Can I afford private school for 3 children?

Looking for the best school for us was
a non selective
B good ofsted report
C good gcse results
D a broad curriculum

I spent months triangulating house prices, catchment area and likely primary offers( dd was just starting year 5 so we bought a nailed on secondary catchment house in a place where it was likely we would be offered a good primary )

Just so I get this….You are asking whether you will be able to afford all your kids into year 7-13 (with them currently year 4, year 2 and 1 or 2 years from reception).

It sounds as if one of you works at the school, so I think you should ask yourselves:

1. How much movement is there in year (is it easy to join in 8/9/10 or is it pretty much a year 3/7 or 9/ sixth form entry?).

2. What would you do if teacher parent lost their job? That’s not such a daft qn these days.

3. How confident are you that your chosen school is suitable for all 3 of your children?

4. How certain is your investment income? Are you likely to get money from inheritance etc?

More importantly, how do other “children of teachers/staff” cope? I’ve known some who thrive; others hate it and move. “You only got the role/prize because of your Mum/Dad” can be an issue (depends on the kids and their social circle).

You have about 18 months to attempt to live frugally and figure out the answers to the above.

Yr 13 mum

Absolutely not.

Yes this is literally just school fees.

Your eldest and youngest are 5 years apart so assuming your eldest goes to a state sixth form you will only have 1 year where all three are in school together, the rest of the time you will only be paying for two at £24k a year. You have no mortgage and on your salaries a £2k mortgage wouldn’t seem extreme. If you save for the next 2 years you can probably make it work but obviously the increases may be tricky, it will mean you can’t leave your job as you’d lose the discount and you would likely have to forgo other luxuries like holidays - how will your children feel if they’re at a school where they’re seen as the poor kids?

You cannot afford it, move house.

Average local independent day schools often aren’t better than state options nowadays and have poorer teaching standards. The only ones worth shelling out for (unless special circs like SEN) are the top “public” boarding schools.

Move to a better state/grammar catchment.

No you can’t.

A family member of mine had to pull their kid from private due to the VAT increases. The school trips, uniform, & extra activities where a good few thousand on top a year too!

Good calcs but presumably once it drops from £55k a year, one and then two will be in uni so, if OP wants to help with fees and living expenses, the cost to OP will increase to more than £55k p.a.

OP if you want to cash in some of the investments and / or downsize your house you might be able to afford it but just on your income now I don’t think you can.

One kid sure, two is hard, three probably not

Sorry! What investments bring in 25k?

I may be out a few years as i'm not sure exactly how old your children are but based on the oldest starting secondary in 2028 and with fees going up by 5% each year i calculated the following
Year Cost Number of Children
2028 £14,586.08 1
2029 15,315.38 1
2030 £32,162.30 2
2031 £33,770.41 2
2032 £53,188.40 3
2033 £55,847.82 3
2034 £ 39,093.47 2
2035 £41,048.14 2
2036 £21,550.28 1
2037 £ 22,627.79 1

It’s not just the fees you have to account for. It’s the uniforms, sports kit, school trips, driving the kids to friends houses that would probably be further away than kids at the local comp, etc
Annual increases might not stay at 5%, and 5% is more that the average person gets as a pay rise each year.

Fees are low but it sounds very unmanageable.

Is the £100k per year after tax?

Can you afford full fees if you lose the discount (eg policy changes/lost job)?

I’ve just asked ChatGPT to calculate the areas near me which offered the best value for money ( plus low crime etc ) which also offer the best performing state schools so this would be my first port of call.

If you are going to do it the best solution would be to start now and put 2k into an account each month. Pay all school fees out of the account - that should see you through without ever having to find 36k in a year.

Ok so my kids went private and left a couple years ago and I live in a new area and I know what the good state schools are in my area! Ofsted, ‘word on the street’ etc. Even local estate agents will have stats.
£12k/year is very cheap. This coming year prep school fees at my DD’s old school are £28k a year rising to £35k from Y5. For one child.
Surely you can work this out. Look at what you spend every year on whatever. Minus £36k from it. Could you afford that next year? Now increase the cost by 5% every year. What about if your roof needed repairing? One of you lost your job? Or tte school fees are more in line with the average!?
I think one child is doable on £100k. Not three unless you are really wishing to make sacrifices.

That's a very tight budget. It depends how many sacrifices you are willing to make.

We have 3 DC in private school - no discounts - and the sum is eye watering. My entire salary funds school fees only.

Of course you can!

Move is first thing to seriously look at.
When we last moved, we only had the youngest to consider. We relocated hundreds of miles and bought the less nice house in the best secondary catchment. It was the right decision.
Yes maybe you could afford it on paper. But you/your partner are restricting career options
My best mate did this for her dc. Was then stuck in a toxic workplace for too long because dc were enmeshed .

No.

As soon as a person has to question if they can afford something the answer is invariably no.

If you could you wouldn’t be asking the question.

Starting down the private school route without a significant buffer is a huge risk - as many parent facing fee uplifts due to tax changes are finding.

Some are having to make very, very difficult choices .

If you had a mortgage it would easily be no, but I think you are in a stronger position than that as you are mortgage free and have other assets.

It depends how much you want private school but you could take out a mortgage so you are paying for it over say 15 years not 7?

It's not something I would do, but if it is very important to you it's an option.