Primary Education - Catholic vs State

[wattle]

Does anyone send their kids to a Catholic primary school?

We are planning to send ours to Catholic secondary school but are undecided about primary. Does anyone know if there is much difference between the two at a primary level?

Thoughts? Comments?

[Stretchmark Diva]

Hello, looks like no-one replied to this, so I thought I would. :D

We send our daughter to a Catholic Primary because:
1. We are Catholic;
2. The school has a great reputation (although our local State School does too);
3. We intend to send our kids to Private Catholic High Schools, and this primary school is a "feeder" school for the High School we have her booked into;
4. It has a great before and after school care and vacation care programme which is essential as I work part time and my DH travels a lot.
5 The school is conveniently located near my IL's and close to work (but not to home).

[RuthK]

Our son is special needs and we have found out that state schools do not provide assistance to children with special needs (ie: a carer that's there to assist them) whereas catholic schools do. You can pay a little more for a catholic primary school though as they do not get as much funding from the state goverment. Also, if you have a catholic secondary school in mind for your child, having been to a catholic primary school means that they usually get automatically accepted to the secondary school, whereas if they went to a primary school first that mightn't automatically happen.

[SassyMummy]

I won't be send DD to a private school because it's very difficult to find a co-ed (school with both genders) for High Schoolers, and we're not religious. If there were a nice non-religious co-ed private school I might...but then, I wouldn't necessarily want her hanging out with kids that were mostly richer than her, as in order to pay for her schooling, we'd be lacking in other areas of our life. I wouldn't want her to feel like a "have not" when compared to other kids who could afford more.

I went to Catholic school for my first two years of school, and it was very good education-wise (I was doing long division at the end of my 2nd year of school!), but I think that the religious aspect over-ruled everything. We went to church every day and spent endless amounts of time on the floor praying around a candle. When I was young, that was okay, but I don't think kids should be FORCED to pray...IMO, if they pray at all, it should be when they WANT to and have something worth praying about. Just my opinion.

Another reason I won't be sending my daughter to a private school is that I've socialised with many girls who have been to all-girls schools...and they just seem very giggly and naive. Not ALL of them...but a lot of them, in general, are more giggly than public-schoolers. They're also very strange around boys...perhaps because they don't socialise with them too much.

While both sides of the fence (public or private) have pros and cons in relation to relationships with the opposite sex, I'd rather my daughter socialise with boys and understand how they are (and that they CAN be lying and mean and do whatever it takes to get in your knickers) than have it sprung upon her. Again, not all girls-school girls are giggly naive bimbos (as I seem to have inferred...sorry about that), but on a whole, they do tend to be. That said, sometimes public school girls are more trashy...but who knows.

I think a lot of it depends on the area in which you live too - I plan on getting DD into a nice public school...not a dirty old rubbish one (like my high school! lol).

Oh - also had to add - 2 of hte private schools near me are very gender-specific in some of their classes. At the girls school, they have only home-ec...whereas at the boys, they have only woodwork/metalwork subjects...I think that's pretty awful...some girls want to learn trades and some boys would like to sew/cook!

[Mamaduke]

We will be sending Jesse to our local Catholic primary school next year.
For us, there's never been any other option but to attend a Catholic school - both primary and secondary.
We're Catholic so that is a contributing factor, but there is also class sizes, discipline, community spirit, respect for self, others & property, celebrating the Sacraments & that I've been told by various people that this particular school is the best in the area academically.
I went to a Catholic primary & secondary school and I still remember how wonderful my first year with Sister Catherine was - I still remember that every time an adult came into the room we would all stand up and say, "Good morning/afternoon Mr/s ...... & God bless you" - I think that's sweet!

[jessgray]

i went to a catholic school during grade 3 and i also went to a few different public schools. in victoria the only the difference i could see was the fact the catholic school had religous education.

[missie_mack]

Hi

I went to a catholic primary school and in high school started in catholic and changed to public for various reasons I will explain in a min.

Our local catholic school isnt all that expensive put into perspective. They dont charge anymore to have 2 kids at school as to have 4 kids at school which I think is good on the financial aspect. Education wise I still believe that private schools (not neccessarily catholic) are superior. When I went to public high school in year 7 the public school didnt value the information provided by my catholic school and I was placed in a intermediate class. During this time I found I had done most of the work in primary school and by the time i was placed in an advanced class (at my mothers begging) they had proceeded past what I knew and I had problems keeping up as I was always behind the eight ball. I still believe I suffered for this the rest of my schooling although I did better than the normal at school.

Other than that I felt that the catholic school was much stricter where the public system doesnt seem to have the same level of care and control. In my first high school music class the kids sat there and threw paper at the teacher and generally played up I sat there dumb founded!!

I think your kids may find it difficult to settle into the private system after being in the public system and there will also have difficulties keeping up with their RE classes (in my opinion) My husband isnt catholic or religious and is actually a public school teacher yet we have agreed that our kids will at least go to primary school in the catholic system and should we have the finances we hope to send our kids on with high school.

Now there are some advantages in the public system but I found most of these were applicable in High school with subject selections and resources. I few have mentioned about church and praying. I dont remember attending church daily but I know we prayed. Dont see that as being a drama but then again Im catholic lol I would research your local schools and people who have children in them. What their practices are and what you find disturbing. Weigh up your options...

Good luck its a tough call......

[Mum&bubs]

I would like to send my DD to a private school but a non religious one as we are not religious but i dont know if there is such a thing!