Independependent school fees so cheap?

[nicp123]

Just checked the fees charged by some local independent schools in my area, and wonder if I am correct. The average price per term is around £ 2.500. Does it mean £ 7.500 per academic year? It can't be true

[itsawonderfuldarleneconnorlife]

primary is only £6k pa here

[neuroticwhome]

Thats about right for many pre prep / preps (3 terms per year). I think £7,500 - 9,500 is the average for day preps. The average prices increase to around £9,500-£12,500 for day senior schools. Not sure about the preps that are known feeder schools for the public schools though.

[onimolap]

Add a bit on if you're in London: £4 - £4.5k per term here - I've also seen that level of price in some non-London schools too.

But do check what's included in the headline price - you may well find that those with cheaper prices have not included lunches, trips, even books/stationery (!) all of which add up.

[eviscerateyourmemory]

That does sound about right for primary- round here the schools range from 7.5-9K/year.

[Litchick]

DC's prep began at around 3.5 per term, moving to around 4.8 in year 6.
But some other local private schools were cheaper.

Some of the highly academic schools - Habs etc have low fees...these things being relative, of course.

[GrimmaTheNome]

Depends where you are. Here in the Northwest that sounds about the norm.

[Lizcat]

Also depends what year you are looking at in primary. Headline fees for us £3K per term total bill about £3.5K in south east. Also Independant girls day school trust schools tend to be cheaper than others.
But a general rule of thumb is independant school day a child studying 3 A levels is roughly the same as full time nursery fees for a child under 2 in any given area.

[Ladymuck]

I have one dc in a school charging £2.5k per term, the other is charged £4.1k (before music lessons and extras but including lunch). We're in Greater London/Surrey.

[pointythings]

The two private preps on the road where I work each charge about £4.5K a term - but that's in leafy Cambridge.

[marialuisa]

In the midlands and pay £2.3k per term for prep, seniors approx. £3k per term. These are strong day ols. GDST schools charge fees at the lower end of the spectrum too.

[granted]

How the other half live...unless I'm missing the irony here, is the OP seriously suggesting that's cheap?

[Notevenamouse]

well it wouldn't be for us ordinary people

[Notevenamouse]

Here fees are 3 k basic a term at the cheaper end of the scale so in that sense it is cheap. There may be add ons.

[Notevenamouse]

a year

[orienteerer]

verity - £3K per year, where are you?.......sorry won't be too nosey, just N, S E or W would be good......I may have to move there.

[oggybags]

granted - I would have totally agreed until a few weeks ago when I found out how much full tie nursery is going to be guess difference being I always assumed I'd have to pay alot for nursery and then be able to actually use the state system finally!

[Hulababy]

It very much depends whereabouts in the country you are and what stage of education you re looking at.

We pay approx what the OP states for primary and that is pretty much the dearest fees in our city for day independent school at primary level. We are in South Yorkshire. The fees increase at each stage - so reception is cheapest, rises at KS1, rises at uniors and then another increase at secondary and again at sixth form. Plus allow for approx 10% increase in fees per year although recently we have found our increase each year to be much lower than this.

[MollieO]

If Ds goes to boarding school in year 4 fees will be £18,000 a year. However he would only be going if he got a choral scholarship which gives a 50% rebate.

[MABS]

In Sussex - ds at prep is nearly 13k, dd is just over 18k. Where are you for those fees? as someone else said, i will move :)

[PurpleKate]

Sounds about right, but check for extras. Some schools don't include lunches in the fees, some do. Also consider before and after school clubs (if you need them) and cost of uniform, days out and other tuition fees (such as music).

And finally, fees often increase the older the child gets. In my DDs school, there are 2 bands (used to be 3), so there is a big increase at year 3 - grrrrrrr.

[activate]

state school fees are even cheaper

[TrillianAstra]

Yes, the OP is suggesting it's cheap. No need for the faces - 'cheap' is relative. £2,500/term is cheap for private school fees.