Private School or Govenment School?

My son is in a Curro school - and I am very happy.

A big consideration for me as well, was the size of the classes. The class only accommodate a max of 20 pupils, which for me is great! In grade RR they were 15 in the class, and now in Grade R they are 14. I love smaller classes.

Further, the monthly fee was the same as nursery school - so we just continued paying that.

Gloeiwurmpie -Number one on your list - my son is in the Afrikaans class, but the Afrikaans kids do First language English(not Second Language English as in most Afrikaans Government schools)
Then number 3 on your list was an issue for us as well. We then decided We would rather give our children the best education we can afford, and learn them the little life lessons from an early stage - You do not have to have everything you see, or somebody else has. I must say, up to this stage at Curro, I never felt this was a problem.


All this said - go and look at schools - private and government, ask, ask, ask questions. There are good government schools(they are normally a little bit more expensive) . Make a list like Gloeiwurmpie of what is important to you and and your child/children.

Good luck - it is not an easy decision!!

ha ha ha Bandile!

Yes, these are tough choices to make. But I tell myself that having a strong basis at home, parents that love each other is more important than the school you go to. Therefore your choice should in my opinion first honor that fact that the household should be a happy one. If your school's choice does put strain on your marriage and household for ex. pressure to earn enough money can seriously harm a marriage and cause more stress than just putting your child in a good government school.
Education is important - but I believe a happy home with parents who are able to spend enough quality time with their children as opposed to always being at work in order to pay for private schooling is more important.

I guess at this point one has to sit down with a financial planner or do your own calculations and look at your financial state carefully, being realistic about things like pension funds, tertiary savings etc.

Close family of mine sent all three their children to a good private school but couldn't keep up with the fees. Eventually after 7 years they had to put them in government schools and they were financially bankrupt. There were other financial strains as well, but if they never put their children in private schools (which they couldn't really afford) their financial state wouldn't have looked so dire. I think if you want to put your child/children in a private school, you should be able to do so comfortably or you might get into trouble. From what I have seen taking a child out from a private school can be a big adjustment because the level of attention children get from private schools are a lot more than government schools, especially in the lower grades.

Anyway, maybe I am generalising too much?

ohhh my word, my goodness me. gloeiwurmpie, u put things into perspective. what a nightmare this is becoming. so much to consider! God help us all.

Bandile: I also don't know how the Meridian schools are so much cheaper than the Curro schools. I see there are only about 5 Meridian schools in the country (none are close enough for me). Maybe someone that is close to one of those can inspect and tell us what the Meridian school entails - is it on the same curriculum as the curro private schools or what?

Tazzy: I guess it all depends what you have available in terms of your government schools close to you. There are some really terrible government schools and there are really brilliant ones.

The important things for us that I pondering about this whole issue is....

1. Despite the fact that we are afrikaans and I love my mother tongue I can not get away from the fact that speaking english fluently is essential in being successful in your profession one day. I am concerned that if we put her in an afrikaans school she will not be fluent enough in english to have all the posibilities including being able to go abroad should the need arise in her life. Taking in account our country's volatile political environment, the need to be prepared to successfully adjust abroad (should it be needed) is important to us, although we are passionate about our home country and very positive about building a better future for our children here.

2. We have a very good afrikaans government school close to us but I am concerned that this school does not reflect the country's wonderful mix of different cultures and races. I feel this is not an actual portrayal of the work environment that she will enter one day and I feel it is important to be able to get along with different cultures of our country to be able to be successful in her career one day.

3. Although there are wonderfully humble and non-materialistic parents in private schooling, I fear that once you enter your child in a private school you enter a certain level of competing with the Joneses. Although you might turn your back to this your child might feel like an outcast if he doesn't have the latest new gadget or the fancy birthday party. I have seen all of this happen although I think private schools do differ with regards to this, but it is still a factor.

4. I am concerned about how hard the children are pushed especially in primary school. From what I have seen the children in Private schools are pressured hard to perform, already entering the mindset of the importance of competition, which does not suit our view point of why we are here on earth. I don't really care if my child becomes a laywer or doctor - fulfulling her life goal is more important to us and that she is happy and well adjusted in life.

5. The fee you pay monthly for private schooling is not all there is. If the monthly fee is around R2300 you can bargain on at least R1000 extra per month on top of that for various other costs - so I have witnessed from many friends. This does not include any other extra mural activities at all...Those are pricey especially at private schools. Keep in mind that most schools raise their fees between 5 - 10% per year. If your salary/income does not climb with that rate and you can afford it now by the skin of your teeth...well, I guess you might be making debt that you will be repaying as a pensioner one day perhaps?

6. Thinking of the cost of tertiary education is also important - in fact if you don't start saving for it now you will probably not be able to send your child one day, or your child will have to take out a study loan which can take a while to kill.

7. On the other hand I am really really really really (yes really) concerned about the discipline strategy followed in normal government schools. I am almost convinced they use an authoritarian approach which I find problematic in primary school. In high school the childs self-esteem is formed and I am not so much concerned about that in high school as in primary school. Private schools are known to use more positive discipline - which we use at home. I will have to go to government schools and sit and watch in one of the classrooms to make my own deductions about this. Major concern about this because my child is a very sensitive soul.

There is a lot to consider indeed!!

I never realised choosing a school would be so hard, but so as having children. I must admit I still don't understand the difference between Meridien and Curro Schools.

I always had my heart set on private primary school for my girls, but now that the time has come to enrol I actually cant get my head around it. We are in Natal Midlands and do have a stunning public school at a Quarter of the cost. Its difficult to justify the difference in fees between these 2 schools.
Maybe it goes down to a "status" thing, I dont know?

Thanks Carmen for explaining the difference between the Curro private schools and Meridian schools. I am surprised to see the Meridian school in PTA central is cheaper than the government schools in my area! Don't know how they manage to do that!