[mmk]

My initial thoughts were that DS would just go to public school - I went to one and I turned out ok. DH felt the same.

Now I've been talking to people and for various reasons I'd like DS to go to a private school so he thinks that study is normal etc, and even if he is one of the worst performing kids his results will be much better than if he was an average kid at our local public school. Obviously at this stage I have no idea how he'll do academically, but he has a lot of determination, is very observant and very switched on. I never assumed he'd be anything other than average at school, but I don't want to disadvantage him when he has the potential to be up there with the 'smart' kids. I just want him to have all of the extra opportunites available to him that getting the grades opens up.

DS is 4, so he'll be starting prep next year. I don't want to just send him for high school because I think the step up (of study expectations) will be too great, so I was thinking grade 4 or 5. If he starts this young then we will obviously have to drive him (or get a school bus) so this would limit the schools he could go to I'm guessing because of access.

Another option is to send him to one school for prep-3, another for 4-6 (to prepare for high school), then whichever school was better for high school when he could make his own way there. Some of the high schools though don't have a junior school attached, so he can't just be driven there for 2 or 3 years until he can make his own way there.

We also don't see the point of paying 10k for prep if it's not going to make that much difference in the later years, which is why we were thinking of grade 4-6 to change schools. We can afford private school, but it's going to mean lifestyle changes so we were going to hold off if it won't disadvantage him.

So what would you do? Send him to potentially 3 schools? Or limit high school options by not considering those that don't have a junior school? Or just throw him in the deep end from public primary to private secondary? Or any other option I haven't thought of...

TIA

[Hausfrau]

Now I've been talking to people and for various reasons I'd like DS to go to a private school so he thinks that study is normal etc, and even if he is one of the worst performing kids his results will be much better than if he was an average kid at our local public school. Obviously at this stage I have no idea how he'll do academically, but he has a lot of determination, is very observant and very switched on. I never assumed he'd be anything other than average at school, but I don't want to disadvantage him when he has the potential to be up there with the 'smart' kids. I just want him to have all of the extra opportunites available to him that getting the grades opens up.

One of the top performing schools in my state is a public high school. It does much better than the top private schools.

My DD has been to a very bad school. So many people tried to turn us away because their kid didn't do well there. There was a lot of violence and had a bad reputation. The school was made of of mostly poor white kids, Indigenous kids and Indonesian kids. BUT the school was amazing. When we moved states we found that DD and DS were actually 2 years ahead of their new school. They did so well at the old "bad" school. I think a lot of it is up to the child, not the school.

DD is 8 and has a great attitude to study. She is always doing her homework and often makes up her own assignment when she runs out of homework. Her schools have had homework but there was no pressure to actually complete it.