Private school- How much should I save before they go?

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I’d like to send my two children to private school at some point.

Currently they are age 6&7 at local infant school. Our local Secondary school is not good.

>How much savings (safety nest- would not be used on fees) should I have ready before I enter them into private school?<

Youngest has likely got ASD/ADHD in some form so he is my priority and might send him before the eldest as he’s really struggling with various things.

Finances are important to me as a single parent and I need to ensure a good balance with paying off my mortgage vs paying school fees to ensure our security.

I’m currently saving as much as I can (maxing out my ISA of £20k + additional £10k savings each year)
with the plan of not touching it for school fees, but to have as more of a safety net just incase my work position ever changes, until they finish school.

Obviously when they start private school, I would need to stop paying into my savings and diverting this money to pay for the school fees. At which point my savings each month will stop and then I would focus more on overpaying my mortgage with any remaining money I have each month.

Those with children at private school, please can you give me an idea of hope much money you have saved in a “rainy day” savings pot?

Would £80k be too low?

Am I crazy to consider doing this? (I am fairly young- 35, but I have a fairly large mortgage, and a successful small business).

I feel that in 10 years time I would feel selfish if I had all my earnings into paying off my mortgage by the time they are 18, when they could have had a better education/ environment suited to them

Thank you for your help. (Also I know that private school isn’t always the answer, especially when it comes to ASD children, however there is one local to me that would be an excellent choice)

Edited as see you are asking how much savings you’d need over and above fees.

Not sure there’s any way for strangers to qualify this; depends on your outgoings, lifestyle etc.

I have no idea but just think that you’re amazing at 35 (or any age!) to be able to save £30k a year plus have a large mortgage. You’re business can’t be that small - well bloody done!
Plus you sound like an amazing considerate mother.

That was your!

A savings pot of £80k total as a safety cushion.

Schools here are around £25k inc vat currently which will go up

Salary is around £120-£150k (self employed) but that’s all relative I suppose

I’m in a similar position and am looking to send mine private for secondary.

I’d suggest saving a years worth of fees plus basic living costs. So depending on your mortgage payments and any flexibility there 80k should be good.

Looking at your overall finances I think that you should also be aiming to save something towards fees.

Your current annual savings are 30k but fees will be 50k. You’ll probably get a saving on childcare costs, but other costs - uniform, trips, expenses will probably go up. So maybe aim for an additional 10 or 15k saved for each year that you will have two at private to help with the fees.

Fees do tend to go up by a fair chunk each year both in terms of time and also age, so GCSE and 6th Form cost more than KS3. You'll have lots of people telling you it's not worth it and they're no good for SEN but that's entirely school dependent. My ND kids attend private having been failed utterly by state secondary and developed EBSA. They are now (mostly) thriving at a fab, small, pastorally strong private.
Money wise, I am also a SP and get help from grandparents. I have no savings at all and debt but I need my kids at this school. A really good pot as you suggest may not cover it absolutely but you're obviously on a good salary so provided nothing changes there, you'll be fine. You also do need to factor in expensive uniform, sports kit etc and trips will be offered that cost 1k plus but they're optional.
You'll also get told it's not fair to put them in if everyone else has a mansion and a pony but mine dont find that at all. They know they are fortunate and they are not alone. Lots of people scrape by to send their kids.

It all depends tbh. We are trying to save 2 years worth of fees (taking into account any increases we think likely) and not touch alongside emergency savings of one year of expenses so if the worst happens just before GCSEs or A levels then those years are paid for and we don’t have to disrupt education. We won’t be looking to touch these two years of fees unless needed and if not used then potentially use to fund University. We only have one child though.

However £150k a year and 2 kids at private secondary is going to be tight (relatively speaking). Fees will go up - and you maybe looking at £60k combined easily by the time they get there so at £150k a year that leaves £31k ish is for all other living expenses - which of course is doable and many people do, but would be a potentially a significant cut to your current lifestyle? It’s great you can save £30k a year but can you find the extra £30k on top?

The costs that will catch you out are the uniforms and the extracurriculars. I’d suggest having a look at the schools you are interested in, then trying to save a year’s fees per child, plus a year’s uniforms and extracurricular activities per child, plus a year’s mortgage and bills so you don’t have to withdraw them if you are unable to work, plus a buffer of maybe £10k?

You can never save enough. Ideally you need enough behind you to pay the fees for as long as the children are at the school. Consider how much the fees are going to go up every year and then think about how much you would need to have saved if you or your partner or both of you are unable to earn the money to pay for the fees. Oh and don’t forget the cost of uniform, sports equipment and even text books. Not to mention school trips. That said, we did it by paying the fees term on term out of our salaries. It was a struggle but we managed it. Fortunately neither of us lost our jobs or were unable to work due to illness.

As this is MN you'll have people saying you need £500k in savings and a salary of £300k. Or you're mad to consider it so take all advice with a handful of salt.
DS started in P6 this year (age 10). We saved up 2 years of fees so around £30k. Where we are fees are around £15k a year. Uniform is fairly cheap (lots available second hand), packed lunches allowed, sports included and only extra is the bus he gets at around £80.
We're paying fees from income so the money saved is 'just in case'.
DD will join him in 5 years time for secondary so we need to save a buffer for that too which we're doing.
Our income is good but not MN good and outgoings are modest.

We started in Yr 7, having moved from never considering private school to having our eyes opened in a very negative way at our "outstanding" primary state by yr5.

So not a ton of savings or planning!

We've got a year of fees in the bank and we spend about 12-14% of annual income on fees/food/travel/uniform etc. mortgage is about the same level and we overpay on the top. This feels comfortable and we could manage on one salary, if needed but would need to be frugal.

We've never had lavish cars or holidays so no sacrifices there. Our house is nice but not nothing special. We could downsize and pay off fees from the equity. And I think the big trips will add on more money in the coming years. I'd say we are bang average at the school. Obviously some people are loaded and some are not but I can never tell and can often only make a fair guess after hearing they have 4+ kids! In my kids circle there's a mix of kids from mc professionals like us, families who have successful businesses, scholarships (parents tend to be in professional roles) and farmers.

Thank you all. Perhaps I’ll need to wait a little longer and send them both from year 7

It's doable with no savings and paying as you earn (my parents did it) but personally I'd want enough in the bank to know fees were covered as long as you wanted them in the school. I only considered private for 6th form because I only ever had two years of fees available. I'd be happy to pay for extras as I went along, though.