Can you tell me how much it costs to put 3DC through private school in London including all the extras we may not be thinking about?

[Sonofficx]

On the verge of deciding whether to have a third DC. DH is all for it, but I think he does not have a realistic view of the cost. We live in central London and would want to send the DC to private school in London.

Would anybody be willing to give me a realistic idea, including a rough breakdown, of what the cost to you has been to privately educate a DC in London? Including extracurricular, tutoring, school trips, school run, any special needs they have had, counselling therapy, pocket money, unexpected things that have happened along the way, or anything I have not considered here.

I'd be very grateful for your advice.

Thank you

[Elmosmum]

Counselling therapy?

[Sonofficx]

Elmosmum, sorry that should have come under unexpected extras. For e.g., if DC have special needs and need extra therapy like speech therapy.

Not suggesting that counselling or therapy should be a run of the mill part of education!

[AveEldon]

Assume £20K per child per year of education

[AJPTaylor]

Presumably you have budgetted for 1 and 2.
Divide by 2, multiply by 3.

[Christmascardqueen]

The private schools list their fees on their websites. Assume a price increase annually. Same for uniforms.

[Parker231]

We’ve finished paying for DT’s - now paying Uni costs instead. In today’s market I would average, for Central London, £15k a year in fees and several 000’s for extras - music, sports, uniforms, trips. These are day pupil costs without any counseling therapy ( don’t know anyone who had that).

[WhyOhWine]

Our expenditure is as follows (2 DC at private day schools in London - first half of secondary):

1. fees - available on school website and can vary a lot, eg SPGS much higher than the girls day school trust schools. Allow for annual increases.
2. uniform - initial outlay for a child is about 300-500, depending on how frequently you are prepared to do washing. You can check websites for more specific prices. Assume it will last 2 years. Replacements can be picked up from second hand uniform sale which everyone uses, and you may be able to hand down between children. Allow maybe 1k in total across the whole of senior school.
3. Shoes - allow for a new pair a year.
4. Music lessons- not compulsory. You should be able to get prices from schools you are interested in.
5. trips - the compulsory trips are fairly limited and tend to be day trips or one night away so on the cheaper end. the language trips (although not compusory) tend to be well attended (say 2 thirds of students doing the subject). Other subject related trips are less well attended (say between quarter and half the year, although this might increase as they go up the school) and pure fun trips (e.g. skiing) might only have a few per year group. With the possible exception of the language trips (given they are well attended), i am not aware that there are loads of students being upset about being left out because they dont go on trips. Nor is there any obvious stigma in not going. NUmber of trips per year varies. Last year one DD went on 3 residential trips (non compulsory) and 2 complusory day trips. Cost was probably in the region of 800-1k in total. Her sister went on 1 day trip and one residential. Cost around 350 in total. This year neither has been on any trips yet and I am only aware of one later in the year for one of them. If you are keen for your DC to go on some trips, maybe allow an average of 500 per year.

6 lunches - included in fees for one DC. Not included for other DC (but cheaper fees). Say 500 a year.
7 Very occasional payment for specific books etc. Less than 50 a year. Plus also art stuff for art/DT projects. Maybe allow 100 a year in total (including stationery)
8 Some social events organised by the school, particularly in earlier years (discos etc) say 10 a pop. Not compulsory.
9 Some parent social events. Say 100 if you go to everything. Some are fundraising. very much not compulsory.
10 Nothing else i can think of school related. In relation to non school things, I dont think private school children have any more need to clothes etc than anyone else. Same re pocket money but there are obviosuly some very wealthy DC who get a lot. I give my DD1 £10 a week (into a bank acocunt with a debit card) and DD2 £5 a week. I exepct this to go up as they get older given changes inthe way they socialise. I do sometimes give my DC the odd extra tenner. Some DC get less. I also pay for their phones and also presents for friends birthdays. Clothes tend to come out of their pocket money, birthday/christmas money and the odd shopping trip funded by me, but i definitely dont buy them more clothes to "keep up" with others at school.
11. No fees for extra cirricular activties at school. Both do a couple of clubs outside school, but cost (or number or type of clubs) not impacted by private school.
12. Family holidays. You really dont want (or need) to get into "keeping up" with others' holidays. There are a lot of wealthy families with second homes etc, and many ex pats who spend a large part of their holidays overseas. DCs do sometimes get a bit of holiday envy when looking at instrgram, but we do have nice enough holidays and DCs know it is life. DD1 is also very good at getting herself invited to friends' villas (we pay flight costs and pocket money). There are, howeve,r also lots of children who dont go on holidays or have pretty basic holidays in this country, because most of the spare income is going on school fees. There are honestly lots of children in this situation and no obvious splitting in friendship groups on a wealth basis.
13 We have never paid for fees or counselling so dont have a feel for costs.
14 Birthdays - again up to you how much you spend on this. DCs have been to some pretty flash parties with expensive activities and others which are just sleepovers with no real costs other than a bit of food. All enjoyable.

