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Secondary education

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

Original poster

How are you affording it - private school.

81 replies

DonkeyKon · 25/02/2026 20:14

Fee paying (but relatively cheap) london prep school and then step up to Latymer Upper for one an (we hope) second child in the future.

we have a good income between the two of us but by god the fees are eye watering.

outside of those in banking / faang, how do you go about affording 2 x £35K/year post tax?

OP posts:
Malina1 · 26/02/2026 04:19

I have two in private since reception. Single parent in finance earning just under 100K and i pay it all. No expensive holidays, no car, home owned outright. Like pp, its been worth it for mine because of the smaller classes so i somehow do it. I do envy 2 parent families though with higher incomes as must be a breeze!

EweCee · 25/02/2026 20:39

We are single income family and pay for only child from salary (mid Secondary) - it’s very tight now with VAT. We have a small house as a compromise and live fairly simply - mortgage not paid off and we hope to overpay on that once school(and uni??) finished. Will be working a full on job far longer than I feel I am able for …. But my child is thriving and having wonderful opportunities that enhance their life,and our, lives so we feel it’s worth, it… just.

SalmonOnFinnCrisp · 25/02/2026 20:23

I'm in FAANG my dh earns not dissimilar we could afford it but honestly dont want to.
we live fairly simply beyond the mortgage.

finding 100k gross PA excess income is too much pressure and it means we need to keep earning ££££ well into iur 50s which we arent sure is realistic. Hello RIFs....

Our friends who have done private... while they have nice / okay jobs its their parents who are paying either directly themselves or via trust funds. I know this factually not speculating because they have told us.

We MAY do private secondary but its really not my first choice unless the kids get into somewhere razzle dazzle.
We feel out money is better spent compounding and giving them a flat or starter home or equity to start a business

Blessedbethefruitloopss · 25/02/2026 20:21

Saved a good proportion whilst they were in primary, to go to fee paying for secondary.

SparklyBlueDress · 25/02/2026 20:16

I afford half a considerably smaller amount as one child and divorced so split fees with her father

BlackLambAndGreyFalcon · 25/02/2026 20:16

Mainly by using state primary and only having one child! (sorry, I realise that isn't terribly helpful to your situation).