Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

School fees have increased yet again, have yours?

33 replies

Shortdarkandfeisty · 14/04/2017 12:02

And if so, are you happy about it? I'm fairly sure it's above the rate of inflation. Nothing we can do about it except pay but .

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
GloriaGilbert · 19/04/2017 16:25

Yes. 7% for the non-famous one (youngest) and I think not much for the famous one (oldest).

gillybeanz · 19/04/2017 15:25

Ours haven't increased, or they haven't said they are.
Most of the kids have fees partial or wholly paid by gov anyway, so parents don't tend to notice.
Full boarding is just under 32k iirc.

Michaelahpurple · 19/04/2017 15:20

4.5% Oh joy. Nudges them over £40k

Hoppinggreen · 15/04/2017 20:32

We had an email with the new fee schedule but I havent worked out the % yet and I probably won't as there's no point.
Fortunately we are in Yorkshire and DD has a part scholarship so they aren't too horrendous anyway.

MrsSchadenfreude · 15/04/2017 19:18

Just looked at last year's fees. It's an increase of over 10%. I guess it's to fund the new boarding house, that DD won't get to see.

Duckstar · 15/04/2017 19:13

3 per cent here. I was advised to work on a 5 per cent increase.

MN164 · 15/04/2017 19:10

3.5 percent increase this year.

Original poster
Shortdarkandfeisty · 15/04/2017 18:51

Ouch at £45k!

OP posts:
toffee1000 · 15/04/2017 17:10

I went private and my fees were always quite low-ish compared to others (e.g. my brother's school) but then it's part of the GDST and having slightly lower fees than other non-GDST schools is part of GDST policy/that's part of their thing. For example this year (2016/17) my old school's fees are £5776 per term for the senior school, so that's £17,328 for the year.

LIZS · 15/04/2017 17:08

Recently looked in Hurtwood House which has a dedicated performing arts stream and is ££££. Many of the more specialist boarding schools cost more than Eton.

user1491148352 · 15/04/2017 17:03

American School Cobham is well over £40,000 for full boarding.

MrsSchadenfreude · 15/04/2017 13:30

Yes, it's a UK school. And yes, the fact that it is more than the most famous public schools is not lost on me. She went there because it was too late for her to go back into the UK system and do GCSEs when we returned to UK - she's doing the IB. I can assure you that I am not exaggerating the cost - fees hit £40K for full boarding last school year. Thankfully my employer pays around half the cost of the fees, but it still leaves us a fair whack to find.

peteneras · 15/04/2017 12:57

Yes, I've been wondering if this figure had been grossly exaggerated or not, if it was a UK school. As far as I know, even the most expensive, poshest and famous UK schools charge less then £40K.

For example, the quoted figure is almost 25% higher than Eton, Harrow and Winchester!

LesLavandes · 15/04/2017 12:06

Wow. Over £45.000? I have a child full boarding a well known school. It isn't as expensive as that!

MrsSchadenfreude · 15/04/2017 08:36

DD1's school fees have just gone up to £45,560 for full boarding this year. Thank God she finishes in June.

underneaththeash · 15/04/2017 08:25

One of our schools has just gone up 7.5% and I think its the final nail in the coffin for us. I've never particularly warmed to the school anyway, so I'm looking for alternatives from year 3.
The boys school went up 1.5%

EmpressoftheMundane · 14/04/2017 22:27

9% last year, 5% this year. No building work to speak of. No reasonable explanation beyond a variant of: we think we are worth it. Technically a charity.

LIZS · 14/04/2017 22:14

It is always above inflation, often significantly so. You need to budget for that going forwards in addition to incremental rises as dc get older. We've not heard for 2017-18 yet. Fortunately only 2 years to go for us!

Original poster
Shortdarkandfeisty · 14/04/2017 21:58

That's interesting wicker and talkingpeace

We can afford it but I'm still irritated that it's over inflation

OP posts:
wickerlampshade · 14/04/2017 21:41

7-8% for the fourth year in a row. Parents are fuming. over-subscribed school just embarking on another unnecessary building project.

Danglingmod · 14/04/2017 16:55

Well, exactly, AnotherNewt. The year that the fees didn't increase at all it was announced in the last week of the academic year. I had had a feeling it was going to be 0% otherwise you can't hold parents to a term's notice, surely?

AnotherNewt · 14/04/2017 16:46

"We're not sure yet. It tends to be a lot later in the year that we're informed (which is very naughty, really)."

Fee increases have to be announced before the last date on which to give noice to quit before they come in to force. That's been through the courts. Or rather, if they don't give you enough time to give proper notice, then they cannot hold you to the notice period (as long as your you give notice promptly after the increase is announced).

In practice this means the letters are all arriving about now.

If you can pay fees on advance, you can insulate yourself a bit (depending on T&Cs of your schools scheme)

Ta1kinPeace · 14/04/2017 16:23

Ignore the Corbyn "policies" - they are all pipe dreams as he has zero chance of becoming Prime Minister.
With him as leader Labour cannot even hold on to safe council seats.

originalbiglymavis · 14/04/2017 16:13

My mouse pic didn't come out

originalbiglymavis · 14/04/2017 16:12

And if Corbin has his way...! Eek 🐁!