Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Just noting my not insignificant experience of present and ex pupils at these schools.


Happy to be a middle class socialist, I don't see anything wrong in wanting an egalitarian society where everyone has a chance to fulfil their potential.

"i suppose it depends upon whether you want your children to have that haughty sense of entitlement and detachment from the real world that comes with such a privileged education"


Proof, if proof were needed, that being a fool is not the exclusive province of ex-private school pupils.


If the OP's question is real rather than hypothetical then I would advise you to go and visit some schools, private and state, and then re-examine your beliefs and ideas in light of what you see and hear. I suspect what you will find is that the differences between schools derive from many factors, and funding status is only one, and not necessarily the most important.

Need to give thought to cost: Dulwich schools cost about ?18000 p.a., if you have two kids that's ?36,000 pa. before tax, you'd need to earn approx ?60,000 just to pay fees. Then there are the trips, kit uniform that you have to add on.


Over thirteen years of schooling you would be paying about ?230,000 per child. Don't know if you have a mortgage, but that's a lot of property.


Friends with children in private school reckon you need a family income of about ?200,000 pa to be comfortable with the fees.


Hope this is helpful.

Brezzo - thank you for setting the finances out. I wouldn't send our kids to private primary though I was open to secondary given the anticipated difficulty in getting into secondary schools in the area in 6-8 years time. But aside from probably never hitting a combined salary of that amount, I wouldn't want us to be financially bound to pay such a huge sum of money for the rest of their school life plus university on top of that. I'd rather save up for university and ensure we can be as committed as possible to helping and supporting our kids through school.


If we won the lottery and didn't have any financial constraints then I would definitely be open to it, but my husband would probably still be very against it.

I think this is a rather difficult question as many factors are involved in the descion making process (your child, local schools, being able to afford it). I do think to much focus is on exam results (some private schools get high exam results by putting extreme pressure on young children). Then again some state schools are not unlocking many students talents because of budget/time restrictions.


I do beleive no school can be a substitute to parenting -spending time together as a family for me is a far more important than working 24/7 to pay for school fees.

Totally depends on the private school, the state alternative and the child. Some state schools are full almost exclusively with privileged children whose parents can pay a millions for their home. Some private schools have the majority of the children on bursaries. The feel, attitude and ethos of every school is different regardless of its funding status.


Also, if my child was really into theatre and the private school had an amazing program / facilities that catered to her particular interests, then that would of course factor into it. Same if there was a state school with an amazing music program.


The truth of the matter is, sending your child to state school does not equalize educational opportunities in and of itself. There are vast differences between the quality of different state schools and most parents who can, use their economic power to buy into areas with the best state school system they can afford. Its really no different to paying for private school from a moral standpoint.

As far as I'm concerned it is a choice of how you spend your money.If you have an environmental conscience, then instead of buying a massive -engined gas guzzling car and flying half way around the world twice a year- you might choose to spend the money on education.
I have 3 kids, 2 in state and one in private - we have experience of 3 state schools, one of which was in Dulwich Village (no names); all very good schools in their own ways. But I can tell you easily the most mono-culture of all 4 schools (including private) in terms of race and 'class' , for want of better words, was the state school in Dulwich Village, which was also excellent, no fault of anyone just house prices; so as others have said, there's plenty of money doing its thing in the state sector....

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • AI Agents. I have been getting into the weeds of them. Turns out they can be VERY good at finding out about posters and their patterns. This should be fun.
    • Just had a brilliant class on the reformer machine at Casa Core - a great instructor and fantastic equipment in a beautiful space. I hope people support the place and that it becomes established - an asset for E Dulwich
    • RSPCA advice on keeping dogs safe in the heat:  'Dogs die on hot walks Dogs are 10 times more likely to suffer heat-related illnesses from exercising in hot weather than from overheating in cars. Learn how to keep dogs safe and help us raise awareness of this deadly problem.' https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/pets/dogs/health/hotwalks?utm_source=Campaigns_Hotwalks_10072025&utm_medium=email&utm_content=button1&utm_campaign=Campaigns_Hotwalks_10072025&campaigncode=25STNFDIGVXA1
    • I didn't say anything was "a fact". I said it was "hardly likely" 🙄 Do you seriously think someone would go out of their way to harm or kill an unusual animal? Even assuming they ever actually saw it? And then you deleted your post. Did you not want people to see what you had said?
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...