To ask honestly how much private secondary and sixth form cost you?

[Quantumphysics]

I have two DC, considering private secondary and sixth form after state primary. I’m trying to do some financial planning. Those who send their children to private secondary and sixth form, can you please tell me how much you spend on fees, transport, uniform, books, meals, trips, extracurricular activities? I’m reallt trying to get a realistic idea as to whether this is something we can do. My DCs are 2 years apart and therefore will have several years of paying for two at the same time.

Yes, good advice to factor in the increases. When DC1 & 2 started (London day school) fees were 14K PA rising to around 17K PA over the years - the increases do add up. DC3 goes to a state grammar school and DC4 has opted for a state comprehensive school.

As a PP pointed out don't be fooled by the hard sell. Make absolutely sure that you are making the right decision for your child and your family. It is a large sum of tax paid income, especially if you have two children attending at the same time. Try and gather opinions from lots of different sources and really establish whether your child is genuinely getting a better education. With hindsight, I'm much less convinced of the 'value' of a private education these days.

If you're happy to move why not just move to a grammar area and put all of your financial resources into getting them through the 11+. I went private but on balance think I'd have preferred grammar school and a house deposit!

I put four through private schools. Just look at all of the schools in your area, or the league tables if you could move anywhere.

Websites will have fees, details of the inflation-related increase for sept, uniform and music tuition prices, school bus costs.

All of mine £3-4000 per term (£6000 per term sixth form).

Uniform about the same as state schools, bit more as specified stockists.

Sports kit was expensive as different home/away kits for every sport.

Trips and music tuition similar to state school.

Bus similar to state school.

Extra curricular stuff all included in fees.

Err which bit of my comment was rude? Blunt, yes, but not rude. Take that chip off.

How does anyone spend £1k a year on uniform?! Or have I misread that?

@davros
1 x school shoes £80
2 X school skirts £80
4 x blouses £160
1 x school jumper £50
1 x school track suit £100
1 x school coat £80
3 x polo shirts £75
2 x trainers - £200
1 x hockey skort £25
1 x team hoodie £40
1 x hockey shoes £80
1 x stick £40
2 x gum shield £40

.... I think that's £1050 and is only for one sport. DS plays three, and youngest two for which there is additional kit.

All the kit is branded and specialist colours so almost impossible to buy anywhere than the official uniform shop, making bargains tricky.

It also doesn't include the "oh I have to wear all black for my drama exam" type convo where there is an absolute expectation that won't be an issue.

I would question the cost of school uniform.

DS started senior school last September and the full uniform (including sports kit) was under £500.

We’ve recently had this discussion and have opted to send our first child to a private school. Check the differences in fees - some include lunch, some don’t. Some include educational trips, some don’t. Some include all stationery, some don’t. Also make sure the school is right for your child. We looked at 6 and narrowed it down to 2 for the exam. We’ve gone private for the pastoral care and small classes which will benefit our son.

Both kids privately educated, youngest about to leave school. Just got my calculator out, about £150k each in total for fees alone for their secondary education.

We've never spent £1k pa on uniform. New would have been around £500 but by buying blazers from second hand shop and generic blouses it was well below and only replaced as outgrown. However the sports uniform has changed twice in 8 years so could be more costly if child is sporty and needs to keep up. Exam fees are extra too.

My DDs went to an independent 6th form. The fees are now £2050pa including lunch. No uniform fortunately.

DD went as a day pupil to an international boarding school until the end of Y11. Day fees were £4995 a term for Y7&8 and £5995 a term through Y9-11. However she had an academic scholarship which reduced fees by 25%. They also offered sport and music scholarships as well as academic ones.

Uniform was reasonably priced considering the quality as was the sports kit. That was comparable to the price of the state sport kit.

Big trips were also on par with local state schools. However trips linked to the curriculum were heavily subsidised. No paying for coaches etc as the school gave their own buses. All meals included (elevenses, proper sit down lunch and first tea)

She has moved to another indie for 6th form as she has a 100% academic scholarship due to her GCSE results. Fees for 6th form are £4400 per term, but with scholarships offered on a sliding scale with academic and/or leadership scholarships offered on a sliding scale from 20% up to 100%. Again nothing is largely more expensive than state schools. Any extras you agree to are just billed termly and are completely manageable. Thus far DD has been away on a "team building" weekend at the start of 6th form -an outwards bounds weekend designed to help the new starters integrate at no cost and is off to Paris for a week at no cost (it is a school reward for hard work).

At her first school there were a couple of mega rich families but they were least likely to flaunt it. The parents tend to want to find out what you do/what you can offer but that's no different to any form of networking .....it can feel a bit intrusive at first.

You need to look at the actual fees for the schools you are considering. There is a massive range on here. Our fees were about 10k a year (kids left 2 years ago). Some include meals etc in fees, some don't. I think we paid maybe 2k a year extra for bus, meals, random trips and uniform. There were also some expensive trips available and optional, our kids did one each.

Totting up fees , increase in fees by @£5500 annually by end of sixth form ,music lessons not much change out of £150k .

@DramaRamaLlama, £40 per blouse? Were they spun from gold?

