On 2008-07-25 00:32:21 +0100, "John" said:

Those who can, work, those that can't teach! My children are now in private
education, not just because of that episode by the way ;-)

Cheers

John

FWIW, I've seen the same scenario, except that with mine the state
school had created classes covering two age years and was using the
more able and older children to effectively provide teaching assistance
for the younger and less able ones and deliberately holding them back.
The low quality of teaching staff was already showing at that time
which was almost 20 years ago now. With our son, some three years
younger, there was never an attempt at using the state system - it was
clear that it's too badly broken.

One thing that I can tell you is that a private education for your
children is the best investment that you will ever make. Even if you
decide to return to the state system at age 11 or 13, you will have
made an enormous difference during the primary years where it matters
even more. The galling thing is having to pay twice, both payments
out of taxed income, but even with that I think it was still well worth
it.