Wibu to consider private school due to wrap around care costs?end

[Yeahthatthing]

School application time for DC1. We have good local state primary schools and I always assumed that he'd go to one of them. But I've been looking in to the wrap around care and it's going to be a £14.50 a day for the cheapest option. So around £2700 per year. Which is the same price as the prep school attached to his current nursery.

The prep school has the breakfast and after school club onsite and run by the teaching assistants and lunch time supervisor where as the local wrap around care is off site with a 'walking bus' arrangement.

We will absolutely need wrap around care.

Also the local holiday club is school hours at £25 per day and wrap around care needed before/ after that as well (so £39 per day) where as the prep school has onsite holiday provision at £25 per day, full hours.

Seems ludicrous that a private school will be a cheaper option?!? What am I missing?

So WiBU to send him to private primaryfor financial reasons?

A prep school that only charges £2700 a year?

No, but bear in mind you might be able to get child tax credits or UC equivalent for the wraparound care at state but you won't get it to contribute to school fees. There are other benefits to preps but will you be able to fund private secondary? It's hard to transition out.

Does it stay that low? Most private schools ramp up in fees, the older they get, and there are often other things (uniform, extra curriculars etc) at a premium when compared with state counterparts.

The other thing I’d say is not all private schools are superior to their state neighbours.

We went private so I’m not trying to dissuade you but do have a look at how much it’ll cost in year 3-6 etc and check you can afford it.

Are you sure? Our local prep charges £3105 per term.

Theworldisfullofgs yes. We get a 12.5% discount on the fees as DC2 will be in the nursery there.

Are you sure the school is not £2,700 per term?

I have a very good friend who is a private school primary teacher.

Can you afford private secondary school? There is a HUGE step change from private primary school to secondary school, and a lot of children struggle with the change.

A prep school that charges less than £3K a year? Are you sure?

Angrybird123 not eligible for any help other than the childcare vouchers, which the school accepts for holiday club and wrap around.

Are you sure it’s not £2700 PER TERM?

How is it so cheap??

OP sorry that will not be 2700 per year

Everybody would be at it then

That seems very low for an entire year

My children's school costs 3500 per term.

Its 2700 per term surely

My first thought was bloody hell, that's cheap. All our local ones (not London) are around that per term.

But if it is cheaper it makes sense. What are state secondary options like?

Just check your maths
And if they’re correct, check the school
And then recheck maths after reception...

Sorry I know this has already been said but are you certain it’s not £2700 per term including the discount? £3000 per term is about average and I’d be really surprised that any school could function if they were only charging that a year.

Regardless, I’d consider that you’ll probably want the children to both stay in the private system once they start. Can you afford this through to 18?

Is it per term? We are in Lancashire so reasonable fees but even cheapest schools are 7,000 ish a year.

Unless I've misunderstood your post, you do realise that you pay for wrap around care at private school, it's not included in the fees. Or certainly not at ours!

Thst will still make the fees only about £3k a year. Which is less than many state schools get (slightly more than my primary) and we have tough conversations about what we can and can't afford to do.

I'd be asking questions about what this means in terms of provision and ste they financially viable at those fees.

That does sound extremely cheap. Check fees for later on, I bet they ramp up significantly probably at Y3. Can you afford that?

Uniform will be much more expensive, no Asda polo shirts at the prep, it will all be branded and full sports kit from a young age. There will likely be more trips, with far less consideration for whether parents can afford it than the states. You may or may not care about ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ - kids in his class will go skiing, have posh cars, swimming pools and expensive parties. Will it bother you if you can’t afford that too?

I work in a private school and have worked in state and think the education is better in my private school than any state I’ve seen. But not all privates are the same, and I’d be amazed if it remains the cheaper option long term. If that’s the only reason you’re considering, don’t.

Yes, I'm certain of the fees. It's because of the sibling discount.

We're a grammar school area so not sure about private secondary, it's very common to go prep to grammar here.

We genuinely hadn't considered it until I was talking to a friend and she said her daughter is staying on at the school as wrap around care is so ridiculous.

The open evening is next week but we've loved the nursery and the ethos.

Even with sibling discount that's incredibly cheap. The kind of cheap where I'd be wondering where they are cutting costs.

What are the fees without the discount?