Reconsidering private education/labour gov

[Bluevelvetcake2]

As it looks increasingly likely that we will have a Labour government at some point, I’m wondering if anyone who was considering private education for their children is now re-considering it? We have put down a deposit for a prep school we really like which we could comfortably afford at the moment but not with significant fee increases. Just wondering if anyone else has concerns along the same lines and if so what are you thinking…

Sorrry wrong thread!

Possibly nobody cares anymore but if the UK ever has aspirations to rejoin the EU or EEA then VAT on education services is illegal under European law.

I would support vat on private school fees if a labour government gets in (fingers crossed)

I say this as someone who's planning private secondary in sept 24.

If private schools close, they close. I'd be happier if they went altogether. I'm only sending my kid because the education sector is in a dreadful state (not teachers or schools but curriculum and low budgets)

Nothing wrong with being pushy anyway, those kinds of people get shit done.

TheMarzipanDildo so the only pushy parents are those with children at fee paying schools?
And no state school parents can get things done?

ginghamstarfish · Today 19:05
As many Labour supporters and politicians send their kids to private schools that seems unlikely.

Which Labour politicians send their children to private schools? This is a genuine question, and I don’t disbelieve you, but there was such a fuss when Diane Abbott sent her son to a fee-paying school that I’m surprised there hasn’t been more in the press about other Labour MPs doing it.

No, obviously not. There were plenty of them at my state school.

I think any new government will have a hell of a list of things to do/fix before worrying about this to be honest. Same with any major changes to the House of Lords.

4 years isn’t a long time for the new government to get us out of the doo doo accumulated over the last 12 years.

And I forgot to add that I’d hope a Labour governments priority in education, would be to increase investment in state school, to improve the prospects of the majority as with the Blair government.

The changes in the state sector between the end of the Major government and the Blair government were like night and day.

It would be interesting to see how state schools cope with the sudden influx of ex-private school pupils. There is already a shortage of secondary school places in my area.

They will be fine
It would not be 100%
We used to model this as an LA.
There are very few places that don't have ANY places. Just maybe not ones that parents would put as 1st choice.

We can barely afford private education, but do because of dd's SEN with a piss poor EHCP, that hasn't named a school. My dd had years out of school from the trauma of mainstream not neeting her needs.

Not all private education isn't necessary.

I would be for this change in theory if they would also scrap grammar schools, get state schools up to standard, invest in fixing the SEN EHCP process first. But that won't happen.

A 20% increase will force me to stop working, contributing lots of tax, and kill my spirit to home educate.

I really don't see Labour getting a solid majority without winning large numbers of seats in Scotland.
A coalition with the Lib Dems might work, at which point they get pulled to the middle.

I genuinely don’t think Keir Starmer will touch any potential culture war issue as they know they will be walking into a trap. This includes.

Self ID
VAT on private schools

Making changes to areas such of these threatens to cause them more problems that benefits. The MSM will be waiting. Keir sees himself as the new Blair. He will most likely focus on improving investment in NHS and education and house building. This will be game changing for the country. Getting s few million in extra VAT from middle class will not be worth it for the drama when they can focus on improving the lives of the majority.

I genuinely hope with the end of the Tory government that we are beyond divisive politics which bring little benefits to anyone.

A vast amount of SEN provision is provided by the independent sector. Some of this is paid for by the state because it is cheaper to pay the fees than build state special schools. But a lot of parents pay the fees themselves. Do people who want education to be taxed think these schools should also have 20% VAT put on top of their fees?

I think a Labour government would have much more pressing issues than looking at removing charitable status of private schools/adding VAT to fees. We are just going through the application/assessment process for our Yr 6 DD for Yr 7 entry to an independent school. Local state schools are not good and the only one we would want to send her to is well out of our catchment.
We have budgeted for yearly fee rises but adding VAT on would take us well out of our comfort zone. However we would always prioritise her education and as an only child we ate fortunate that we could still get her through GCSEs even if she had to move state for A-levels. Ironically the 6th form provision in the area is much stronger than the Yr 7-11 provision.
I wish that thr government would invest proper money into the state school system and stopping messing around with the curriculum. State secondary curriculum is now extremely narrow and just a sausage machine for churning out average GCSE results rather than broadening the mind and firing up interest/curiosity in learning. This is the main reason we are leaving the state sector.

I don't agree with this.

Boundary changes have still not happened, so Labour get larger majorities on smaller share of vote.

Plus they're going to benefit from a massive protest vote.

They've not done anything - they're still as vague and (I think) wishy washy as before the summer. I didn't think they were up to the job then, and I don't now. But they'll win. Probably be a landslide.

It will be an anti Tory vote not a pro Labour vote.

If our DCs were starting school now we would be in the same position as you and personally I wouldn't do it. Educationally for DS2 I truly believe he wouldn't have passed enough GCSEs for college without it as he has various additional needs and our school provision in the area is truly dreadful. Awful SEN provision even at primary level and well below average results at secondary schools.

However financially it would be such a stretch. I calculated the fees with a predicted year on year fee increase for the full 12 years plus the extras to see if we could afford it. The fees had never increased more than 3%. They went up 9% this year, mainly due to energy bills, I imagine next year will be similar. My DCs school is relatively cheap compared to many private schools so 9% of the £20k a year schools is huge. Luckily DS1 has just left so we only have 2 years to muddle through now. The extras will be minimal now also as no more school trips that cost loads and hopefully the uniform will see him through now.

Unfortunately the way things have gone for us is that DH was made redundant in covid and took a £15k pay cut, plus fees increasing more than my wages. Its not an uncommon scenario also, at least 3 others in DSs year of 40 kids I know of have been in the same position in the last 5 years.

Several schools in our LA, specifically in our catchment area had to add portacabins to cater for the intake when my DCs were infant school age. Some LAs have huge pressure on numbers. Our area is continuously being built up, we have 500 more homes being built in the next couple of years in my area which was basically a village previously. There are genuinely some huge issues in some LA areas. There are some secondary schools with places available, but only a couple that are not in our catchment. Both schools have had stabbings there in the last couple of months.

I agree. It would be better if there were no private schools and that all children were catered for in the state sector of course. That didn't happen under the Labour government previously, hasn't happened under the tories so selfishly I sent mine private to ensure in particular DS2 was catered for.

Amazing how narrow minded people can be isn't it. For some it isn't a luxury, it's a necessity. My DSs school had a SEN unit that a quarter of the students need to access, including him. My friends sister had state funding within our state secondary school for the same additional need my DCs school carers for, the school failed to use that funding for her, she failed all her GCSEs and eventually her college put the correct support in place, she passed all her exams in the end and is now working in a professional role. If she had access to that private school then things would have been very different for her. We were lucky enough to be able to afford it but it certainly wasn't a bloody luxury for him.

Have you appealed the EHCP?

Do you think Labour has a magic wand to instantly fix state schools? If not then send your kids to the best school you can, whether that's a grammar or fee paying school.

We're appealing and going to judicial review. Next tribunal dates are Oct 2023.

Oops name change fail