Urgent Help - Year 9 school places for six children required asap

Well maybe these figures are average for the south east (I dd say that tbf). This is not an area of expertise for me but I would be surprised if the two private schools most local to me were so very far off the pace in terms of fees. I am in the East Mids.

We pay £22,400 for year 7 in the SE and that’s average in my area. It goes up to £24,507 in year 9. Both of those figures are without VAT. OP’s figures do not sound unusual to me. I only know of one cheaper school in the area but the academics are weak and they mainly have pupils with SEN who couldn’t cope in state or other private schools. I know that there are cheaper schools elsewhere in the country because I’m not from the SE originally and we considered moving away, one reason being cheaper private schools.

while not all schools start the gcse curriculum in year 9, if they are joining the school at the start of year 10, they will get the gcse options that still have places but possibly not the choice combination they’d want. Moving in year 9 is much more sensible anyway. It can be unsettling to moves schools, if that unsettling period negatively affects school work, much better to be in year 9 than 10 or 11.

Tbh £26k pa is not really average for a senior private secondary is it?

I just checked the two local private schools nearest to me and one is £16k pa and the other is £18k pa for senior school. So I would say that this school is towards the top end (tho maybe not for the South East tbf).

Be that as it may – I cannot see the point of taking out loans etc to get through another year when the DC are in year 9. Year 9 is not a bad year to move esp if possible before Christmas. It's not the case, as a PP says, that “most” state schools start GCSE courses in year 9. Some do pick options in year 8 but Ofsted is not keen and it is becoming less common (thank goodness). So while science, maths and English may start to work on and cover GCSE content, the option choices will not usually start until year 10. Presumably these DC will be covering lots of great content and should be able to slot in to the state curriculum no bother.

I do want to say tho as you mentioned someone having to move in year 11 I think @2010louises – there is no way that I would do this. If I were unable to pull together two terms of VAT then I would take out a loan or do similar to keep them in GCSE year. But that's not the issue for these DC.

Maybe they have been impacted by other cost of living pressures like lots of us. I’d baked in the VAT increase to our calculations since the 2019 election. What I hadn’t baked in was the massive increase in our mortgage, food, power, insurances etc. The £400 per month VAT that we are going to have to pay is dwarfed by the £1750 per month extra that we are paying on other bills. If we’d not had those other increases, the VAT would be easily manageable. I’ve managed to get a new job so will be able to cover the VAT no problem but not everyone has that option.

People saying that the poster should have foreseen three years ago that Labour would have got in - what? You get it isn't just the VAT, right, but other major payments?

We are just coming up on 2 years since Trussonomics, and the impact of that period (shortly after these boys started year 7) on interest rates and mortgage repayments was certainly not known in the March of year 6 (March 2022), when they would have committed to a secondary school place. July 2022 was the mass resignation from Johnson's cabinet.

(private school parent, Labour voter, support the VAT policy, do not support nonsense berating of other parents)

@FancyBiscuitsLevel makes a good point, OP.

Has your friend considered Bishop Challoner? You don't need to be Catholic.

The local authority has a duty to provide a school place, within a reasonable distance (look up what your County consider reasonable). If none can be found, tell your friend to go to appeal for the one she prefers (again, her preference must be reasonable). The appeal should win, if the child has no school place.

@Another76543 - 3 years ago this child was in year 6. Their parents started secondary education knowing this was a genuine risk and that they were at their limit.

even if it being January was a shock, they knew they’d not be able to afford year 10&11 yet thought unsettling then rather than moving between 8&9 was a good plan. It’s just bizarre selection of choices.

@Another76543 2/3 years is plenty of time to plan.
Changing schools at the end of year 9 / start of yr10 is not a great idea anyway as the students would have chosen GCSE options in yr9 so the new kids would need to slot in to whatever subjects has space.
And £450 a month / £5k for one year to keep their child In school for 1 more year shouldn't be out of reach for someone who's made a choice to send their third child to private school. If it is, the choice was not a very sensible one.

I cannot comprehend why you would choose to spend £25k a year on school fees, if you cannot afford £30k per year on school fees.

Very poor decision making by the parents, and I feel for the children concerned.

