If money wasnt an issue

[Roryrory]

If money wasn't an issue I would move to an area to ensure my children went to a good public school. We are just out of the catchment for the very good highschool that DH and I both attended - apparently kids from our area can get in if their grade 6 marks are up to scratch.

As for a private school - DH and I would be hard-pressed to find one which reflected our outlook on life. We are both not at all disposed towards religion and probably lean more to atheism, and our politics is quite left. So I would not like the idea of sending my kids to a private school which on the whole tend to be policitally conservative and religious. This stems from my own experience - I was at a private school til year 10 when I became quite politically aware and it was really hard for me to stand being at school at all (I switched to the public school I mentioned above and was much happier). So really my biggest reason for not sending our children to a private school is I don't see how we could easily find one which wouldn't be in total opposition to many of the things DH and I believe in. Kind of the same reason why many deeply religious people won't sent their kids to a public school I guess.

(I know there are private schools which are left leaning and secular, but they all tend to be "too far" left for DH's and my liking - ie: the kind of schools where the students decide if they go to class or not. So we are too fussy really LOL!)

[Pandora]

To be perfectly honest, I'd be too scared to homeschool. I have the utmost admiration for other people who do, but its not for me.

If money wasn't an issue I would move to an area to ensure my children went to a good public school.

That would be my first choice as well.

A few of my parents friends and one of my Aunts are primary school teachers in my local area so I have an idea of what's available, and TBH there are only 2 public schools that I'd send DS to of the ones available both are outside my zoned to area. There are 2 private schools we could choose as well, but the one I prefer (smaller class sizes, less focus on religion) would involve a 30+ minute bus trip each way for DS. Or if I had no choice there's one of the many religios schools in my area that I's consider.

As for high schools, not any of the local state schools. If we lived in a different area as I said, I'd have no problem with it, but at really have no choice. I have less of an issue with RE in high school as I think kids are more able to express their own opinions and make up their own minds so I'll have no issue in sending DS to a Catholic boys high school in Toorak. (well other than a sh*tfight with DH)

I always wanted to send any daughters I had to MacRob, -- what are people opinons on selective entrance on-private schools? I've alswyas classed Melbourne High and MacROb as private schools even though technically they arent..

[suse]

It's hypothetical - I can't see us ever having the money to pay for private schools, but even if we did, we would be in a very similar situation to RoryRory, in that some of the secular, liberal private school models seem to be lacking in structure in their curriculum.

Although, there could be a benefit in sending my child to one of the more progressive religious schools in the area, perhaps exposure to ideas that he will have little exposure to at home or at a secular school will help him to shape his own views on the subject?

Dachlostar, I had to giggle at your comment that there were no goth (for example) teachers in the private school that you attended, to your knowledge. My old housemate had been a teacher at one of Melbourne's most conservative private schools - he lived an incredibly alternative lifestyle and his personal political views certainly did not match those of the school! He had his 'teaching' alter-ego and his 'at home' personality, and never the twain did meet, although he did try to include alternate viewpoints in his lessons when he could sneak them in. So it's quite possible that under the Clark Kent exterior of many private school teachers lurks an alternative 'superhero'! (But your point that a conservative system may not encourage visibly alternative lifestyles and thus may impose a similar rigidity in the views it allows to be taught is well taken!!).

[fionas]

The biggest difference I noticed between public and private school kids was confidence. As a bit of background, I went to a public ie. state school in the UK and out of 300 kids in my year, I was one out of 5 who made it to university. That's not because I was with a bunch of dummies; just that the teaching wasn't great and more importantly kids from a working class background weren't expected to be able/want to go to uni. At that time 93% of UK kids were educated in state schools but only made up 50% of the university population. This was about 20 years ago though so I'm sure things have improved since then.

So having mixed with a lot of private school kids at uni, I was really amazed to find that they weren't any brighter than most of the kids I went to school with. They had just been better trained for exams and were full of confidence that their opinion mattered. When I got to Australia most of my XH's friends were from private school backgrounds and the same thing applied - they were filled with confidence. And confidence gets you a long way!

I must say I used to be a bit of a snob about people's education levels in the "well if I can get two degrees when my mum was a cleaner and my dad was a car sprayer then anyone can" mould. Now having had much more life experience, the people who fascinate me the most are the ones who are self-taught. I have, over the years, become very lazy about learning new things because I think my head basically got 'full' at uni; whereas my partner left (actually was expelled) from school at 16 and is much more knowledgeable about the world than I am with his head constantly in Noam Chomsky, The Economist or The Age.

[Phteven]

that's interesting fiona, about private school producing people with more confidence. I read recently in one of the education supplements that public school children who go on to university are more successful there so maybe having less confidence could have its advantages if it makes people work harder or maybe it's more applicible to the UK where the class system is more deeply entrenched.

