Private Schools
Private Day Schools, Private High Schools and Private Boarding Schools

Giving a child the best possible start in life is something that features high on the list of most parents’ priorities.  What this generally transpires to mean is giving children the best or most appropriate education.

For many parents that means only one thing, a private school education.

As a result of charging fees for attendance, private schools are generally better funded than state funded schools.  This greater funding benefits private education and the students who attend private school in the following ways:-

• Greater access to teachers due to smaller class sizes and a higher ratio of teachers-to-students.

This in turn leads to more emphasis being placed upon higher academic standards.  Students who graduate from private schools generally achieve higher grades than those who graduate from state schools.  There are, of course, exceptions to this rule but as an average, grades attained by private school graduates are higher than those from state funded schools whether that is in the US, Canada, UK, Australia or New Zealand.

As a result of the higher than average grades more students who attend private schools go onto college and, indeed, more students from private school secure places at the better colleges and universities around the world.

This ‘raised bar’ in terms of academic achievement and the flow of students into higher education is further encouraged by the culture of expectancy that predominates within private schools.  Many private schools expect their graduates to win a place at the worlds better universities.  This prevailing culture and the fact that this path is already well-beaten generates its own expectation and consequent success.

• More investment in and exposure to the arts.

Children who attend private school are more likely to receive an education in the arts alongside the more traditional academic subjects.

Many private schools have excellent Arts facilities including, music, theatre, creative and fine arts studios and equipment, so good in some cases that they can put on highly elaborate performances and shows, thereby exposing their students to all the practical and life experiences that this entails.

• Better equipment and facilities as a whole

Private schools tend to have better facilities than the majority of state schools, from science labs to sports fields and canteens to computers, the investment in facilities is greater.  This is due in great part to the increased financial resources that private schools have available, but also because the private school owners are aware that they have to deliver value for money because the parents of the children who attend their schools are customers as well as interested parents.  This commercial aspect of private schools makes them more immediately accountable, if they do not ‘deliver the goods’, their customers (children and their parents) will go elsewhere.

• Teachers

As mentioned above, there is greater access to teachers in private schools than state schools, but what about the quality of the teaching staff?

Most parents will have seen a report in the media at some stage of unqualified teachers being allowed to teach in a private school at one time or another.  It is the case that teachers at private schools (this applies to most countries) are not required to have the same certificates as state school teachers and this has led to concerns over how qualified the teaching staff at private schools are.

The reality of the situation is that a private school with unqualified teachers will very soon get found out and when found out the ramifications are, more often than not, particularly significant in that private schools exist and thrive on reputation, if their reputation is adversely affected this will effect enrolment and can eventually cause schools to close down.  As a result private schools are usually very selective when recruiting teachers and choose educators with knowledge and training that is applicable to the subject they are teaching.

The major advantage private schools have over state schools is choice.  If a parent opts to educate their child in a state school the choice of which school and where is usually determined by where the family reside.  If they happen to be in the catchment areas of a good school then great, if not, they have few if any options.

With private schools, on the other hand, geography is not a determining factor on admission.  Having chosen to educate their children privately parents have opened up a selection of schools that may have very different educational styles and emphasis.  Every school has a unique character and this is even more apparent with private schools.

Choosing how and where to educate a child is a hugely difficult decision and whatever choice is made it does not guarantee that a child’s formative years will go incident free.

It is imperative that parents conduct the necessary research into any school and also remain involved in the whole education process. Private schools can reduce many of the concerns of parents, such as class sizes and academic achievement and provide parents with more instant accountability than state school.  In many cases private school can provide the ideal environment for children to learn and enjoy the learning experience.