Another thought - has your friend checked if other local private schools would be priced closer to the £25k they can afford? While the bigger name schools near me are £25-30k, we have friends who’s ds goes to a school a little further afield and they are paying £17k for year 10.

they may not meet the criteria for a bursery at this school, they might at another.

has been a Labour Party policy since 2017

In 2019, the party voted to abolish private schools entirely. Nobody thought this would ever happen. The threat of VAT has only been a real possibility for the last 2/3 years.

The Labour Party also suggested they wouldn’t apply it until next September. The January date was unexpected.

Charles Darwin is a bugger to get to unless you actually live in Biggin Hill...no train station. Not many direct buses.

I have one child in Year 11. Years ago when we moved house and couldn’t get a place in state straight away I looked at the fees for the local private. In those days (Year 2) it was just over 10k for junior and 12k for senior a year. Now the same school in Year 11 for senior will be 25k with the VAT included and that is a school that is only passing on 12 per cent.

I can totally understand how someone who started in Reception in all through private school can now no longer afford it. It is a massive jump from 12k per year to 25k! So this is why there will be an exodus. Parents just kept their children where they were and now the Councils will need to get funding from Central Government to create all these extra school places. It better be forthcoming!!!

Well what is a fair comparison? Seems totally fair to me.

Imagine there's something that would negatively impact your life if you suddenly couldn't afford it.

I don't have a car. To me therefore a car is a luxury I take the bus and trains and the occasional uber. Why should anyone have a car when an alternative exists - perhaps not one they'd like as much but still a viable alternative.

What's the difference? Are you telling me a car is an essential luxury but private education isn't given there are alternatives for both.

What comparison would you make - I'm genuinely interested?

Try Charles Darwin School. It's a good school. I'd be surprised if there aren't any places.

Yes, it is. The government has announced that 20% VAT will be added to private school fees from 1st January 2025 and will apply to any fees paid from 29th July 2024 onwards related to the term starting in January or subsequent terms.

So your friends are paying £25k a year and the fees have gone up to £30,500 a year, and this isn’t possible for them to find the extra £5.5k and they won’t borrow it.

can’t believe their stupidity to put their heads in the sand about this - it has been a Labour Party policy since 2017, when this child was in year 2. It’s been obvious since before this boy started secondary school that Labour would win the next election and their child would be in year 9 or at best year 10.

why would anyone sign their child up for private secondary school knowing they could only just afford it and before their child hits GCSEs, the fees will go up by 20% and they’ll have to move them anyway. And then being that foolish, once Labour did get in power, waited until they couldn’t actually afford the next terms fees before even looking into how to move them into the state sector.

had they made no plans at all? It’s such unbelievable behaviour.

The FAP only kicks in when the children have been out of school for at least 4 weeks. There is no legal time period within which the council is obliged to find a school place. It is, however, true that parents are likely to succeed at appeal if the council hasn't offered a place by then.

Bromley is a very large LA, where does your friend live?

Do NOT tell your friend to sign up to online school as the Council may deem this an education (and online school incurs fees and notice periods too). Bromley Council are very clear. You have to prove you gave notice to a private school first before submitting the in-year application. For anyone else stating you can just go on a waiting list, it is incorrect. Once the children are out of school the Fair Access Protocol kicks in and the Council are legally obliged to find them a school place within a set time period. If they fail to do so, the parents will be successful on appeal.

£450 a month is a lot of money for many people. But if you have chosen to pay for private school I would hope that out of your monthly income you'd have at least this amount to save / gave as emergency money or have savings put away that you can use on these circumstances. It seems reckless to push yourself so close to the edge financially that funding this much for one school year that you do not have access to this amount of cash. Then it would get them to the end of this school year which is what the mum wanted.

I know the replies to this will be about £450 a month / 5 grand being loads of cash and who the hell has that spare? I'd expect someone who's chosen a luxury option rather than a standard option (ie state) to have it. Unless there are specific reasons such as SEND which there don't appear to be in this instance.

I do genuinely feel sorry for the kids. But the parents could have planned so much better than they have.

Yes, I did misunderstand. It's an extra £5k per term. Still, at year 9 i think it would be a good idea to take out a loan rather than move them. Or sell stuff. If you can afford £27k a year in fees, you surely have access to credit or have some bits and bobs you could sell?