Private or public school? - it depends on the staff....

Wednesday, 29 July 2009 15:11

There is a saying "be careful what you wish for." I had put Sam's name down late on the private schools' waiting lists and hoped that he would get in because I thought private school would be better than public school. Finally, we got an interview last week.... and we will turn the school down!

This particular private school is elitist. Acceptance is paved by having a Dad who is in the Old Boys Club, sits on the right Boards and encourages you to play Rugby at school. The school has father-son days but no mother-son days. The perfect family has a working dad and non-working mum, possibly involved at board level with a charity or two. Unfortunately for Private Schools, the Global Financial Crisis has hit their core target market.

I did wrestle with the values I would be exposing Sam to. Still, I was very excited. The school had a brochure on gifted children and a section on their website. They would be able to cater for Sam and they would have the resources to do this!

In the interview the Headmaster focused more on teaching Sam good discipline (sit on the chair, put your hand in front of your mouth when you cough) than in genuinely engaging him. When we tried to explain that Sam was advanced in Maths, he asked Sam to count to 10! He said that we had to understand that in their caliber of school all boys are intellectually above average. There was no need for a different treatment for Sam: if Sam was ahead then they would get him to study the theory of the subject matter in class so that he understood the concepts in deeper detail and they believed this was more appropriate than acceleration.

Their approach to learning would drive Sam nuts!

This week we visited the local primary school. There was no one-on-one interview. All the children were thrown together and given an opportunity to experience a class and other activities for 1.5 hours. After the session, the teacher said excitedly to me that Sam was walking around the school and reading all the signs and information. She said that she would be very excited to have Sam the following year. Possibly in the first instance, he should just familiarize himself with being in Year K and the school routine but then they needed to adapt a differentiated learning plan for him. He might be in say, Year 3 for Maths, Year 1 for English, and Year K for sport and activities. It would be important to balance his intellectual interest with his social and emotional development and take all this into account to keep him engaged and stimulated. Aaah!!!

As Sam's dad says, the only question still left is how far up his bottom the Headmaster's flashlight is lost. In terms of where we send our son to school, there was no question. I am sure there are good private schools - we just have not made it to the interview stage for any of these. I hope our public school teacher doesn't leave because she seems just wonderful.