Every time a private school closes, Scotland's education system is diminished |
At a dinner party a few months ago, my husband and I were the only guests who had gone to a comprehensive school. We could have guessed that from our fellow diners’ accents, but in true middle-class fashion, as we tucked into our venison, conversation turned to how the younger couples’ children were being educated. One pair had a daughter at prep school, and a son at boarding school. Another had sent both their kids to an independent school while they were of primary age but could not, or did not want to, afford a fee-paying secondary education. Instead, they had enrolled them in a state school.
Quickly it became clear that, wherever they were, all these youngsters were thriving. Although I used to sneak home through the woods of Belhaven Preparatory School when I was young – until caught by a school master toting a rifle – my experience of private schools is minimal. Coming as I do from a family of teachers, all staunch advocates of the state system, even to suggest that independent schools are a necessary part of the educational scene will probably be viewed as heresy.
Nevertheless, although I used to be sceptical about the advantages these expensive and cliquish establishments conferred, I’ve done a Starmer-esque U-turn. Unless there was a compelling reason – a terrible local state school, say, or better private provision for a child’s particular needs – I wouldn’t choose it myself, but I can see why some consider it the better option.
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