I think the 20k a child a year is a bit low for some schools, even on pure school things. One of my DC's fees are around 7k per term (so fees alone are over 20k pa). I would say allow for stated fees plus an extra 1-2k per year and that should deifnitely cover it (altohugh it will be a bit lumpy depending on uniform needs and school trips). Plus also allow for increases.

There will be a small amount of saving for adidtional children, but only if you can hand on uniform. I would not bother discounting for this. So for 3 I would want to be satisfied I could cover £75k pa out of after tax income (and higher if they go to the likes of SPGS!)

[Fekko]

Depends on the school and you do t get a huge sibling discount.

£6-9k per term - each... much less for junior school.

[Onceuponatimethen]

Sn Costs can really add up

For SALT weekly say 3.5k per year
If they need occupational therapy privately weekly could be another few k
One to one at private school for dc with sn could be a few hundred an hour

[Onceuponatimethen]

On top of fees obv

[Onceuponatimethen]

So eg for a few hours one to one class support say an extra 10 k annually.

So could bump your 20k fees up to 35k annually for dc with sn including occupational therapy, salt and just a few hours weekly of extra help

[blueshoes]

Gosh, I did not know that private schools charge separately for sn.

My son's school provides learning support for children who are slower in certain subjects, not sn or one-to-one but additional lessons. I thought that was all included in the fees.

[blueshoes]

I would say budget £18,000 all in per child per year for a non-sn child. Expect that to go up about 3-4% a year irrespective of inflation or RPI. It will be slightly less for junior school and more for senior school.

As they come up to Year 5, the optional school trips like ski-ing kick in, around £1,000 a pop. You might consider that part of your school budget, or part of the overall holiday budget.

[HermanMerman]

It’s already more than £18k per year for even the cheaper London schools - eg GDST schools www.putneyhigh.gdst.net/414/fees-bursaries-and-scholarships
And that’s without lunches (probably £200 per term)
Add uniform, sports kits - possibly £200 per year unless there’s a good second hand uniform sale or you have same sex siblings in the same school
Sibling discounts only tend to kick in at the 3rd child and are 20-25% from experience
Trips - for 3 kids there are around 4-5 trips per year on average between them, usually £600+ each. Obviously these are voluntary for the most part but some are very much encouraged

[PatriciaHolm]

A friend has 3 girls in private secondary in London and reckons it costs around 75-80k a year, for everything. No special needs support either, plus allowing for yearly inflation of around 3.5%.

[Kokeshi123]

I think I need counseling therapy after reading the prices being quoted on this thread

[Fekko]

Yes - if your child has SN you may well end up having to (find and )pay for a support teacher for your child. That's what happened to a child in DS class.

[pigshavecurlytails]

15k is out of date. Start at 21k per year for fees, depending on which school that'll give you a bit of wiggle room for now. Add compound inflation at 5-8% per year which gives you a fee doubling time of 10-12 years.

[PettsWoodParadise]

Also take into account the extra long holidays private schools have. Will you both be working? If so then factor that cost in. At prep level there are often summer camps and PGL etc but it can be expensive, at Senior their needs get more sophisticated and expensive just when you think you think you don’t need childcare.

One year DD was in prep she had 9 weeks summer holiday. It was only possible as DH was a SAHD, one friend sent her children to her grandparents in Europe for the holiday and to learn her grandmother’s language but not everyone has that sort of option.

Don’t rule out State education either. DD is happier in State then she ever was in an Independent school. DD still has friends in the Indie school and a good number have the iPhone X and there is pressure to have the latest tech, in her state school you aren’t laughed at if you have an iPhone 4 or a budget android.

Not being able to afford a private education seems a sad reason not to have a child if you both want it.

[Fekko]

School days are longer though, so working is a bit easier on that front.

[Yvest]

We opted out when day school hit over £7500 a term before any extras. We just couldn’t convince ourselves it was a good use of money when we had a good state option

[pigshavecurlytails]

@Yvest must have been a top end school to be that money a few years ago. St. Paul's or Westminster or similar. Most aren't that much now.

[Fekko]

Our old one was - now it’s nearer £9k a term fees only.

[pigshavecurlytails]

Which school is that? Very central or knightsbridge I assume?

[Lowdoorinthewal1]

I would have said 30k a year each all in at senior level (uniform, kit, trips, extra-curricular). Not so much in the early years.

Around about a million quid for all three, YR- Y13.