If you send your child to private school, do you think this will work?

What you term a standard car may be more expensive to own, replace and run than a smaller one. You could probably save another £1k a year there.

We started out at a very good state primary school and then moved our DD to private secondary school from year 7 onwards. So, only paying for 5 years. We're not at A level stage yet but will decide later on if she would like to attend for the remaining 2 years or if she wants to go to the outstanding college near us which is state owned and free but dependant on her getting excellent grades.

School fees originally started at about £12,500 pa and now is £20,000 pa with the added VAT in January. Whilst it's cheaper when in infant/juniors it does rise up considerably as they get older. Plus you need to factor in school trips and holidays abroad, school uniform, school lunches and possibly a laptop on top. Just make sure you have a big cushion to fall back on. You don't want to have to pull your child out part way through their education because you've ran out of money. Private school teaching styles are very different to state school and your child might not be used to that or adapt easily.

I'm an independent school teacher.

Our fees go up every year and the VAT introduction is going to be a big hike on top of that. If your child is only 3 now, I would imagine the average cost of a year of private school is going to be a good third higher than you're imagining by the time she's going to secondary school.

On top of the fees, we charge for any residential trips - on average about £2k per trip. Most year groups have a couple on offer every year, and while they aren't compulsory, there is pressure put on parents by the kids to go. There is also a charge for the laptops, for any other equipment needed for science/maths, PTA fees, after school wrap around, clubs, etc ....it all adds up. So you need to budget for that too.

As others have said, you need to think about your reasons for going down the independent route and where your money will be best spent, as that £100k in savings will dwindle pretty quickly and you will be a slave to those fees for a very long time. Why do you think an independent education is so important for your child?

Not all independent schools are equal and not all will give you the advantages you may be looking for. I would agree with others who say that primary is often not worth the money if you are in a catchment area for a good primary school. Secondary is where the money can be really well spent - if you feel the local state school can't give them what they need. You will get smaller class sizes and probably some great extracurriculars. Don't bank on getting better teaching, though. I work with a lot of colleagues who really aren't great teachers but they've been at the school so long that they're too expensive to get rid of. There is a lot of dead wood in the independent sector.

Honestly, having worked in state and independent, and having been state educated myself, I wouldn't send my own children to an independent school unless I had a really particular reason for believing my child would be better off in that specific environment. I had an excellent state education that I would say was academically stronger than the education any of the children have had in the independents I've worked in.

Think carefully about your priorities. You could be spending upwards of £400k on fees over your daughter's time in school - with that, depending on where you are in the country, your daughter could buy a first home when she's 21. Think carefully about what else your daughter could potentially have/do with the money you'd spend on those school fees over the course of her school years, and would that be better for her in the long run, over and above what might not be any better an education than she would have received in your local state school? That's the key question you have to consider here.

I really don't see why anyone would send their child to private school before secondary school unless the local primary is really horrible.

@Amyia I'd add at least 5k onto those fees. And then every year they'll go up by a further 3% or so.

The reality is that the independent sector is made up of a considerable number of small, family owned schools catering to students from the local area, a sizeable amount of smaller schools owned by for-profit companies or charitable trusts, mid-range schools appealing to domestic and foreign students, and then the big-name schools that have been going for hundreds of years. The mid-range and big-name schools will be able to keep increasing fees without too much worry.

It will be the smaller schools that will struggle, as their bread and butter are parents like you who are paying out of monthly income and making genuine sacrifices to prioritise their child's education. These parents can only pay so much and these schools won't have big endowments or any endowments at all to absorb the additional VAT costs for parents for very long. Schools who are part of larger orgs will be able to hold on for longer as they will share resources and spread costs amongst them, but a lot of the family owned ones will either merge or close in the coming years as the VAT increase means they lose too many students to be able to continue. Several of these schools have already closed in the last decade as the cost of living crisis has reduced their numbers to untenable figures.

I do expect that the independent school sector will shrink in the coming years and it will slowly become more and more a privilege for the truly elite. At my school, the fees are £40k per year. For some of the parents, that is what they earn in one day. It's literally nothing to them. The VAT increase hasn't worried them at all.

If you've got your heart set on a specific school for your daughter, get copies from the Charity Commission of their accounts from the past three years and make sure they're on a firm financial footing before making any concrete plans. What kind of endowment have they got? Are their numbers falling? Schools are very good at presenting a rosy picture on their websites, but their accounts won't lie.

@twistyizzy I think that £48k number is to cover living expenses, not just school fees!
My DD just left last year. It was £25k/year when she left. Then add the annual rise of about 4% plus then VAT on top. I've just checked it's gone up to £27k due the next year NOT including VAT. Plus uniform, trips etc add another £3k maybe more. So £30k/year from September rising every year. This is a typical amount - I've seen more, I've seen less.
Are you only having the one child? Is the school you are looking at likely to admit your child? How permanent is your job - you likely to keep it for the next 15 years? What if you remarry, have another? Maybe you just want to calculate on the here and now circumstances, fair enough, but something to consider.
You should also think about what if you need your savings to fix your roof etc - or is that just for school and you have other money for other needs?
I always thought one needs to be earring £50k (before tax) JUST to pay for private fees. Then add whatever you need to live on.
And yes there will be plenty of people who will pay whatever it costs to send their kids private. Some smaller less selective schools may close.
Is it worth it? Depends what the state equivalent is and how much more the private school offers. Is it worth it for your child in particular? Might be too soon to tell.

