School fees have risen by 19% in the space of 12 months

[Findingfactsaboutfees]

AIBU to think this is outrageous ?! Fees are exorbitant anyhow and in the last 12 months we have had an increase of 19% by way of 2 increases in a 12 month period. Fees per year for the senior school are £16690 per year and do not include state of the art facilities as other local schools do. The junior school fees aren't much less either! This is a school in the north of England. If you are paying for education, where are you based and how much do you pay? I wonder whether it is comparable.

Private education will only be for the ultra-rich if fees continue to rise at the rate that they are. It is unsustainable for most working professionals who are comfortable but not ultra-wealthy! Parents locally have tried to take their children out but can't as there are no state school places to be had within a 12 mile radius. The only other option is home schooling which isn't possible when the parents are working full time. We're not yet at the point where we are thinking of taking our child out of school but hearing the plight of those who are in the process of trying to is worrying. I've always been a labour voter but if they do go ahead with the introduction of VAT, I fear it's going to get even worse.

I think it's very common. My relative is paying £250 a day in her time to care for her partner when they would have paid towards care their whole lives through taxes.

It's not vilification to point out that something is a choice and a luxury @Bumdealoftheweek . People are allowed to make choices about where they spend their money and are entitled to purchase which luxuries they can afford, of course, but it doesn't make them any less fortunate to be in that position.

I see the logic of the argument but we all know which section of society that advice is directed at and that we are not all in this together or maybe I'm just too jaded.

@Okunevo but have they actually paid enough tax to cover the costs of the care, because most people haven’t, that’s the problem. Most people don’t even pay enough tax to cover their state pension.

DD loves dance, and is quite talented (doesn't get it from me!). Her dance classes are limited to those I can afford - whereas other children that started with her have had additional classes and private teaching.

I'm not vilifying them - DD is lucky that I have been able to afford the classes she has had. She as now reached the point of being able to earn additional classes by acting as an assistant to her dance teacher - not only because of her technical knowledge, but also because she is pleasant and helpful, not always the case with some of the others...

So it’s ok when YOU’RE in the income bracket that can afford to send your child (and those below you on the ladder who don’t earn enough- well touch luck, they’re just not working hard enough!), but when the goal posts shift and suddenly you can’t afford it- it’s not fair? Why was it fair when you could afford it and those earning less couldn’t? It’s inherently a very unfair system. We could afford private, but I would vote to abolish them.

This.
it’s so sad that in this country is driven by dog whistle politics. On the right it’s ‘migrants on boats are the problem’ on the left it’s demonising kids attending fee paying schools. Neither is 100% correct (far from it) but useful to distract people from the bigger issues
We had to choose whether to let our DC, who has mild SEN, stay in local High School and suffer ongoing bullying potentially scaring for life, or move to private. Private does not mean Eton-like but normal kids and parents who are medics and solicitors. We no longer have holidays, drive ancient cars, no big (or even 2nd TVs), mobiles 6 yrs old, minimal clothes shopping, normal everyday budgeting stuff as it’s worth it for DC’s long term well being.
We would prefer DC to stay in local High School but the pastoral support was not available and unfortunately nothing major will change in UK education funding within their time in school. Maybe, with self confidence, they’ll be able to work to change that in future.
Some people will paint us, and our DC, as evil private school people. We chose to do the best for our child. Maybe it would be more useful to start by focusing on the current actions of this corrupt government rather than tarring all private education with an Eton brush.

I'm so grateful for your generosity in educating your children privately so they can work for the good of us plebs. Obviously you're doing it for the good of society 🙄

Excellent!

on the left it’s demonising kids attending fee paying schools

Some people will paint us, and our DC, as evil private school people

Could you say where children at private schools have been attacked on this thread?

The level of teaching at my daughter's private school was off the charts better than my son's state school. We went private after the poor experience the first time round, and only for secondary school.

What should exercise us all more is the lottery of schools rather than the relatively small number of privileged people. In my area we have some outstanding (not just from Ofsted) schools and some really poor ones. I don't get to choose which one my child goes to. That's the same for everyone but the standard of education isn't. That pisses me off.

