Sorry to ask but how are people affording private education?

@Tsc2011
if you’re still in Oxfordshire, and want to stay in the area. You can live on the border of bucks, and be eligible for the grammars and a very good local comprehensive. It’s a very small geographical area which falls into this category. It’s sought after locally.

OP - if you can move anywhere, look at Hampshire. No grammar school angst and the comps are good overall. Most secondaries here are 11-16 so followed by a sixth form college - Peter Symonds in Winchester gets outstanding results and many students into top unis and there are several other good ones too e.g. Brockenhurst College and Barton Peveril in Eastleigh. I heard a few years ago that Hampshire's GCSE average is better than LAs with grammar schools.

@fungipie "Very much dependent on County. In many Counties the 11+ and State grammar schools have long gone, and the only Grammar Schools left are very much private."

There are (I think) 164 grammar schools in the country. They are state schools. There are some ex-grammar schools which are now private but have retained the word "grammar" in their name solely for historical reasons. They are the same as any other private school.

@Jennaveeve "Honestly, I don’t think many people realise how some people paying for private school are living to pay for it."

Honestly, it sounds as if you don't realise how some people are living full stop.

By being rich.

Lots of people go without everything, literally, and still can't afford private school for one, let alone two children.

And I hope that your friend has twins in their final year of school because if she is already going without literally anything, she's going to be unable to afford even the "normal" year on year fee increases that private schools make, never mind even consdering VAT.

There is so much rubbish on mumsnet 😅
Do you even believe what you typed?

@Tsc2011
Let me know if you would like private school options in Lancashire. You could live somewhere like Clitheroe which is lovely

We have similar income to you and are sending 2 for secondary. When they were at primary we were saving. For the few years they are at secondary together we will run down savings a bit

I didn’t say it was a choice for most but it is a choice for a lot more than claim it is.

Many just prefer to prioritise other things which is of course absolutely fine.

It is one of the reasons why the VAT proposal is so unjust.

Have I missed something? How much do you think private education costs. We have bills to pay and a kid in nursery too.

63% of two parents families have parents who work full or part time (in my case, part time is 33 hours over 4 days with one day ‘off’). One extra day’s work won’t pay for two children to be educated privately.

Again, private education is not a ‘choice’ for most families and it’s incredibly arrogant to presume it is.

How many households have only 1 person working? Every single one of them could afford private education for a child if they wanted to.

Fewer than half of UK families have 2 FT working parents.

We're pretty well off. We spend under £2 on holidays per year. Our cars are 10 years old. I'm not saying what anyone should do but that's a pretty good saving. Most of the kids clothes are off vinted. Equally people can be lucky if they took out their mortgage at a good time.

If we'd wanted private school we'd have bought a smaller house too and or in a cheaper area too and actually only been able to have one kid.

The whole ethos of private schools is completely different to bog standard comps. It's not all about the "certificate", it's about the extra curricula sports/arts/tech, it's about networking, team work, confidence building and nurturing. Private schools usually have a much stronger "friends of ...." or parent/teacher organisation to raise funds for educational trips, extra sports/music/tech equipment, to finance clubs & societies, etc. They also tend to keep in contact with leavers, who will often return to give subject/employer/career talks, and they also tend to do their own career fairs where they invite local/national employers to have stands handing out leaflets and talking to students and usually pretty good careers/Uni advice. The "certificate" is the least of it really! It's much more of a community (via the sports, clubs & societies, arts, etc) and much more geared to career options/opportunities, etc.

Higher income for us and going without stuff although we still go on holiday a lot. Personally would not want to do it on any lower income I think it would be too much of a sacrifice.

My parents sent my brother to a private school because the state one he was allocated was absolute crap. They couldn't afford it, but couldn't afford not it. Father was a shop manager and mother a secretary, both in small/local businesses, so low/average wages. They paid for it by not having holidays, not doing any home improvements, running a clapped out old banger of a car, mother doing a second part time evening job. It was very hard for them, but they put themselves through it for the greater good.

This!

Combined income only £90k but staff discount of 50% plus scholarships plus grandparents help

In my opinion, 14 years of education is about so much more than the piece of paper showing exam results at the end. It’s about experiences, finding out where their strengths lie and a happy childhood.

Believe it or not, in other people’s worlds, one cannot simply devote an entire salary to paying the school fees and live off the other. Both incomes are required to pay the bills and put food on the table. Not for purchasing the luxury of a privileged education FFS.🙄

Household.
We are also both SE so tax is slightly different.

Household income, or just yours?

*mid not kid