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?

And when you don't use the nursery anymore?

Is the prep school actually any good though? The decent ones round here tend to charge nearer £8k per year, exception being the one that bridges the £6,000pa nursery to the £17,000pa senior school and ramps up gradually through the prep years to lull you into a false sense of security that you can afford the fees till suddenly you can't but your child is so settled and happy it would be cruel to move her.

Are you sure you haven't misread the detail on the fees page? Most schools quote their prices per term and £8,100 per year (3x£2700) is much more likely.

Yes, it seems cheap. I've checked the other local preps and they are around 25% more per year.

Yes it goes up after reception, but not by much.

Uniform is non branded except for blazer and bag. The bag is the same throughout the school and there's a second hand stall for the blazer.

As I say, I'll go to the open evening and see. I suspect that the nursery (under 2s) subsidises the school as it's the cheapest nursery around as well for over 2s.

Really sorry, me again. I know ive previously posted.

Great that you have grammer schools but you know the exams to get into grammer schools are tough? Kids are being prepped from year 5 for the exams, and its not a given that just because your kids went to a private primary that they'll get into the grammer. I just think that your last post sounded like entry to the grammer was a given.

I’m sorry OP but that just can’t be correct.
It will be that price per term. Even with sibling discount.

Oh wow! How do they pay their teachers and bills with £2700 per year???

CAG12 yes I'm aware it's not given.

It's a very small school

Are other schools just 25% more? Still under £4000 A YEAR ??

Are you in the UK OP? If yes, could you roughly tell us where?

What prep school is that @Yeahthatthing? Just curious as I’d be tempted to send my child there for those sort of fees. We live up north and there’s no schools anywhere near that cheap, you are looking around £1700 a term here for primary and then £2500 junior up to about £4000 a term for upper secondary!

If you're sure about the fees then this cannot be a good school. Or are you not in the U.K.? Our local primaries (state) get 3-5K funding per pupil per year and are struggling big time. Assuming the prep has smaller class sizes than I cannot see how they can provide anything like a decent education for less than the state pupils' funding. Lunch and wraparound care almost certainly would be on top of school fees and probably more expensive than a state primary would charge.

www.telegraph.co.uk/education-and-careers/0/ten-best-value-private-schools-uk/

Cheapest listed here is 12k, I know it’s senior but that’s a huge jump

Juniors is £1590 per term not including discount, wrap around included.

Mandatory extras are school lunches and £30 per term class trips.

The sibling discount continues throughout the school as long as both are there.

Is it a Steiner school is that why it's cheap?

I went to a very small private primary/prep school. 100 pupils. It was apparently very cheap and my parents were both working full time and couldn't pick me up til 6pm. I also stayed there some friday nights and some weekends. It was actually a lovely place. Quite run down and a bit chaotic but I have wonderful memories of it... the small class sizes made up for the run down ness of the place.... I was in a class of 5 sometimes!

What's juniors?

That sounds pretty cut price

All these fees seem so cheap! They are less than the per pupil funding at most state schools.

I think it’s a no brainer then if it’s going to save you money! I’d still be interested to see what prep school it is because that’s remarkable value for money!

Krisskrosskiss i doubt very much it was the equivalent of 2000 a year.

If the other schools in the area are quoting fees of £3500-4000 then I think it’s even more likely those prices are per term and not per year. Can you give an a rough idea of where you are? (Obviously not the name of the exact school since your DS is at the nursery).

There’s also prep school section of the link Mooey posted: www.telegraph.co.uk/education-and-careers/0/top-10-best-value-prep-schools/

Sorry OP but I just don’t see how you can be right on the fees.

It's a very small school

Which makes it even more puzzling that they can offer such low fees

That does seem very, very cheap, and I would question why. I would also wonder just how financially secure a very small school with such low fees could be.

Remember that private school holidays are longer so you will have more weeks to cover with holiday care.

All these fees seem so cheap! They are less than the per pupil funding at most state schools.

It just doesn’t add up at all, does it? Especially not for a sm

But if the school is good and genuinely is that cheap but not about to go under then I don’t see why you wouldn’t do it!

Private schools tend to have longer holidays than state schools - have you factored that in? Have you factored in yearly fee increases?

£39 a day sounds expensive for holiday club - have you considered alternatives (can you send DC to the private school holiday club, for example?)

I can't see how the private school is cheaper.

I don't see how a school can afford to pay for staff with fees that low