially largely based on the public schools of the UK and a high proportion of the staff came and still come from this system.

People go private if they can afford it you claim. Not necessarily I say. Income is not the only determinant of choice of schooling. For example, I have many wealthy friends who chose not to send their children to private school - for the sort of reasons I touched on in an earlier post and won't repeat here. I have friends who teach in the government sector who feel it would be hypocritical to send their children to private school and also feel that the supposed additional benefits are not worth a family saloon per year.

OzTennis

Sunny_Glesga

i can see where your coming from, I dont want to make too big an issue of what is my own personal opinion, BUT, obviously you have chosen the appropriate school for your kids with a big part of the reason probably being feedback from others in that area and also which is part of the Norm what others do, but can you honestly say that it is IN FACT a better school with better Teachers that the nearest local Public school. My kids as i have mentioned have great teachers but do their education in prob the most ugliest rundown school i have ever come accross and to look at, your first thought would be NO WAY will i send my kids there, BUT again i have to mention that it is the teachers that swayed us to chose that particular school, they have Big classes also of around 30 kids and for the first year a few teachers actually had 2 classes into one, primary 1 and 2

I know that the education in Oz cant be compared to here but as we have done before we will chose the most approprite school for our kids when we get there which will deffinatey not be private as paying for school isnt something we will do, what we will do is chose carefully and make sure they have the proper teaching in place and move to that area,( buy/rent what ever we have to do) i know we may not live in the area that we want to but thats tough for us, kids come first that didnt sound too good and i meant no offence to ANYONE

OzTennis

I think most people would concede that generally speaking, the children of those who can afford to send their children to fee paying schools are on average going to be more intelligent. Agreed?

It therefore follows that the exam results, league table position (if that is how you judge 'success' or 'good education') of these schools is going to be better than government schools. Why pay the fees after all?

Does it therefore follow that Child A will perform better at private school than he/she would at a government school? Just because a school has better results doesn't mean that John or Betty is going to perform better.

Would I be a better footballer if I played for Chelsea (I might look better because of the team performance but let's just concentrate on me)?

Discuss in less than 1,000 words.

OzTennis

iPom

Child A will do just fine wherever she's put, but put her into an environment which she's relishing and which gives her freedom to be the child she needs to be, and bingo... results.
Child B, suffering in one system is released into another and grows emotionally - result.

No, footballers are not known for their great intelligence, but yes, I agree perhaps that there might be a higher level of education, Oz, amongst people who send their child to private.
I absolutely do not agree that people who send their kids to private are more intelligent. Education does not equate to intelligence imho.
You might have the most intelligent child who is badly educated who grows into the most intelligent adult.... though badly educated, which no doubt, they'll sort themselves.
Education is merely a passport to work in mainstream... children groomed to get a job or career.
Private education is not just about that... it's about human growth, or at least the choice we've chosen is.

My parents are well educated. I'd argue they are intelligent... (one arguably is, the other is definitely not)

Why am I paying fees? For environment... unique environment. If you've clicked the link, you'll see we're not paying for mainstream 'private' school... we're paying for something totally different, which we never had access to, but which is also one of the top 100 schools in NSW.

Regardless of who you play football for, it follows you'll be wealthy enough to send your children private, regardless of how clever they are.

biggy

I did say in MY area the private school results were shockin cos they are all too busy concentrating on sports scholerships

DrWho

So, let's get this right... What you're saying to a fairly large number of people on here is that because they can't afford to send their children to private school, their kids are not as intelligent as those whose parents can afford to send them...?

Bollocks... (from someone who spent 10 years at very expensive Prep & Public Schools...)

Assuming all other things being equal I personally think that a good private school will get better results with it's smaller class size, better facilities, etc etc...

Nope... You should stick to the tennis...

biggy

me and OH jad great schooling in the UK...thats what maed us chose state schooling here.....if we were in the UK it wouldnt be an issue...you go to the nearest school and thats that...........we looked into all the schools in the area...and each time yup the state ones came tops.....that will do fir us cos in the UK private wouldnt be an issue

cloughie

In summary, people need to be openminded when they arrive with no pre conceived ideas and do there own research. Then make a decision based on there own family.

iPom

Very, very true.

iPom

Well, I'm happy that you were satisfied with your schooling in the UK.

I certainly wasn't, but that's because I was in a shite school with crap teachers, a high teen pregnancy rate, but they had a good school choir, so at least I left being able to sing properly.

That's not the future I want for my children.

OzTennis

Addressing the comments in pink:

I'll preface my remarks by saying I come from Melbourne which has just a few more private schools and people than NQld ('a place in the sun for shady people')

Para 1 - OK, I didn't read the earlier comments and didn't read the context of your comment about the headteacher with the memory for names.

Para 2 - you didn't respond to my point that you consider the systems of the 2 countries so different as to make comparisons impossible.

Para 3 and 4 - see above, I can only repeat that, in Melbourne at least, there are factors other than can I afford it, when deciding which system to enrol one's children in.

You mention state by state variations but I never ceased to be amazed by the number of LEA's in the UK. Just take Scotland for example. There are something like 20 Directors of Education, 20 sets of advisors/advisers, 20 Payroll sections, 20 Policy making bodies .......................... Victoria, one of the smallest states, most of the UK fits into it - one government education dept!

OzTennis

iPom

Perhaps the Oz end is more efficient than the UK end.

biggy

och bugger that....I was in a small village and had the good old fashioned education. a still canny spel like haha. whit a nugget i am.

the kids school here reminds me a bit of what we were like........every teacher knows the kids.....the headmaster is a blast!!!! but has the respect of the whole school. My duaghters teacher likes to be known as Rick...not Mr Parker..........its just a brilliant place to be......they know the lock down precedures etc but never seem to need them. We had the tsunami alert a couple weeks back and the principle said.....ahhhh no worries lookin at the maps the worst we will get is wet feet lol pure class