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?

All the private schools that I know charge for wrap around care in addition to regular fees. Usually around £15 a day.

I agree, there must be a catch for a school only charging £2700 a year.... That is less than the state school allowance per child, which I believe is £3k for primary and £5k for secondary. They either must be seperately charging for a lot of add ons or I can't think it has any of the advantages of private s hooks, eg smaller classes or better facilities.

I live in the SE and fees start at, around £3.2k per term and go up to nearly £5k by the time they are year 5-6.

Argh, pressed ‘post’ by accident

Especially not for a small school.

Do they have an extremely wealthy, very generous benefactor?

I've found it I think. It is cheap.

Well OP if you're sure about the cash, then... Don't bother because private schools are closing all over the place and you don't want that upset once your child is settled. It sounds totally unviable and I'm astonished that any private school would have unbranded uniform... They do tend to love their branding. Ours cost 1k for two kids which is about normal I reckon.

£2,700 a year? If the school is financially viable (I don't see how it can be but I have never run a school!) then sign DC up stat.

There's one in Durham that charges thosevkind of fees. It only has 6 pupils and is struggling to survive.

I wouldn't send my child there.

I'd also check the staff are qualified and they are paying at least the going rate to attract good staff.

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!

Absolutely. If the figures are as quoted, why are you questioning whether or not to do this, @Yeahthatthing?

I don’t understand the dilemma, to be honest.

I don’t understand how if it’s £1590 per term with a 12.5% discount it will be cheaper than wrap around care? X surely it’ll be about £4000 a year instead of £2900 for wrap around? Does the prep school have longer holidays than normal schools too so you’ll have to pay more in summer club etc

Are you in Ireland?

There's one in Durham that charges thosevkind of fees. It only has 6 pupils and is struggling to survive.

I know the one you mean. By all accounts they’re in dire straits, unsurprisingly. I didn’t know they only had a handful of pupils, though!

So if you already have another child there why are you asking if you should send this child? Why would you treat one child different to the other? Plus you mention the private school accepts vouchers for wrap around care, so you would be paying £2700 per year (very doubtful) and childcare for wrap around on top!

Wow, that’s cheap. The local private school here is £10k per year for Reception, with lots of extras to pay for, and just goes up from there.

2700’per term is super cheap for a private - if you can afford it (plus all the incidentals on top of that) fine.

I found the independent schools census data and it says there are 25 schools in the uk who responded to the survey (about 900 respondents I think I couldn't find an exact number) that actually do charge less than £1000 per term so yes its possible the OP isn't mistaken.

State primary schools receive around £4.5k per pupil per year though and are underfunded at that. What is this school skimping on to make ends meet?

Ok, so I shall go to the open evening with my sceptic head on then!

Not Steiner. In the north. 60ish kids, been going for 25 years. 100% 11+ pass rate for those who took it (it's in the next county over so not a grammar area) . Holiday club exclusive to the kids attending.

I do know that the grounds and 2 houses it's in were gifted to set the school up so I guess there may be a rich benefactor or trust somewhere. I'll probe more at the open evening.

Juniors is 7-11yo.

School holidays follow the local authority so aren't longer.

TabbyMumz both kids currently in the nursery. Oldest child now coming to school age. For discount purposes, the nursery and school are considered one.

colourlessgreenidea the dilemma is if there's things I haven't considered which will make it more expensive!

I guess it’ll make it more expensive when your kids are about 7 and 10 or whatever and both in the juniors and you’re paying £8000 a year? But if you can afford that go for it!

Goingbacktokansascity £1590 per term is the cost of a 10yo child there. Someone up thread suggested they may hike prices for older kids so to check.

But, but, state primary schools get more funding per child than £2700.

Do you definitely get the discount on the more expensive one? Not just the cheapest one?

Only 60 in a whole school doesn’t sound viable.

@Yeahthatthing exactly. So I’m assuming you’ve got about a 3 year gap in age or less. So they’ll both be in juniors. 1590 a term, 3 term year: £8,347.5 per year with your 12.5% discount

Trewser if you have I'd appreciate it if you'd not name it as my children are there. BUT can you see anything glaringly wrong with it?