School fee hike - freaking out slightly

Same where I live. Lots of Asian families with just 1 or max 2 child sending their DC to private schools and living in flats or small houses. White middle class families in larger houses with 3 DCs and dogs and holidays in state schools.

My point being no family or child should be put under extra pressure by government.

As for the private schools, I am sure energy and food prices have gone up massively for them. However, perhaps charter a few fewer minibuses for sports etc and start with proper cost cutting first like our state schools have done, rather than pass on everything to parents. Maybe some of the head teachers don’t need the huge whopping salary increases.

@HockeyJock You might not, but there's lots of people who do. Why do you assume what @SmallandSpanish said applies to you when it obviously doesn't? I don't pay fees for my kids school and there's plenty of parents like this at my DDs school. You should've stood next to me at a recent residential trip pick up. Lots of her friends could've gone to private school. They won't, their parents talk about them like they're owned by the Nazis or something, yet are completely fine rolling up to school in their brand new cars, going to the (I'm not joking) Hamptons every year or to their second home in Cornwall or Corfu.
There's nothing wrong with owning things or going on holiday but it does rub me up the wrong way that they feel so comfortable bashing private school parents when they have more flashy lifestyles than the parents they're criticising.

@SmallandSpanish "all whole no working"

Who on earth is not working, but getting loft conversions, shopping at Waitrose and going on tropical holidays?

Comments like this make you sound utterly stupid. And absolutely reinforce the issue others have referred to. No one is able to suddenly afford independent school fees of thousands a month just by switching supermarkets and not having the dog groomed FFS.

Most things are a question of priorities and most people's priorities are being safely houses, warm and fed first and foremost.

We live in a double income household where we both work ft, very hard. We prioritise the happiness, wellbeing and education of our children, don't go abroad on holiday, shop at Lidl and have no beauty treatments but there is no way, ever, we could afford thousands of pounds a month from post tax salary for private schools for 3 DC. None.

If being privately educated results in lack of critical thinking and perspective to your degree then I'm even more sure it's not worth it.

Scroll on by then. You may not like it, but it's true. Different sacrifices to other people perhaps but sacrifices none the less. I'm so bored of hearing people moan about their state school while going on multiple tropical holidays. Getting loft conversions. Driving 2 nice cars. Shopping in wAitrose. Tutoring like crazy. Having cleaners, dog walkers, loads of Beaty treatments and tweakments. All while no working and saying private school is beyond them. Really? No, it's a matter of priorities.

Well, I genuinely hope for your sake it's a smaller fee rise next year.

But I think costs for schools are only going to keep going up unfortunately.

I think it's much more sensible to leave him in a school where he's happy, settled and doing well.

Our state schools are struggling because the Tories are starving them of funding. Let's not pretend it's something that's happening by accident.

Ironically, now some private schools are also struggling, in part because of the damage Tories have done to the economy and because they've allowed unregulated energy bill increases outside of households.

I'm not surprised fees are going up, local private school nearby has had its heating bill increased from £500,000 to £1,500,000.

And although I am normally a labour voter, I won’t be voting labour if they stick with the 20 per cent VAT on private schools policy because it will harm children in both sectors in the short term, just after a pandemic and in a cost of living crisis - so it is bad for children. I have no sympathy for the timing of that. I have 4 DC and our state schools are struggling and we don’t need more private school kids showing up now. It will just inflate house prices and cause more havoc.

12.5% is loads. I would be looking into state options if you are not in Year 9 or 10.

And I have fully sympathy for parents in this situation. I personally would rather not heat my home than take my DCs out of schools where they are happy and thriving. I think people are naive to think there are not some private school parents who are really struggling this year due to choices about schooling, high mortgages etc Anyone can struggle when prices go up suddenly and unexpectedly.

Yeah, I mean I hope the 15% is a one off and future years are less. We have buffer, but still.

6% increase - day school south east

You should expect that the fees WILL increase every single year.

To be honest, they would be daft not to increase by a small percentage even if they didn’t need to, because people can cope with that much better than leaving fees for several years and then needing to apply a massive increase.

Again, it’s all relative and the dilemma of those who are already well-off and not facing the dilemmas of those choosing between heat and food, but for anyone with younger children just entering fee paying schools, or multiple younger children, it is a real dilemma about whether to commit.

We will swallow hard and absorb the 7% increase for this last year of schooling for our last child. For us, it will mean we don’t go skiing next year….and I don’t expect any sympathy for that. But if we had more kids and several years to go still, I think we would go for the good Comp that our children could have gone to.

Usually they only do increase if they need to!

I am hoping they will only increase in future years if they need to.

Ours is in the first year of senior 🫣. For that school. We’ve two other children and schools.

@Postapocalypticcowgirl I think the risk is probably to big for us to take, DS‘s school is more oversubscribed than Winchester so he wouldn’t be about to go back. We should count ourselves lucky in the current climate.

I would imagine a school like Winchester has significant reserves, so they don't have to pass all their cost rises on to parents (if they don't want to).

However, I think it would be sensible to budget for 10% increases each year as a minimum?

If you have a school he is really happy at, and may not be able to return to if it's oversubscribed in the future, I do think giving it up is a risk?

Yes, that's a lot- and obviously if you've got a child going into e.g. Y10, there's the worry of a similar fee rise the year after that you'd then pretty much have to absorb?

Has anyone on this thread had notice from a boarding school yet regarding fees for 23/24? We have a place at Winchester for 2024 but are unsure if DS will go, he is at a grammar school now and I think we may be unwise to give it up. The school has exceeded our expectations so far.

Yes, if people were at their limit. It’s just over £2k, so £200 a month more, roughly.

Wow, that's an awful lot! And of course as fee increases are cumulative, even if there's only a small increase next year, it'll still be a relatively large price hike compared to what people have budgeted for.

There must be some parents who won't be able to absorb that?

Could you please name the schools or at least a short description like location, years, selectivity, etc. Thx

We heard yesterday - 8%, boys school in SW London.

We heard last week - 15% increase.