[Jo+3]

I've read that too that once at univesity, private school students have a higher drop out rate. I think this is to do with the "spoon feeding" they receive in high school. My beliefs don't necessarily sway to private or public, but to what is the best school in my area. After much research I decided to send my dd to the local Catholic Primary school. Although I am baptised Catholic, I am not practicing, but her school has such a lovely community feel about it and I am happy for her to have religion introduced to her at school. She can choose when she is older if she wants to follow any religion or not. The school demographic represents a wide range of students from various social, economic and cultural backgrounds and they teach about other backgrounds, religions etc. (actually more so than the local public primary). My other 2 dd's will go there and then I will be sending them to one of the Catholic Girls colleges in high school. I have read that girls actually perform better in single sex school than in co ed situations, whereas boys it doesn't matter. The fees aren't as high as a private school, but the school does seem to offer more in terms of extra carricular activities and class sizes were smaller and they encourage alot of parent involvement than our local public school. I think at the end of the day, education is the best gift we can give our children and public or private doesn't matter. You need to do the research and find out what is best for your family.

[Pandora]

Actually, regarding boys and single sex education, it can make a significant difference as boys and girls learn differently.
There is an excellent book called Why Gender Matters by Dr Leonard Sax that talks about it.
There are a few schools (private and public, single sex and co-ed) in Melbourne that are introducing single sex classes for some subjects and co-ed for others as well.

...but the school does seem to offer more in terms of extra carricular activities and class sizes were smaller and they encourage alot of parent involvement than our local public school. I think at the end of the day, education is the best gift we can give our children and public or private doesn't matter. You need to do the research and find out what is best for your family.

That's exactly what it comes down to for me to Jo.

[JadeLil]

I totally agree Divvy.... I strongly believe in giving the best education to my children... I would sacrifice any want to make sure my kids receive a great education. My parents gave up a lot for my private school education and I am very grateful for that! I knew girls at my school who would travel over an hour everyday to get to school because their parents also believed it was one of the better schools in Brisbane. Sometimes I feel that some parents only think of themselves and not of their kids when it comes to schooling for their kids... high-school in Queensland is only 5 years... 5 years of going without somethings and working hard is not much of a parents life to give up for their kids. That's what I think anyway.

[Karina]

I am a huge fan of public schools. I went to 2 different co-ed catholic primary school, then an all girl catholic school up until the end of year 10, and then moved to a co-ed public school for year 11 and 12.

I had the same kinds of issues at my Catholic school as Roryrory mentioned and this was one of the big reasons I felt that I could not stay there. Once I moved to a public school, I felt that I was able to express myself more and that I was more free to have my own opinions on issues without getting told off for not agreeing with my teacher.

I found at the catholic school we were pretty much taught only one viewpoint (on everything, not just religious issues) and I dont feel that this would make for a very well rounded person, if you get what I mean. If you were to have an opinion differnt to that of a teachers, you would be told you were wrong. At my public school, I had friends from different cultural backgrounds and I leanred alot about customs/traditions in other countries (where my peers were from) and about religious traditions in faiths other than christianity. There were people from varying socio economic backgrounds from all over sydney including the blue mountains, but at the catholic school everyone seemed to be on the same level and were all from "the north shore" or "northern beaches" (the 2 schools were in the same suburb) and there was nowhere near as many differnt nationalities represented. There were also openly gay people (whereas I know of a few girls in my grade at the other school who felt they were unable to 'come out' until much later, even though they knew they were gay at the time.. girls were told off if they were seen holding hands, so I dont blame them for feeling that they could not tell anyone).

So, for me, I felt I had a better experience and was able to grow more as a person in a public school. I felt I was also given more opportunities at my public school. With private schools, (correct me if I'm incoreect) it seems like they're pretty much all catholic, anglican or aimed towards some other faith. We're not religious so we dont want to have Claire attend a religious type school and have those views forced upon her.

DH is also dead-against private schools. He is a teacher is a very good public school. You get crap teachers in any school, public or private, unfortunately. I think we probably will look for a good single sex school for high school, basically becauses boys and girls learn differently. We will have her attend a co-ed primary school though. We have a few more years to think about that though, but I plan on doing some research to find a school that best suits her prsonality and abilities.

[Pretty Butterfly]

I think the area you live in also comes into play. Up here we only have a small number of schools I would send my children too, and only a very few are any good. Numbers are very large, bullying is rife and many kids slip through the cracks. At my kids catholic school, only half are catholic, and religion is not taught every day or rammed down your throat. Class sizes are small, and my daughter gets extra help DAILY for her english skills. We have top of the line resources and sports groups. Kids were expelled last year for fighting outside of school hours!!They have zero tolerance for a lot of bad behaviours, and to our family the money is worth it.

