To ask if you do/would get into debt for school fees?

[AgentRoss]

• 8 year old.
• 99% of LA secondary schools are dreadful. Some are simply riot control.
• Moving isn't an option.
• Increasing our income is unlikely but we're looking.
• We don't drive for medical reasons so can't go to a school further away.
• We have no debt apart from our mortgage which is about half way through.
• We have some savings but our house is literally falling apart so we MUST spend them on that.

Are we being stupid thinking about getting into a not insignificant amount of debt to pay for private school? We could pay maybe half the cost of the fees and exams without borrowing but that excludes uniforms, extra-cirricular activities, all the other random stuff. We are confident we could get the credit at good rates.

Obviously this would then have a knock on effect on the amount of financial support we could provide for uni, first house etc.

Plus the headache of getting back into debt we've worked hard to get out of and the finincial imlact it would have on us long term.

99% of LA schools are not dreadful

Madness. I can’t think of any area where all the schools are inadequate. Have you actually visited or is this merely reputation?
I know many children who have done well even from reputedly poor schools.Ofsted would be all over schools that were simply riot control. It’s a myth.

Send to a local school and pay for extra tuition and activities.

My parents got into hideous amounts of debt to keep me and my siblings at private school. It had a huge knock on effect on day to day life, eg I remember my mum being hugely upset when I needed new school shoes unexpectedly cos there was genuinely no spare money. I feel really sad that they put themselves in such a bad position. It also meant they had no money to pay the required patental contribution for university which meant I worked 20-30hrs a week to fund myself through university.

Could you move to an area with better schools? That will cost you less in the long term.

99% of LA schools are not dreadful
This.
Very few LA school are just “riot control”. What a ridiculous view. And no, I’d never get into debt to pay school fees.

Sorry - I meant 99% of LA secondary schools in my area are dreadful.
Where I grew up the LA schools were amazing.

That would be an insane thing to do. Fees go up every year and the hidden costs are often high.

Where do you live that all the schools are that bad? Have you actually been to look at them or are you listening to out of date rumours?

You say moving isn't an option, but how can it be worse than the ridiculous getting-into-massive-debt idea?

You definitely can’t afford private school, and the most likely outcome unless you qualify for a (rare) bursary your DC will end up having to leave and you’ll have accept a vacancy at whichever local school has one.

Definitely not

Also, if you’re willing to consider getting into debt to that extent then moving IS an option, cost wise at least.

Where do you live OP?

I very much doubt that 99% of your LA schools are riot control and as horrendous as you think. Have you actually been to see them?

As another poster has said - send them to an LA school and pay for extra tuition / extra-curricular activities but if you can't afford private school outright then unless there's a chance of a bursary then don't get yourself into debt for it.

I think you would be completely bonkers to get into huge debt for this.

Is there a school bus to a better school?

You can't afford private school.

I hope you find a solution that you are happy with. Good luck.

Don’t do it.

We have some awful schools where we live & did send our children private for primary (Ds is now in a state secondary & Dd on a government scholarship) but we always had two years worth of fees in the bank just in case.

Last year Dd applied to a private 6th form and was offered 10% scholarship which we could just about have done but would have meant massive sacrifices/possibly going into debt.

Fast forward 6th months & suddenly with very little warning dh was taken seriously ill. He’s currently on half pay which ends in a couple of months. You need a fallback - you never know what’s going to happen.

Lots of private schools are pretty dreadful. Less riot control but not significant good teaching. If travelling to a different school is so difficult, do you even have a good local private school your DC could get into?

Good private education can let you bypass some difficulties that are common in poor schools, if only because it gives you choice of more schools, but it doesn’t always, and going into debt is risky. If you find you can’t sustain payments you risk having to pull her out at a crucial time. Paying for tutoring and extra curricula or even transport to a better state school some distance away would probably be more beneficial.

But some schools really are dreadful and I would do all sorts of things to do better for my kids.

Is your DC going to sit the 11+, op? Could grammar school be an option?

The LA secondary schools in MY area are that bad. I can't go into details as it's outing but realistically I have a choice of 6.

• One is good but the curriculum is v religious and as a result is restrictive in our opinion.
• 2 are in special measures,
• 1 is by my work and the kids are awful. Not normal gangs of teenagers being idiots awful but proper, you'd believe them if they told you they were going to stab you awful.
• 1 I haven't looked into properly but have heard bad things and it proudly advertises that 18% of it's students passed 5 GCSEs (yes 18%!).
• The other one my husband went to and hated and he refuses to even consider it. TBH what I've looked into, I support this decision.

Most of the people I know with kids live outside the LA. The few I know with kids at an LA secondary regularly complain about their school or the results their kids are acheiving. One in particular is spending a fortune on private tutors because their kid needs it because the teachers aren't or can't do what they are meant to do.

Maybe if the DC had SEN and really needed a specific school.

If it was just because none of the local school were good enough I think I'd home educate (and go on all the waiting lists for good ones!)

It depends how old you are, job security etc. I know a lot of people who re mortgage to pay for school fees, no difference than remortgaging for an extension or whatever.

What an awful situation :(
My answer to your question would be 'no' but I couldn't blame you if you did in these circumstances.
I would be looking at moving as the least worst option, or grammar (if that's an option).

The special measures ones might possibly improve if they parachute in a super head or something.

It’s so hard OP. We didn’t get any of our first choice for primary.

Had we not been able to afford private, we would have home schooled. We absolutely wouldn’t have got into debt for fees.

Don't write off a school just because its in special measures now. That means that its likely to be forced to up its game really quickly, in all likelihood with a new leadership team and academy sponsors, and by the time your child goes there in 3 years time will be a completely different school. Its worth going to their open evenings and listening to what their plans are to turn the school around.