Is private schooling mainly an English thing, and what does it cost?

[Misoniso]

I’m from NI so the majority of children here attend public schools, I don’t know anyone that attends a private school at all. But I always read about them on mumsnet, is it mostly an English thing? And what sort of cost is it to send a child to a private school? Genuinely curious

I was generally meaning was it more of an English thing in the UK.

The story of the King’s unhappy time at Gordonstoun and how it shaped his relationship with Prince Phillip, his marriage to Diana and his decisions on where to school his sons is very very well known.

DD’s school is now £15k ish a year for primary, and £22k ish for Sixth Form. That is def the lower end of the scale. It will vary a lot depending on location, facilities.

Not to me. Never heard that story in my life but can’t say I’m a fan of the royal family in general so wouldn’t know their life stories at all 🤷🏻‍♀️

Plenty of private schools in Wales as well. Not sure about costs, we're all state school educated.

My niece attends private school - in England and abroad at an 'International School'. It's dependent on the child's age and the location in essence. There are a lot of additional costs but a wealth of opportunities you can't get in a state school setting.

How can we discuss are private schools an English thing though?

Everyone (apart from you it seems) know they are a worldwide phenomenom, where's the scope for discussion?

Cost is a piece of string question

In some European countries they are different. My nephews go to a private school in Denmark where the government contributes the same that it would for a state school child, so my brother just pays the difference.

ok ok so I have only really heard of private schools on a regular basis on mumsnet, not something I ever heard about really in my ‘real life’ here in NI. I know there’s private schools all the world over but I guess I was wondering is it more common for kids to go to private schools in England compared to the rest of the UK. From discussion here it seems most common in England and Scotland.

literally what’s your problem? Move on lol

Not sure how that’s particularly relevant, costs and services generally reflect the cost of living in a country.
There are less private schools because it’s a totally different system to England, not because everyone is poor.

Voluntary grammars are not private schools, none of those Belfast schools are private.

None of those NI schools are private, bar rockport. Some have private preps.

In fairness to OP, most people in the rest of the U.K. have very little idea of how we run our education system in NI, which has its own unique set of strengths and weaknesses very different to elsewhere, and even extremely wealthy people send their kids to the state grammars as they are by and large excellent. So why would someone who may have lived in NI all their life need to know about how it works across the U.K.? And anyway, now she does want to know, she’s asking questions in a perfectly polite way!

Look at methody’s website, consider that their music offering is so great that they provided the girl choristers for the kings coronation, and that they’re not even technically in the top ten for NI grammars, and ask why anyone would bother to spend £30k a year post tax on a private school place.

It goes without saying that NI has oodles of issues, but ‘lack of good options for state schools’ isn’t one. The 11+ race can be though, and provision for less academically inclined can be.

No! Not Scotland! Edinburgh.

In saying that my brother went to Uni in Edinburgh. Heriot Watt though. Went when he was 16 believe it or not. From a state school. And basically stayed there, got married there, had children there, but he is now in Dunbar.

He has four sons. None of whom were privately educated.

Maybe it's a "class" thing rather than regional?

We used to live in London everyone we knew educated their children privately. The reason in obvious there's more money in the south/south east/Cotswold etc of England. As I said above few in the region in Scotland I live are educated privately there simply aren’t any private schools here why? Its not rocket science there is significantly less money up here, that reflected in house prices an large 4 bed here often under £400k that is what the market round here will stand because wages are lower. Even if your child(ren) are day pupils you’ve got to find £30K pa per child that’s having paid all your other bills including tax mortgage etc, so basically you've got a spare £2500 per month and that's month in month out for 5-7 years either from earning/bonus/savings/investments that you don’t have anything else to spend it on and in most families there are 2 children so £5k pcm. and if your children board well ..... That's a lot of money in the grand scheme of the things for most people so its inevitable that the highest number attending private schools will be concentrated in the wealthiest parts of the UK i.e. parts of England like London and the south east.

A certain type of independent school, usually for 13+ boys, is known as a ‘public’ school in the U.K. Maybe that’s what the PP meant.

Government funded schools in the UK , whether primary or senior, are usually known as ‘state’ schools.

That doesn't say 25% though?

A quarter of English kids are not privately educated.

I know. I misread it.

In London top schools are nearer £30k for secondary.

Not only was that poster’s response to you incredibly rude it was also incorrect. With the exception of Campbell none of those schools would be considered private schools. And even Campbell isn’t considered a private school in the same way private schools on the mainland are “private” - the majority of its funding for the day grammar comes from the government.

Lol, perhaps if you are of a certain age!

In London currently it costs 25-30k pa excluding trips, uniform, lunches and exam fees.

Yes @Misoniso there are independent fee paying schools in Wales, some with world wide recognition.
Generally speaking costs vary but mostly are significant enough that fee paying day schools are clustered where many people have higher disposable income. Boarding schools can be in leafy commuter friendly areas.
Cities with international employees and children often need non state options due to the different levels of instruction elsewhere and starting age.

Some people live on that.

Not offended. Just inured.

I found a list of 28 in about 2 seconds, in Wales