Fees - usually go up by 10% ish each September per year as they go further up the school. Some don’t and just have a flat fee for the whole of secondary. But also factor in 4/5% ‘inflation’ rise each April.

If lunch is included in fees, add on about £2,000 per year for everything else - uniform & games kits can be v expensive as they are usually branded; trips and probably a residential of some sort; various bits and bobs come up that they will ‘just pop on the bill’ In upper fifth and sixth, add about £400 on for exam fees. There will usually be at least one ‘big’ sports tour or cultural tour type thing costing about £3,000. Multiple shorter ones sold as subject based trips eg geography trip to Iceland etc these are optional

Cost of uniform obviously differs massively from school to school. At DD's zone 2 London indie we haven't spent anything like £1k pa but I do buy big!

Also wait to see what suits your children , my friend sacrificed so much to send her child to a private school and it was really a waste of her money.

DH went to one of the most expensive private schools in the country, I am state educated. We did contemplate sending DS but he adored his state primary school friends. DS has done really well in the state system. As he has confident parents and has been to air cadets, done competitive sport and done some paid work he has that confident polish that people talk about dc picking up in the private school system. All for free.

Wait to see what sort of personalities your little ones have.

£40 per blouse? Were they spun from gold?

They've got the school crest embroidered on them and given there is a limited run I imagine that pushes the price up. Plus I imagine (but have no idea for sure!) that the school receives a benefit.

You can get away with wearing non crested ones under jumpers in the winter but i suppose no one really wants their DC to be the odd one out.

Quantum- I’m afraid that if you’re asking that question you probably can’t afford it......

In northwest here. Around £10,500 pa plus £1,000 in lunches (compulsory), £300-400 pa in uniform and another £200-300 in extras (trips etc). Use public transport so quite cheap but if using school bus/car, £500 term in fares/fuel.
Chosen state sixth form because the provision here is much, much better.

1 x school shoes £80
2 X school skirts £80
4 x blouses £160
1 x school jumper £50
1 x school track suit £100
1 x school coat £80
3 x polo shirts £75
2 x trainers - £200
1 x hockey skort £25
1 x team hoodie £40
1 x hockey shoes £80
1 x stick £40
2 x gum shield £40

Eh? That's nowhere near standard. We have as follows

1 x school shoes : £50
1 school skirt: £45
1 blazer: £75
4 x blouses (from the 2nd hand shop, perfect condition): £25
1 x jumper: £26
School coat: £45
1 x summer dress new: £32
1 x summer dress second hand £15
1 x school tracksuit £75
1 x sports hoodie £36
1 x PE polo shirt £26
1 x PE skort £25
1 x cycle short (2nd hand uniform shop again. Hurrah!): £6
1 x trainers £25
1 x running spikes £25
Hockey stick £25
Gum shield £10

So that's less than £600 all in. Shoes are replaced generally annually. Spikes are only necessary as she's on the track team. We're at the end of Y5 and she's still in the skirt I bought her in Y3 (it was long then, it's knee length now, but she's got skinnier so it still fits on the waist). We're on our second blazer in 3 years and this will do til end Y6. I bought her school coat in Y3 and it'll be fine til end Y6, she barely wears it anyway.

When she was in state school she had 5 x shirts and 10 x polos as they were Tesco cheapies, but the lady in the uniform shop at the Independent school told me that no one bothers with more than one skirt or jumper and that's how we've done it for the last 4 years. It's been absolutely fine as the skirts are absolutely bombproof!

We're in the South East, and uniform now comes from Schoolblazer, so pretty standard pricing.

Argh. Quote fail!

In SW term fees are £4500. This includes lunch and transport.

Uniform is nowhere near £1k, probably on a par with most state schools. As others have said initial outlay can be expensive but then replace as needed. We definitely went for he will grow into when DS started, as he is now in Y9 and have only had to replace his blazer and pe shorts with respect to logoed uniform. Have had to replace trousers and shirts but they can be bought from anywhere like Next etc.

We have not had any expensive school trips. Luckily DS is not interested in the optional expensive trips abroad, so I think so far we have spent less than £500 in total over the last 3 years, which compares very favourably to his friends in the local state secondary.

You do get the occasional surprise on the bill but nothing expensive and you do get used to the term ‘just add it on the bill’ when signing forms!

We chose this school for DS for small class sizes and pastoral care. He is a quiet sensitive child and we thought he would cope better there. If he had been a loud extrovert this school might not have been the right fit. It is non selective and doesn’t have the old boys network thing that the more well known private schools have.

pinguforpresident

Surely the point is there isn't a standard. Anymore than there is a standard for fees which as we've seen on this thread vary hugely.

I'd also argue that £100 trainers are far nearer to standard than a £25 pair and of course uniform is going to be cheaper from the second hand shop

Decathlon and Sport Direct for trainers. I rarely spend more than £25. I get the ones that are usually pretty expensive, but have been reduced because they're the end of a line or something.

You seem bemused at the thought of using the second hand shop? It's incredibly popular at my daughter's school, and the kit is in top-notch condition as they only changed their uniform a couple of years ago, so it's all been worn for 1-2 years max, but is half the price of the new stuff.