Kier starmer! He hates strivers!

[Bucketheadbucketbum]

He wants to introduce a policy to put up the cost of school fees 10 to 15%. This is a tax on hard-working parents! We slave away cutting cots everywhere living hand to mouth to try and improve our childrens future . Live in an average house average area 1 shit car no holidays work like a dog to get our kids through. We are easing the burden on the state system by choosing independent schools. We're not sending them to Eton paid by our trust fund! Why does he want to punish strivers! Tax the energy companies! So disappointed. We need a new political party. What's the point in trying to better your future.

@socialmedia23 I forgot everybody lives in London, my bad.

@socialmedia23 and 'hence why' is incorrect usage. I learned that at my comprehensive school.

If more parents are priced out of private school, they will opt for the top state primaries and comprehensives esp in areas without grammars. Their excess money will go into property. Which hurts the poor and FTB disproportionately. There are areas in London where state primaries are being used as prep schools by tiger parents and this has led to them paying upwards of a million for a house near the favoured primary school. Look at fox primary school in Kensington, The Hampstead primary schools, Coleridge.

Actually when you think about it there is a link between the housing crisis and private schools.
Many state schools have sold off part of their playing fields for housing to try and support students education. Private schools have not had to, because of the tax breaks they enjoy.

There we have it the solution is that private schools sell a rugby or lacross pitch to a housing developer and they won't even have to put the fees up.

Another consideration is that for many of the top schools 33% of the pupils are overseas students, and even in smaller day independents there are generally around 6-10% overseas pupils. Why should these students have the benefit of the money these businesses gain from the charity tax breaks and improve their sports, drama, science facilities? If the VAT was paid then the money would go to government coffers and could be spent for the benefit of more children in areas that needed it-more teachers etc.

I do love the irony of the Independent Schools Council encouraging this lack of critical thinking and evalulation. Makes one wonder what they are actually teaching.

I am not British and was educated abroad tbh. My parents sold their house and willingly lost half a million in the process during the Asian financial crisis so that they could buy a house within 0.5 miles of a primary school (which was a feeder school to one of the top ten schools in the country). They could do that as my dad owned the house outright. I won an academic scholarship to study at an independent school at sixth form level (though in my home country, the government is quite liberal in giving out bursaries to people who need them). my DH went to a faith school in London. Neither of us were educated in private UK schools but we both know that rich people would always have the upper hand. If you want to engineer social levelling, you need wealth taxes..if they have the money, they will buy their way.

And London money does move out of London. If Londoners are unable to afford private school but crave an exclusively middle class environment for their children, they may move to more homogeneous parts of the country and push locals out. There is no state comprehensive in London which would have no children on free school meals.

Loving watching people on here twisting themselves inside out to justify a tiered education system.
I'm in favour of a properly funded state education system AND (very importantly) proper access to the services that have been slashed and their workload put onto school staff.

I can't stand the immense arrogance that the likes of Eton seems to churn out, but also see that the local private school is my area isn't the same as somewhere charging tens of thousands a term. I also understand that given the mess some local state schools are in, some parents would choose private education.

I believe strongly in parental choice for education, whether that's choosing a school with a rounded curriculum, or a school good at sport, or their local school, or independent, or Montessori, or forest school, home education, or technical schools if we ever valued vocational education.

Even in the state system, where I've taught my whole career, there's a tiered system. Unless you're going to properly fund all relevant services, remove independent schools as an option, stop people buying houses near certain schools and then do school places by lottery and bus children all over the county in the name of 'fairness' (which for the record would also limit what extra curricular activities most children could do at secondary level) then you're not going to get away from the fact that there's tiers.

And I doubt anyone on this thread would be willing to give up their children's places at a good state school to send them 20 minutes down the road to a school in special measures in the name of fairness.

The longer I've taught in state education, the more my view of private education has changed. I still think it's awful that there's a market for it and think everyone should have access to great schools, but it's no longer the evil boogeyman I used to think it was

But I suspect this will be the absolute peek of predictions, straight off the back of Tge Truss shit show. Rishi has over 2 years to sort it out. I suspect by the time an election comes round labour will just scrape in, at best.

RobinStrike so, independent day schools have around “6-10% overseas pupils* do they? How do you imagine day schools have ‘overseas pupils’ at all? I think what you mean to say here is that these independent day schools have 6-10% of pupils whose nationality/ethnicity is not British. Yes I’m sure they certainly do. If anything I am surprised that the figure is not significantly higher. And you, apparently, have a problem with this and single out these children in particular for ‘benefiting’ from a system you don’t like. Perhaps you should take a moment to reflect on what you are actually saying here, or is Nigel Farage your new best friend?

The state system is not fair when parental income can buy a house near a better school or extra tutoring. If we want fair, then catchments need to be abolished and places to all schools given by a lottery following application. Private tutors also need to be banned.

If you have to stretch yourself to pay like you are, then you can’t afford to send them. It’s just elitism that you’re doing it anyway. If all that private school money went to state schooling then we’d hand great schools and be able to pay teachers what they deserve. Instead we have the masses floundering about in hit and miss education whilst a small percentage get the cream. It’s an unfair system that he’s looking to moderate.

But the traffic that would create would be insolvable.

People mainly walk their kids to school round me. But there’s 4 schools ( 2 secondaries) close together. The traffic is appalling in the mornings and afternoon. Imagine if they were ALL travelling from outside the area🤯

Why would you ban private tutors?! Banning educational services seems borderline fascist... what next? Ban access to the internet?

www.theguardian.com/education/2022/dec/01/number-graduates-teacher-training-england-catastrophic-level

The state sector is not ready for an influx from the private sector.

You can afford to send them if you have to scrimp, that's why you scrimp. It's not elitist, it's (in many cases) wanting smaller class sizes and more individual teaching time.

There won't be an influx.

Just as there wasn't an influx as fees went up 23% over inflation.

Schools will rejig class sizes and staffing levels, alter activities, sell assets, use reserves as well as increase fees.

I don't disagree but I don't have a problem with private schools. Lots of people have said that they make a two tier system of education. My point is that even within the state system there's unfairness. If you want fairness, abolishing private schools or pushing the middle classes out isn't the answer. Serious reform would be needed. Catchments would need to go and private tutoring. A level playing field for all. I don't think it's fair that some people have access to state schools with facilities that rival private schools and some children are in sink schools. The assumption that state is fair is nonsense.

You want people to vote Tory? This is how you get people voting Tory

The pressures on London state have increased though. The size of area people get in from has decreased.

So it’s harder as people get priced out and will get harder still with this.

@Q2C4 , I wouldn't but why is it fairer to pay for a tutor than pay for private schools? How does that level the playing field?

Given the Tory party over the past few years has tried very hard to put people of ever voting for them, it is perhaps appropriate that the opposition try and help them out.
Let me see, will I vote for someone who broke the law whilst in government and didn't resign, or someone who wants fairness for all?

Revenue does need to be raised. Taxing the top earners in the country properly would give this revenue. Raising tax on private schools will increase the gap between the rich and the poor with only the very elite being able to afford it. Taxing actual multi millionaires and their businesses properly would raise much more revenue in the long run.

will I vote for someone who broke the law whilst in government and didn't resign, or someone who wants fairness for all

You may want fairness for all but that’s not what you’ll get. Private school for the wealthy and a
mad scramble for good comprehensives for everyone else.

You can't make the playing field level. Why is it fair that some parents encourage their kids to read, others don't? Why is it fair that some kids are born with a higher IQ than others?
Banning education is a dangerous thing to do. It's been tried before and it's never ended well.