Why do we get Governors choosing the heads of schools when they are just amateurs playing at education? It's a farce. We had a head of Governors at our school that treated the role as her personal kingdom and picked someone she could manipulate who was clearly crap, with no charisma or leadership skills. The school went from outstanding to special measures in one Ofsted reporting cycle. Unfortunately that was almost my son's entire school career. Also unfortunately I only found out about the head of Governors after she had to resign and the head teacher she had chosen was sacked.

Whatever the shortcomings of local authorities running schools I don't believe this mirage of local democracy in education works better. It's just a sop to parents to think they've got more say. You want to send your child to a maths academy, rather than an arts academy or vice versa, well you can't because there's no chance of going to anywhere rather than the local school.

I didn't send my son to private school to get a superior education, although he undoubtedly did. I sent him to get as good an education as the better state schools. If you have access to that then you're very fortunate. In parts of London some teachers have to commute over an hour to get to school because of the cost of local housing. It massively affects the level of education children get because there is a huge churn.

I don't know why successive governments can't get education right but it's nowhere near right (not the fault of individual teachers but of the entire system) and that's what should be exercising us all, not the privilege of a few.

OP I do think schools had to keep down prices during Covid and absorb some of the costs. That plus the cost of energy and food has put up the prices of running schools as well as the pay demands for individual teachers I should imagine.

Oooh you have it so hard! Driving an older car, how do you even cope?

There are lots of people who would like to have that choice 'to do the best for their child', but their reality is that they have to skip meals so that they can feed their kids.

Proper education should not be a choice, it should be a right that anyone can access equally, and will give everyone the same opportunities in life. Get rid of private schools and invest more in regular education.

Both of my, now adult kids, have disabilities. I jut could not afford to send them to fee paying schools. What does that make me? What should we have gone without to send them? At the most I earned £26,000 a year. At the end of his working life my DH earned in the lower 40s.We could not pay our mortgage and school fees. And as I say we were both public sector workers, the type that people accuse of sitting on our arses all day. In reality we didn't. I wish my youngest in particular could have attended a school specifically for a child with ASD. He would not have been bullied, but I couldn't afford it.

You do realise that's not what a democracy is right? You're talking about liberalism. Which means there will always be people who don't get to choose.

Having read about private school parents ' incomes on the other thread, I agree.

We've just been looking at potential options for secondary. Our three nearest senior schools are £28500, £26970 & £26700. There is an alternative independent that's around £19000, but that has no facilities to speak of - uses local leisure centre, uses science labs at local state school etc.

so yep, in the South East, I'd say you already need to be pretty rich.

Sorry, just to add, we have a household income around £150k so realistically, these are unaffordable for us with two children two years apart.

For me to send my two to private school all in would cost just under £60K net!! a year. So instead we bought a house in a catchment for an awesome state school. Paid over the odds I’m sure but worth it.
Is it worth considering doing the same?

It depends how much they earned though. Someone on a relatively low salary with children would have taken out of the pot more than they put in. Also there is an outrage every time someone suggests that people who go into care homes and don't live in their houses any more should pay a portion towards their care or we should increase inheritance taxes.

We don't seem to accept the fact in this country that someone has to pay for the costs of services. We don't want to pay for hospital parking. We don't like paying income tax. We don't agree with a poll tax for local taxes. We don't want to pay inheritance tax on houses because 'we've worked all our lives'. We can't expect someone else to pay for it all because there just aren't enough rich people to cover the costs of all public services.

Personally I'd rather pay more tax and have decent public services. Until other people agree we stuck where we are, and some people end up bankrupting themselves to pay for care.

Safer bet in case the kiddos go off the rails anyway

Perhaps the UK could fund a decent education for ALL children rather than giving handouts to Michelle Mone and co. Just a thought.

@ThankmelaterOkay and @floradora except the fee increases are not stopping people from sending their children to Eton, they are stopping people from sending their children to less well known day schools that are not sitting on huge endowments and who cannot fund 100% bursary places like Eton. Those children might just end up pushing your child out of a place at your local high performing state school. It won’t be the Eton pupils who do that.

Well yes quite. But people keep voting for this shower of shit that don't believe in public services because they don't use them.

It's a huge increase in fees. I expect many new parents will hesitate to send their children to private schools, if they worry that they may not be able to afford it long term

This may well result in some private schools closing. I'd be fairly relaxed about that, TBH. I think society as a whole would benefit from the vast majority of children attending state schools, rather than wealthy people opting out & going private

Sounds fabulous, I'm glad you have been able to access such excellent provision.