AIBU to question rising private school fees amid declining GCSE results

I need a car to get around. I could spend £80,000 on one or I could get one for £8,000 second hand. Some people would choose the £80,000 car and I would choose the £8,000 car. I don’t care about cars. Equally some people are happy to stay in hostels and rough it whilst travelling but I like a nice luxury hotel. Hostels and hotels both provide a place to sleep. We all spend money to suit our own preferences. You don’t want to pay for your child’s education but others prefer what an independent education provides. Your money, your choice, your prerogative, indeed.

Your problem is you don’t want it/probably can’t afford it so you don’t want anyone else to have it either, just in case your child misses out on what your friends’ children are getting. Have the courage of your convictions and use state education. 93% of people do, so you won’t be on your own, but equally a significant number will continue to use private schools even if you don’t.

Yes, as a sector it is a challenging context - BUT within the sector there is a real range of schools experiencing very different dynamics. A number of schools are clearly struggling- evidenced by the uptick in closures (which Labour claimed wouldn’t happen btw), but there are also some schools that are very much coming out ahead. While many schools need to rethink their business model, private education isn’t going away anytime soon.

and an increase in the number of students getting discounts isn’t really an indicator one way or another. For some schools it may be a sign of decreasing margins (and cause for concern), but in other schools it might be part of a bigger strategy - just look at how American universities use grants as part of a larger recruitment strategy (recruiting for talent that boosts prestige as well as high net worth or other influential individuals who will support the school beyond simply paying fees)

Do you need to reread and edit this for clarity?

I can speak to my own experience at one school - believe it or don”t. I guess it is uncomfortable for you when people have experiences outside this bizarre narrative.

Not sure what to tell you - my dc school (regional - very far from London) has increased pupil numbers this year and have had a really strong intake for next. They have the highest fees in the region, and focus on breadth and quality of experience - if anything they have expanded extracurriculars (delivered at no additional cost) rather than cut back. Clearly their strategy is to focus on families that are less price sensitive and want the best education available- so far it seems to be working.

a number of families have been priced out of private entirely in our region, but for those that have not there seems to be a willingness to pay a few grand more for the better school.

What cash injection? As @Araminta1004 this is likely to cost money rather than add to state budgets.

state schools are definitely not improving from what I can tell - fewer teachers not more as promised, and most state school heads expect to need to do cost cutting over the next year. And the proposed send policies are diabolical - if anything that alone likely to push some parents to stretch for private.

i would LOVE to see state doing better, but if anything I see the gap between state and private widening as the Indy sector consolidates. Consistently it has been the no frills, more afffordable private schools that are just a bit better than state which have closed, while the more prestigious / ‘luxurious’ schools are doing just fine.

The fact they consider private schools not paying VAT was ‘unfair’ shows you what they really thought of private schools.

They don’t (yet) say children’s shoes benefit from an unfair tax break, or that supermarkets use a loophole to avoid paying VAT on bread.

Sounds like anecdotal evidence to me. Also you're writing 'style' is really grating.

“Private schools currently benefit from an unfair tax break that means they avoid paying VAT on fees. Through closing this loophole, Labour will raise vital money needed to improve standards in stretched state schools with more teachers. This funding will also help pay for mental health support staff in every school, working to boost the wellbeing of young people.”

The manifesto was explicitly to raise funds.

The manifesto pledge was not to harm private schools?

It has only failed if you believe it was introduced to raise money rather than for ideological reasons. Labour would never pull
it.

I don’t believe OP has a child in private school, I think she just has a vendetta against them.

Most likely a Labour supporter - desperate for the VAT policy not to get pulled. Pupil numbers are down more than 7,5% Jan 26 to Jan 24 according to official DFE forecasts. So that is way beyond and Parliament is on notice that the policy has failed? Just like we all predicted because it failed in every other country around the world that tried to implement something similar.
So if numbers are down against forecasts, the policy has failed? I mean the IFS predicted 6% max over 5 years and they are already at 7,5% down in just two years

And those who pushed for the policy obviously are now desperate.

Where are you getting all these ‘begging letters’ and why haven’t you actually posted any of them?
It’s all very curious!

I can’t work out whether you have a child in an independent school or not. Either way, either take them out or don’t start them in the system. What else do you want? Would it make you feel better if everyone else took their child out too? Honestly, enjoy state school education and the extra money in your pocket. Move on and don’t keep focusing on what private schools do or don’t offer. You can take pleasure in them closing (if they are as bad as you think) or enjoy having more money to spend if they don’t. But you have to accept that other people’s children will still attend independent schools and most will gain a lot from the experience.

https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-10125/CBP-10125.pdf

Section 4 has the official figures and decline in pupil numbers.
Seems like the OBR has to update their forecast of how much this policy will raise as there is already a 5% decline in mainstream independent. Boarding is a much higher decline more than 8%.

Meanwhile independent special has gone up 14.4%. Presumably mostly taxpayer funded, at huge cost. The key question is how many of those kids were previously in independent mainstream? Or could have been at a cheaper cost. Independent special is an average cost of 62k per pupil.

Personally I just want to know how much Labour has cost us the taxpayer.
Even best case scenario of raising over a billion, it was never going to make a substantial dent in the state school budget which is in excess of 65 billion.
The fact Labour have driven more kids into independent special schools entirely funded by the taxpayer was largely predicted.

It will affect schools differently though - our school is in a much stronger financial position and has been able to absorb/ delay some of the VAT impact as a result of another local school closing. So in my region there has been a drop in private school pupils but the consolidation has taken the pressure off remaining schools.

https://www.waldorfschule-uhlandshoehe.de/unsere-schule/schulgeld

And this one is subsidised by the German local Government depending on need it seems and then what parents pay is individualised.
Seems like France and Germany help with private school education top ups.

So I guess OP - you want a private education and cannot afford it in the UK. Move country then. I don’t think Waldorf would be your cup of tea though nor a typical French Catholic education either.

Independent school provide a calm, violence free environment which allows high functioning ASD children to cope without being overwhelmed. Thats the only reason why we fork out for our ND child to go there. The other 3 have had to ‘slum it’ at state schools. There are so many families in the same situation, and it would be so nice if either:

1. They sorted state education out so all schools had a calm, safe environment which allowed ND and NT children to learn, or;

2. they scrapped the VAT on fees for parents like us who would be DELIGHTED to be able to use state provision, but can’t.