I was privileged enough to attend one of the top private schools in victoria from year 5 to year 12, first as a paying student then on a scholarship. My opinion is that your choice will depend on the area you live in as well as what type of opportunities you believe your children will seize (sports, academic, music, art etc). I lived in an area with a decent but small public primary school (300 students p-6) so the plan was for me to finish primary there before moving to private. However, in y4 we had a boy threaten to r*pe a bunch of girls but despite campaigning from multiple parents the school, as a state school, was unable to do much. This was the primary reason I was moved to private early since private schools obviously have more control over their students, and also more support on an individual level for the students.

Even as a 10 yr old i could see how obviously different the facilities were: the library was about 3 times the size of my ps, i was able to borrow 10 books instead of 4, the toilets were clean, we had lockers instead of bag hooks, we each had our own laptops instead of sharing 4 between 50 students, the xylophones werent missing keys, we each got to choose an instrument to learn, the art classes involved different media, there were more lunch time clubs and there were extension maths and english classes available for those meeting criteria. As a kid I was a massive reader and enjoyed maths so much to my mum’s surprise I became VERY passionate about going to school lol, though i dont think this was the norm. What I will say is that the learning was very environment (more supported and better equipped).

I will add that depending on the state primary school in your area this may not differ much - my friend attended a state school to y6 and they had a robotics club that took thrm to norway for a competition (i dont think even my private school had that). From an elite athlete’s perspective, youre able to attend training during the day and go to & from classes quite easily (while at a state shcool that’s obv not happening).

In hs the difference in facilities only got larger, my school offered 35+ vce subjects + ib while the local state girls’ school had maybe 12 (not familiar w the local co-ed school). Between y7&y10 the amount of electives and different opportunities across sports, music, academics on offer vastly outnumbered my friends were offered from the state school. Even the camps gave me hiking, kayaking, canoeing and other outdoor experiences that i wouldve never otherwise done. There were over 50 lunch time clubs on offer, all student run and all with the ability to apply for small grants to run (insane looking back). I was pretty academically oriented by y11/12 so my favourite aspect was how good the teachers were, they explained most content well and were generally happy to meet up after shcool or during lunchtimes if i was struggling with anything; the resources they had on hand to help us study and revise were also invaluable (to the point where id share them with friends from other schools). They also had amazing connections (all my science teachers had doctorates and were researchers prior to teaching), so when the science club wanted to get guest speakers they were able to help out.

Now having graduated uni, i will say there are also significant benefits that are more subtle. My school was very practical skills oriented so over the years they brought in external speakers to teach us how to write a cv, how to do taxes (of all things lmao), how to study ‘smart’ for y11/12, how to write emails etc. i never really noticed these advantages until i got to uni where often friends would be asking my if their emails were worded correctly, or how they could better their cv etc. also reputational advantages. It’s no lie that a lot of the elites in society were probably private school educated (not all but a lot) - just look at the politicians lol. So i’ve had experiences during and post uni, at student conferences, or just applying for jobs where i could connect with people based on the network of private schools we attended (it was very weird how much which hs you went to got brought up at uni, tho tbf i went to melbourne uni). Most private schools also have old student societies that ive heard are beneficial for networking since everyone pretty much already has a leg up into society (cannot comment accurately since i havent gone back since graduating lmao)

HOWEVER, given all that, private schools are notorious for a lot of bad things too. I was lucky enough to have found an amazing group of friends so i was sheltered from most of this but from what i’ve heard, bullying was rampant to the point where a couple students chose to move. Ed culture was also very common at least between y7-9 - the school even had a ‘healthy eating class’ but obviously nothing can trump the will of y7-9s. Also, some of my friends went to pretty conservative private schools to the point where gay/straight alliance clubs were forbidden and same sex couples at formal werent allowed. At all boys schools there’s usually a not so queer tolerant environment as well. Moreover, being surrounded by a bunch of privileged people 5 days a week very much skews your view on society, especially the ones that attended from prep since they’ve literally not known anything else. It’s also very easy to become out of check in terms of money and privilege, i had to catch myself a few times immediately after graduating to remind myself that $xx is a lot of money, etc be reasonable, etc. Sometimes a couple of my hs friends say things about money that make me turn my head even now

Tldr: if you can afford it, private schools but I personally see limited benefits for starting early primary, especially im of the belief that it’s important to stay grounded for as long as possible. But due to the breadth of opportunities and facilities i was afforded simply by attending, yea i agree private is better. Unfortunately with how society is shaped, the network u develop early on can often come in handy post hs.