Honestly? As a private school child myself, I wish my parents had saved the £100k and given it to me as a house deposit. Absolute waste of money private school in the main. If you're bright, you're bright. Both of my two go to state. Probably will top up with tutors once they reach Year 10 but the quality of teaching is superb. Something that cannot be said about the private school I went to (still 'highly rated' and bloody expensive I might add!)

If you absolutely must, don't bother with primary (honestly, biggest scam ever), save it for secondary age and again, don't bother with sixth form.

As someone who has put 2 kids through independent school and the youngest about to leave next year, if I was starting out again I would wait until Year 7 before I committed myself. Unless there’s a significant reason for you to bypass the local primary school, then why not hold back, invest the money for 5 years and reassess later?

@Amyia

Big tech company CEOs, oligarchs, start up investors, private equity and hedge fund managers, CEOs of various world banks. footballers, musicians, movie stars….we’ve got them all at my school!

@Amyia i have in front of me my DD’s fee prediction from the bursar for fees in 2028/2029; £29,157. With VAT that will be £35,000 give or take.

You work it out!

Another independent (and former state) teacher here. I would think you could struggle, as the other teacher up thread said, prices will go up by around a third in the time given, but your reserves won't keep pace.

I would look at the provision of the state near you, I teach in a good indy and our teaching and extras are superb, but I have previously taught in a Grammar and a Comp both of which had just as dedicated and good teaching staff - most of us teachers are equally educated and qualified wherever we lay our hats, cast from the same die so to speak, so it is a myth that the education in private is better.

What you do get is all the extras that we offer, as well as smaller class sizes, built in wraparound, boarding etc.

It's worth noting that, as the other teacher pointed out, there are many charges on top, such as trips, subscriptions etc. for example we do a ski trip at extra cost, horse riding and shooting cost extra as they are done off site, run by the local stables and TA centre respectively.

I don’t have 100k in savings either, but I don’t wander onto the private education threads and get arsey about over people’s financial situations

its not a ‘stealth boast’- it’s vital information for when someone is discussing financial planning for education

Some people have more money than you

get over it

Totally agree with the sector shrinking, I work in the mid range section, we don't expect any change, we are over-subscribed and have a waiting list, and thus far only one family withdrawing over VAT.

It will be the lower end of the market that will suffer, with the normal earnings parents priced out.

When I was at prep school it was what we called an "owner head" school, the headmaster owned the school, family business, passed down the generations - most of these are long gone. Small trust schools will also suffer, with advantages removed and parents unable to afford the fees needed to keep going.

It will ultimately make private school a more elitist thing.

Not a stealth boast at all. Exactly the sort of info that's needed when weighing up affordability of private school fees.

I don’t have a child at PS but I would definitely price up all the ‘extras’ like trips. Would you expect ex to go halves, he might refuse on the basis they are more expensive than state. Same with uniform.
Do the school expect everyone to do an instrument and have lessons as extra. Things like this need to be added up.
summer holidays are longer aren’t they so need more childcare cover then.

I know 2 ordinary people struggling with fees just now, especially if they go up. 1 had an outstanding primary and secondary on her doorstop and just rejected them without looking. Even a few years in primary could have made the difference now.
The second used an inheritance and it’s running out in early secondary. His wife actually quit her job so she could take child to and from school as they live far away. I think they should have moved for a better school myself.

Yes you can. I’m of much more limited means and I send two to private school. It means some interesting sacrifices sometimes but we make it work. If it’s that important to you I believe we find ways to do it!

@PotatoPie111

Good point about the increased cost of childcare as holidays in the independent sector are much longer.

We have a nine week summer holiday, two week long half terms (apart from May), and three week Easter and Christmas breaks. All of those extra weeks outside of state sector holidays will require considerable childcare costs on top of those fees you're paying.

I would also say - think really carefully about what kind of world you'll be entering your child into and the wellbeing impacts of that choice. As independent schools do become more elite, your child will be sharing her school life with the children of very, very wealthy people who have access to a lifestyle you can't provide and your child will feel shut out of. I see this at my school. We have kids living in £20 million central London mansions being chauffeured to school by the family driver, unlimited pocket money and helicoptered off to their private islands every holiday. They go out for lunch every day and think nothing of dropping £20 on sushi and iced coffees. They never, ever have to think about money or what things cost. If that is the financial situation of your entire friendship group and your parents are not in the same position, it's really, really hard. A lot of my colleagues send their kids to our school as they get such a huge discount on the fees, but a lot of them say they do feel that it wasn't the right decision as their children feel very much like outsiders and often can't participate in the social life outside of school because their friends think nothing of going out for £100 dinners and so on, which is just not something a parent on a teaching salary can keep up with. So just be mindful of what you're doing. There is a lot more cost to going to private school than just the fees if you see what I mean.