Primary school education for children (PRIVATE)

Hello Everyone,

We still have plenty of time before our little one will go to school but I thought I will ask on this forum as here we have loads of people who knows how things works in Poland and I'm only learning now. So basically if we would be living back in UK there is no doubt our little one will go to some good private school for girls, we would like same option in Poland.

I read there is loads of private schools in every bigger town but do they really teach well? I don't mind dropping her off to Krakow as long as this would be a good investment...

Any experience in Polish schools? Could you compare level of education between western countries and Poland? I know the main problem is that they don't teach methodology (now they may do, I don't know)

Any recommendations? Perhaps current cost of it? (I would be setting up a budget for it surely)

Thanks in advance and all the best!
Luke

Is there nothing on the web to suggest that such schools exist, how much they charge, their results, what happens to students afterwards?

I would love to have an opinion straight from parent who has child in that sort of school in Poland, I know there is a local school in our little town, I believe there is a monthly fee of 350pln which sounds low but I have no idea about level of education in that school, ok they are advertising it nicely, etc etc but actual comments from parents would be better of.

What is important in my opinion:
- small classes so kids can pay more attention to what is happening
- good teachers, you are paying more for school so perhaps money goes into some motivated teachers who should be the best
- school need to teach kids how to think, they need to have debates so everyone can say their own opinion not like here is a book, author was fantastic, etc maybe he was not fantastic at all but he clearly did something to be mentioned, etc

- I don't mind paying more for school, end of the day you are saving loads of money on private tuitions that way and they would be needed at some point, probably not as early as in primary education but possibly in college?

- I don't expect these schools to be filled with "rich kids", it's not like Harrow in UK where you pay including all of the extra interests your kids may have in a region of 25-30k GBP, this type of school is probably affordable to most of parents...

Obviously every parent wants the best for their kids, I don't know who she will become later in life but at least I will try to show her some possibilities and will support her if she will choose something which won't be paid as well as other opportunities, in the end she needs to be happy and enjoy what she is doing. Again I would love to know on how schools in Poland teach, maybe all schools has same materials like private schools, not sure, hence I asked. I want to avoid situation in future when we need to take her to different school or country if we think that school is not preparing our child for life... I know there is a parent job to do and we will cover that end of stick, however there is another end which needs to be fullfilled by school...

to be honest if I couldn't afford a proper private school I would stay away from those crappy little cheap ones, whatever country I was in.

A mate of mine went to a fee paying private school. But it wasnt entrance exam based and really was just for wealthier kids, with the school promising more attention to detail but in reality the results were no better than elsewhere. I think a proper private education along the lines of whats on offer in the UK, would be a good draw and beneficial to the quality of education. The teachers would be dealing with the brightest students, without having to waste time on those not wanting to learn. So this would be a draw for both good teachers and parents. But it would need to be entrance exam based. Also if possible, to use the more upper level of examining board/curriculum in order to really test the students and that would in time be favourably looked on by universities.

you see it is that kind of attitude that really ****** me off. It seems that if a kid is already good at something then they are considered to be better people and more deserving than other kids who are perfectly well behaved but don't score highly in an IQ test.

So would teaching a kid who didn't score highly in an IQ test be a 'waste of time'?
Vile attitudes really.

I think every child deserve attention and schools should determine which profile would be right, some kids cannot stand I don't know let say maths but they are great at sport. I would be expecting a school to find that sort of talent or even interest which child has and then we can develop that further with both parents and school input, that would be ideal. We cannot say one is more clever than the other, every human being would be good at certain thing, problem is that we have loads of people who are waste of time (I'm talking about the ones which does drugs etc) but as a child they didn't had a clue what the drug is, they were like blank piece of paper with was then filled by life. This is where school and parents should put the kid on right track, by observing child interest, what he/she is good at etc. You can become a PRO of anything, that has been proven, all you need to do is to spend 10000 hours practising it, of course if you hate it and you doing it only because someone told you you must do that, you will have no passion and you may still do it but you won't be happy.

I don't mind if I had to move back with my family and get my child to finish school in UK I would do that, don't mind spending 30K GBP per year if it's done right, but we made a decision to try and have some life in Poland, again no one said it would be easy here, certainly there are few things which coming exactly hard but this is shaping a character too. We are very lucky, we had money to begin with, I have a job I can do from home, missus is trying different things but sooner or later she will find what she likes and she will certainly follow this route. I like Poland as a country, weather is easy to predict which I couldn't say about UK, there were days here I was actually missing the rain!!! How weird that was! I think it's a fantastic opportunity for a child to be here too hence why we want to try some good school here, life is much slower here than in London, you can take a breath here, you can have enough time to rethink on what you want to do etc...

My best advice would be to go and actually visit all the schools in your area, talk to the parents - get their opinions.
I understand exactly where you are coming from - but remember, a private school is in reality a business for profit. Whether they have the best teachers (seek opinion from parents outside the school) is debatable.

