If you're worried about rising private school fees..

[CurlewKate]

... why not just get a better paid job? It apparently works for poor people.

Exactly what Noname99 said x10!

Exactly. Really unpleasant.

Hopefully at the same time the local schools, with I guess 5% more children per class(?) (I have no idea on the actual figures, I assume it depends on area) will improve as all the millions gained from VAT will be spent on hiring more teachers and providing better facilities

is this a serious comment? Does anyone actually think this will be the outcome?

@twistyizzy I am just so exasperated by all the "Oh dear, how will we COPE!! Imagine-we might even have to use a STATE school and we work SO hard and sacrifice SO much!" When people genuinely struggling are told to take in ironing. It's just so tone deaf.

Are people not allowed to have an emotional response to their own situation?

@CurlewKate I get that but your post is just downright nasty and I thought more of you to be honest.
It is a time of uncertainty and obviously we are all worried about the impact on our DC, moving schools is never easy especially in Yr 10-11. How would you view what you've written if it was the state sector facing this ie potentially your DC losing their place at whichever school they are at? How would you respond to someone crowing over their situation?

I have seen a few of these crowing posts. It’s not a good trait

Some of the kids at private schools are boarding because it's not safe for them to go home. Some are profoundly disabled and need residential care.

I'd say removing their care and education because of spite and envy is a tragedy.

"Hopefully at the same time the local schools, with I guess 5% more children per class(?) (I have no idea on the actual figures, I assume it depends on area) will improve as all the millions gained from VAT will be spent on hiring more teachers and providing better facilities"

5% more children per class? Where do you get your figures? Even if all the private school kids leave that's 25 extra per state school. And I suspect most parents will muddle through somehow.

In our county (Buckinghamshire) there are currently 2 state school spaces available in year 9. In the whole county, and it’s quite a populated county. So when those parents at private school have to remove their kids as they can’t afford it, where the hell are they meant to go?

No, sorry, I really wouldn't call that a tragedy.

If you would, then you're very lucky to live in such a bubble that you don't know what real tragedy looks like.

Personally, I don't agree with kids doing GCSEs so early in any case. Plenty of moderately gifted kids could do a maths gcse early if their parents were inclined to encourage them in that direction, but what's the point? There are so many other more valuable ways in which their learning could be stretched and enriched. But that's a whole other thread.

It would nice to imagine that schools might choose not to pass the VAT on to students in receipt of scholarships and bursaries.

@Fatpigsinblankets Don't worry. LEAs have a statutory obligation to provide a school place.

I think the worse ones are all those that try to exert power through threats and blackmail:

"Well, I'll just have to stop working and stop paying tax then."

"Well, I'll stop supporting local businesses then."

"Well, I'll stop donating to charity then."

It is so petulant and nasty. Just because they can't handle being the people who are priced out of privilege for a change.

And I would certainly have significantly more sympathy if there weren't so many posts about state schools being hell holes of bullying and gang violence.

As I have said on other threads, I think private schools for children with disabilities should be treated as a separate category. However, I also believe that the state should be adequately meeting the needs of those children and that private provision shouldn't be necessary, so I would like to see those gaps properly addressed by the state sector. If profoundly disabled children need boarding provision, the taxpayer should fund this - not individual families.

Lots of children with disabilities go to specialist private schools which are funded by local councils. How many of those will close? The fees are very high and the VAT will be paid by council tax. Schools like this one St Catherine’s and this one 3 Dimensions .

What will happen to the children who attend these schools?

I feel rather sorry for those people filled with such spite and bitterness that they are laughing about the prospect of some children having to leave schools where they are happy and thriving. Those children are not effecting those people’s lives at all. You have to pity people who take joy at the prospect of children being upset and having their education disrupted.

Do you have good state options where you live? Do you have a child with sen?
If private school becomes unaffordable for us then I will have to give up my NHS job to homeschool my child, just as thousands of other parents who have sen children who wouldn't cope in large comprehensives do. It would be shit.

so basically you’re being nasty about people worried about their kids education because you imagine some other people at some time have said something inappropriate to someone else? Does that about cover it?

The tax payer does fund these schools, you can’t self fund, the schools won’t let you in case you start your child there and then need to withdraw them for financial reasons.

They'll only have to move schools if their parents can't afford a small increase in fees. Surely their parents can just cut back a bit, or take on an evening job? If their children's education is so important that they're already paying thousands of pounds a year.

I would hate to be the kid at a private school watching their parents scrimp, save and sell to pay my school fees. Can you imagine that kind of pressure and guilt put on them.

I’m considering a private secondary for one of my dds for that reason. Pretty nasty to attack parents who just want the best for their kids

If the state already funds them, then it will need to continue funding them. Why wouldn't it?