Over the years parents have become increasingly desperate in their quest to find the best education for their children, be it state provided or within the private sector. However in these days of budgetary restrictions it is quite natural to ask the question – does the private system really offer the best value education? There was a time when it would have been considered sacriligeous to even think about the cost let alone weigh up the pros and cons for each system!

 We have all become accustomed to the idea of shopping around to get the best value for our hard earned pennies, for some the idea of paying for something that is provided freely by the state is ludicrous, whereas others look at their local state school in despair. There seems to be very little choice, especially in inner city areas, where the prospect of their child attending a school where police regularly patrol in an effort to keep pupil violence to a minimum is horrifying. We all know that the teaching staff who work in these schools are doing an admirable job in very trying circumstances but that doesn’t make it any more palatable for the parents stuck within the schools’ catchment area!

There are a couple of options open to parents who are unwilling to accept second best. They can either bite the bullet or send their child to an independent school where school fees are around £9000 a year or more or increase their mortgage drastically and move into the catchment area of a good state school.

So is it better to uproot the family home and move near a good state school or go private?

It may seem to be a more appealing option to pay a premium and move the family home so that your child can attend a high achieving state school in that catchment area; but what happens when they move from primary to high school yet another move will be on the cards. Becoming almost nomadic in the pursuit of an education is stressful in it and unfortunately will not guarantee your child a place in the school even if you live beside the school gates. Playing the system by moving home would be entirely undermined if a school or council opt for a lottery system which many local authorities are increasingly turning to in the vain hope of making schools more accessible.

Apart from the uncertainty using this option to gain access to a good state school according to a study by the London School of Economics there is very little to be gained financially. The report concluded that the added costs for homes within the catchment areas of good high schools was amazingly close to the total cost of school fees for a private school with comparable exam results.

This does seem to be a somewhat crude way of comparing the independent and the state sector based on cost alone. Private education in many instances will exceed that of state provision, even a good grammar will not be able offer the facilities or the activities that are considered normal in the private sector.

Cost although important is not the best measure to determine what constitutes best value for money. Children educated within the private sector grow up to become confident and outgoing because they have been nurtured from a very young age, and allowed to develop in an environment where they  are encouraged  to reach their own personal goals.

The latest Independent Schools Inspectorate’s visit to Dover College in January 2012 found that, “Pupils’ development is excellent throughout the school, fully meeting its aims of developing confidence by educating the whole person”.