It has crossed my mind but it won't be that easy to approach, of course I can go to school itself but I expect to listen all superlatives about school, as you correctly pointed out its still a business so for them it's a bread and butter and they tell you what you want to hear. Talking to parents won't be that straight forward as usually these schools are closed and strangers cannot get in, private education in Poland it's relatively new, young model, where in UK we always had that as an option, before that was private education at home etc, so I can tell about that concept looking at older generations and this always worked, when you meet some of lawyers, doctors, engineers you can tell what sort of education they completed and quite often that was shaped by private. As Poland following west I can see that everything is coming slowly, after 50years probably private education in Poland would be on good level as people will be able to see which schools actually had "best" pupils etc... I think forum is the best way to ask, not sure if I will get an answer of someone who already had some experience with Polish private schools but I very much hope so. It more likely would be a foreign like me so he will have an idea how to compare education system, as Polish parent could say this is fabulous school and education level is amazing but how would he know what the European standard is, not many would be able to compare it properly.

That I didnt say and its a different question entirely.


Everyone deserves a chance at an education. But bringing together those that show the most talent and want to learn increases the chances of getting even better results. Exam based, fee paying schools in the UK tend to attract the best teachers. The get paid well and dont have to worry about disruptive pupils in the vast majority. Life is competitive and the kids learn this from an early age, each one trying to get the best results in the class. Often in state schools kids get bullied for being seen working hard and this is a problem for the rest of the class as well as the teachers and the school.

The one I attended had the post playschool entrance exam, then the post primary then post gsce. So kids could try at all levels to get in. Scholarships were provided for those that showed particular talent (not just academic) but whose parents couldnt afford the fees. Ive no shame to admit I wasnt one of the brightest there academically but its better to be at the bottom of the top 5% than the top of the bottom 5% and you got a whole lot more from the school than just study. Certainly going forward, universities at the time looked at applicants differently as did prospective employers. You pretty much had a network for life and its one of the aspects I miss about the UK.

@Luke: and what about homeschooling if legal in Poland? You will not find anything like in UK (except for the British School in Warsaw) in Poland and also beware of most of those small private schools. Most of the time they are staffed with low paid low qualified teachers who are not motivated and do not stay long. Although classes can be crowded, I believe that public (= NON private ;)) schools are usually better in Poland.

However, as everybody knows, Polish schools do not teach kids how to think, how to criticize (no philosophy for instance in the upper grades). Kids memorize stuff and that is all.

Don't the British authorities offer homeschooling programs? I am asking because French Ministry of Education offer such programs (if I remember right, called CNED), through which kids (when sick or abroad) can work at home with materials regularly sent and checked by teachers. Parents pay a fee (don't know how much). I suppose that UK may have such programs. If so, you could enroll in said programs and if you have no time you hire someone from UK for a few hours a day (or week). You could even hire Atch, as she has plenty of time and is bored....... The only problem is that the child does not leave home and does not meet any other kids.

I hope you'll find something satisfactory! :)

Thank you inPolska,
Hmmm, thanks for that, this is my biggest worry that private school is only a premium fee school but with teachers who are not motivated and low paid. This subject will not touch us directly in next 4-5years I believe but it's worth starting a research now. Teaching how to memorise stuff is really bad it simply doesn't work and this is not something I would be paying for... With home education, if done in UK I can get private tutors but these are mainly if you moving a lot, loads of rich Russians have that sort of education for their kids. I would need to do more research as my knowledge in this subject is very narrow. Wonder if only Poland has this education system when they teach on how to memorise things instead of having debates with a child.

Child definitely need to socialise with other kids, she is 16months old now and she loves kids, screaming "dzieci" when she see them. So definitely contact with other kids would be very much needed. I can understand home piano lessons, perhaps home English lessons as an addon, I would prefer some English teacher to come around. Wonder how much they would charge. This could be handy.

@Luke: yes, the problem of homeschooling is that the child won't interact with others. Maybe what you can do, it to mix small private school (an easy way to figure out whether school is good is to look at turnover among teachers and directors) with homeschooling based upon UK (since you are from there) education.

Another problem with Polish schools is the pressure on kids who are exhausted/depressed. Kids have tons of homework.

You are great parents so I am sure that you'll choose the very best for your child. Even if kids have to receive an education, best to do it in the most pleasant conditions and sorry, but having kids getting up at dawn (I have a 14-year-old around me who gets up at ... 5.50 everyday to be in school at 8 since he needs to leave home at 7 and of course he's not alone doing so), memorizing stuff, not being able to think and to express personal opinions and to be depressed and unhappy; obviously the worst!

Have a nice day!

Hi InPolska,

This is called lazy Sunday with time spend on forum :) i cannot wait till Spring, we will be definitely riding on bikes :)

Thanks for that, I think I will do some research on local private schools, perhaps I will try to approach and talk to teachers, I think this would be possible, specially if they have nothing to hide. I will also get some private English tutor to visit us twice time per week so he/she can teach child English and perhaps can have debates etc, dialogue would be a little empty as there would be only one child and tutor but perhaps this would be still better than nothing.

Oh yes, my wife has that young girl in family, I think she is 16, apparently she don't have time for anything, she is learning so hard even till 1-2am, firstly I thought maybe she is trying hard but she is not the great student hence why she needs to spent more time but reality is that she is trying her best, she wants to become a doctor and this is not an easy path...

Thanks a lot, this is really a down side of Poland, at least we have the advantage to show the right path to kids...
How 14 years old doing at school? It must be hard for the kid, at least with best support from parents all of this can work with no problems.

All the best and have a nice Sunday. All I think right now is food :)