How much would you say it costs to privately educate one child through secondary school ? Do you think 150k is about right ?

[Kittencuddler]

How much extra would you need for trips and clubs etc

only talking secondary to finishing sixth form

state primary educated

Have a look at the schools you are interested in as typically their fees and additional costs are advertised online. It’s much cheaper in the younger years and you might want to include some flexi or full boarding.

Some charges to consider are: examination fees, medical support, learning support/EAL tuition, transport, academic books, materials for personal projects, school trips, music lessons, extra activities, minibus services etc.

Edited to add that £150k might get your child through primary but wouldn’t be enough for secondary here. You’re looking at £250k+ and that’s without taking into account that fees will continually go up. If the school has a secondary entrance exam you might want to pay additionally for tutoring as well.

Our calculations for DDs school including 10% increases is £166k to end of year 11. For sixth form as well - add £80k.

It would depend on the school you send them to. Fees around here vary from around £25k-£38k (that’s for day, not boarding). Either way, £150k won’t be anywhere enough to cover it. Some schools charge for some text books on top of that (not a huge amount), and I believe most charge for exam entries (for GCSE/A-levels, this can be quite a lot). Individual music lessons are expensive (£40-£50 per lesson not unheard of). Uniform costs can be hefty at the start, but lots buy second hand. Sports kit adds up (hockey sticks/rugby boots/astros/cricket kit/mouthguards etc). With trips, this varies hugely. Some children don’t go on many trips at all. Some go on quite a few. Costs are comparable to state school trips though.

I pay £22k/year at the moment including lunch, transport and VAT.

I have a budget for my DD for yr 7-11 and one to include 6th form with a 5% inflationary increase which is probably too low. Ours is £27k pa currently but I think increases were withheld this year due to VAT so I imagine in the next year or so there will be a bigger jump once people have adjusted to the VAT jump.

Dc 30k pa fees London day school.
coach £900 per term, lunches £300 per term, music lessons £250 per term, LAMDA ditto. Uniform bought at second hand sale - v cheap- maybe £150 all in. We go for the cheaper uk based trips and camps ; £1500 pa

so £250k for seven years in todays prices but there is inflation and 5% or so annual fee increases that will kick in again once people have adjusted to the vat shock (full 20% passed on which is why fees now 30k for day student)

We are on £22k a year I’m hoping fees might settle
since they’ve gone up so much! Trip this year £3.5k not as much on uniform this year maybe about £250 squeezing into last years still. There are other random extras plus they’re teens and still want want other kids want!

I’d say about £245k

Oh I forgot music lessons and travel!

Gosh yeah so music is £1500ish prob more and travel about £600 a term

There’s no way you can generalise with this. You need to pick a school and work it out.
my son’s 5 yrs cost approx £50k. We’re up north and admittedly he had a 25% discount scholarship. School uniform was no different to state school, except maybe a rugby shirt. He went on 2 skiing trips about £1k each and a rugby tour. Couple of 2 day trips to York, Wales, nothing fancy.

So much depends on the school. My daughter is in year 7 at a PS now - she’s been there since year 5. The fees have risen by 3-7% (not including the year VAT got added). It’s currently just over 21k a year (including lunches) and I’m budgeting for around a 7% rise a year to give some wiggle room. Do look at the lunch costs and whether they are included or not as they are always compulsory and they often go up by more than the headline annual inflationary fee rise. In addition to that we spend about £250/year on uniform - the initial outlay was a lot more but since then I’ve not had to replace everything every year and they have good second hand sales. Some can be quite a bit more than this I know. We don’t spend a fortune on trips. Many are included and the very expensive ones are very much optional. She does things like rock climbing as extra once or twice a term at about £30-40 each. We probably spend £300/year extra on trips. I do anticipate there will be more opportunities for these as she progresses. The main “extra” we pay for is drama lessons at £150/term. So all in we’re probably spending about £1000 a year extra. It is important to bear in mind lunches and uniform aren’t free at state secondary schools so it’s not comparing with spending nothing. Also she does more things at school now that I might have funded separately for her like the drama. Think about what clubs etc you’re already paying for that you might ditch. I would say ours is quite good in wrapping a lot up in the fees. It’s clear from this thread that’s not the same for everyone and you can only make a definitive budget by going to look at and enquire at the local school you’re interested in. We are not in London but are in a fairly expensive southern city for context

Like others, I think £250k for 7 years is nearer the mark.

Do the school fees include GCSE and A level entry fees as well?

I was shocked that a friend had to pay these over and above school fees.

Private school costs between £17K and £21K plus transport costs near me.

Ours will be going to the senior school attached to their prep school, and for years 7-11 they will cost around 200k each. That's just day fees, not including any extra tuition, clubs or extras they take on, and also not including uniforms.

I've just looked at the website for the private school near me - North West, the fees are higher for yrs 9-11 than yrs 7 and 8. But just the fees alone are £246k for 5 years full boarding. This is without trips, uniforms and other expenees PPs have mentioned. You can attend as a day student, or board Mon - Fri so that is cheaper obviously.

Mine are at a "cheap" private school in the Southeast. This is my costs for my year 8 child so far, I also have another one in year seven.

£1500k per month on fees currently (with 20% scholarship)
£30 a month Standing Order to my daughter's bank account for snacks and charity days etc
£750 a year on school uniform if I bought everything brand new, probably about a third of that if you can get everything second hand
£200-£300 a term on extra curriculars
An average of £2k a year on trips (less now but looking at the five year plan, they increase later).
Tablet for school (£300) now, I'm expecting to buy another one before she finishes.
Laptop for school, she has a Chromebook now but I will upgrade in year 10.
School events, charity days, Xmas fayres etc £300 a year.
Music tuition £150 per child per term

Also we have to pay for exam entries.

There are also the hidden costs of socialising and demands. Richer families come with more expensive tastes, north face coats for school, certain shoes, ugg boots, Sol de Janeiro, spark NK make up, trips for boba teas, starbucks etc. I can't afford half of it and my youngest is forever giving me grief for it.

I don't regret my choices, but I did underestimate the extras.

Our school have only just started charging for these - I'm hoping they are covered with our 100% bursary as dd3 is in y13!

Would you be eligible for a bursary/scholarship? Ds (22) had a 10% academic bursary and 90% bursary. His public school included the cost of school dinners in the fees and transport to sporting fixtures etc were free. Dd3 is in y13 and I think the school is trying to cut costs so we have to buy all her English literature books (she is doing IB and there are a lot) and trips seem to be priced without the transport to get there! Dd3 went to London for English and we had to pay for the train extra. She is also going to Switzerland in February and she has to make her way there and back to the airport and no food is included (it's a one day (very long) trip).

My children are at state school but i know the cost of the two nearest privates as they have friends there and it wouldn’t be near enough.