We are on one income with 5 kids, and are definatly not above average in income. I pay per week, with no interest or extra fees, and it is nothing compared to the extra help and attention my kids are getting. We are very far from snobbish, and most families there are just regular folk that want that little bit extra for individual kids. If one of our close public schools offered similar education, then they would of gone there. A small classed, personal public school thats close was just not an option unfortunatly.

[Bathsheba]

I totally agree Jodie and well done! I'm familiar with your area and would send my DD to the girls' school which has a great reputation if we moved to the region. I'm finding it harder to know where to send my sons though. My DD seems to have escaped bullying which was one of my main aims as I was bullied at one of the local public primary schools in your area and it brings back sad memories. If you can send your child to a school with zero tolerance of bullying then half the battle is won! Kids can't learn if they are sitting in class stressing about being bullied every time they put their hand up or go outside.

[Jo+3]

I have to agree purplemamma, the catholic school my daughter goes to encourage teachings about other religions and cultures in their re classes and it is taught in a very informal manner. I think the curriculum offers such wide variety and I disagree that only public schools turn out well rounded children. They are not about bible bashing anymore and I think my daughter has a better understanding of other cultures and religions through her re lessons and the students are encouraged to give their opinions. Even in grade one she is involved in projects within the wider community. Religion is only a small part of her catholic school upbringing and I am happy for her to be in such a caring, loving environment where the students are taght to respect and care for each other..

[aussienic]

I would stay public for Primary and depending on how they were going maybe go private for high school. I like the high school here though but haven't had a child there yet so who knows

[Lady_Penelope]

Our kids currently attend a fantastic public primary school in Queensland - 15kms outside of Brisbane city - in a semi rural setting - surrounded by ex dairy land and acreage, etc. As far as public schools go, it is excellent in terms of its class sizes, school results, etc. It has a real community feel to it.

However - I would point out that it is certainly not as "diverse" as some folk claim public schools to be, in terms of its population, etc. Out of 360 kids, I think there might be one Asian family and one Indian family - and one family from the UK. A lot of the families are also from higher socioeconomic backgrounds.

We WILL be sending our kids off to a private school (daughter will be going next year in grade 6 - and for convenience son will be attending the junior grammar attached to that school next yr in grade 2). My husband and I both come from very "average to below average" public high schools and we were absolutely fine.

However - here in QLD - there is an emerging trend of creating these humungous high schools of 1700 kids plus, which in my opinion, is way too large. I think my kids (esp. daughter) would get lost in our local Kenmore High School (1700 kids).

So we are looking at the private school simply because it is small and has very small class sizes (17 in grade 2 classes and 19 in grade 6 classes). We are also looking at making the move next year simply to help them make a smooth transition (daughter particularly) prior to high school.

So we do not have a bent towards private vs. public in any sense whatsoever - but for us, the size of the school and the size of the classes are what counts. BTW - from going to all of the open nights and days at this Ipswich Grammar School, I can definitely say that it is more diverse than our public school in terms of multiculturalism and socioeconomic groups, etc. (Not that one can ever really be sure re the socioeconomic thing, can they?) So I concur with Bathsheba on that point.

Tracy

[Lady_Penelope]

..............oh yeah - I forgot to mention in terms of diversity - we DID have ONE indigenous family up until a year ago at our Brisbane semi-rural public school. But HEY - that was ERNIE DINGO's kids. So there is absolutely no diversity at our school in reality.

Tracy

[Phteven]

I've been thinking about diversity in schools lately because we're hoping to move to the Blue Mountains soon. The two towns we're looking at buying in both have great schools but I'm a little bit worried that my children will be a target for bullies and discrimination. Their cousin will be at one of the schools but his Mum's not a raghead like me so he will be able to slip under the radar.
TBH at this point I'm thinking that although I prefer public schooling if my boys come home and say that they're having assues with racism I might just suck it up and enroll them in a private school.
It's so sad that in this day and age we still have to worry about such stuff.

[christy]

We were actually contemplating moving to the other side of town in Brissy to go to the Montessori school at Fig Tree Pocket. I like the philosophy there & if money wasn't an option...

But we are moving to Sydney and luckily where we are moving has options. The Montessori is in our suburb but is $2300 a term, so if $$ wasn't an option thats where our girls would be going, but because it is we have found an independant school which fits our families philosophy.

[mrsmac]

I've been thinking about diversity in schools lately because we're hoping to move to the Blue Mountains soon. The two towns we're looking at buying in both have great schools but I'm a little bit worried that my children will be a target for bullies and discrimination. Their cousin will be at one of the schools but his Mum's not a raghead like me so he will be able to slip under the radar.
TBH at this point I'm thinking that although I prefer public schooling if my boys come home and say that they're having assues with racism I might just suck it up and enroll them in a private school.
It's so sad that in this day and age we still have to worry about such stuff.

Dach, often the private schools can be more racist because they tend to have less racial diversity than the public.