Page 22 | School fees have risen by 19% in the space of 12 months

Findingfactsaboutfees · 2023-04-25T21:01:31+00:00

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.

Another76543 · 26/04/2023 12:33

BlastedPimples · 26/04/2023 12:24

@Another76543 hmmm. It would be interesting to see what proportion of MPs children attend private school .....and also the children / grandchildren of those in the HoL.

Power begets power.

The latest figures I can find show that 29% of MPs were privately educated. That still leaves 71% who weren’t. Why aren’t they managing to improve the situation?

DrPrunesquallor · 26/04/2023 12:35

Dontthinkthrice · 26/04/2023 12:01

I have a theory that our school has been raising its fees more rapidly as a contingency plan for if labour get into govt and slap VAT on school fees. We completed a questionnaire about what we’d do if it happened followed by a letter assuring us there are contingency plans in place and swiftly followed by a the notification of another large increase in fees.
My hopeful thinking is they’ll then be able to cushion the blow of the VAT and absorb some of it.

For goodness sake, everyone has a right to moan. It’s all relative. No one should have to apologise for having a high income or keep it quiet. I can’t cope with this culture on here of if you earn over a certain amount of money and can afford private school or nice cars how dare you complain about anything.

This is worth a read.

It sums up the reality of some proposals for Private schools.
Written Feb 2023
ps
i am aware this is one analysis

www.the spectator.co.uk The true cost of Labours war on private schools.

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

DrPrunesquallor · 26/04/2023 12:36

DrPrunesquallor · 26/04/2023 12:35

This is worth a read.

It sums up the reality of some proposals for Private schools.
Written Feb 2023
ps
i am aware this is one analysis

www.the spectator.co.uk The true cost of Labours war on private schools.

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Apologies I tried to do a link but despite googling how to I’m crap🫤

Wenfy · 26/04/2023 12:36

mixedrecycling · 26/04/2023 12:19

😂😂😂

My salary as a single parent is just under £40,000 gross - which is considerably more that either the average salary or average household income in the UK - I wouldn't be able to afford private school by a long stretch.

Thanks to DM's help I can afford a mortgage on a nice 3-bed semi in suburbia, and 3 hours of DD's dance classes per week as an 'extra' to her state school.

To reiterate - with more than the average household income, significant help with a house deposit, and generous on-going help for DD's extra curriculars.

Private school has never been an option, and I am very lucky compared to the majority.

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My best friend is a single mum, earns 45k, bought her house 20 years ago when she was 18 and it was fully paid off for a while. Her mortgage payment now = school fees for 2 in private primary. Has about 500 a month spare each month which is saved - I know because she often asks after various funds.

Different strokes for different folks.

Plumbear2 · 26/04/2023 12:37

Another76543 · 26/04/2023 11:50

Not at Reception and Y7, or even 6th form colleges, they wouldn’t. They’d be applying with everyone else. I can guarantee that those parents who are paying for education now will not settle for a failing comp. They’ll fight tooth and nail to get to the best state schools, whether that be by tutoring for selective schools or moving to a catchment of a decent state school.

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We are not talking about kids who apply with the normal intake time. This about people who leave private because the can no longer afford them and move to state in other years, 9 for example. If the only place available at a failing comp then that's the school they get. People who move house in year 9 etc also fight for the best schools, if the places are full they won't get them, they get the school with spaces. Rules won't magically change for ex private school kids

BlastedPimples · 26/04/2023 12:37

@Another76543 I'm talking about their children. Are their children privately educated?

Another76543 · 26/04/2023 12:38

Neededanewuserhandle · 26/04/2023 12:30

Also the BBC of course -

BBC staff are twice as likely to have attended private school than the average Briton, according to the first analysis of class in broadcasting. About 14 per cent of the national broadcaster's employees attended an independent school, compared with a national average of 7 per cent.

From the figures I can find, around 14% if the Labour Party MPs were also privately educated, twice the national average.

TheThinkingGoblin · 26/04/2023 12:39

DrPrunesquallor · 26/04/2023 12:35

This is worth a read.

It sums up the reality of some proposals for Private schools.
Written Feb 2023
ps
i am aware this is one analysis

www.the spectator.co.uk The true cost of Labours war on private schools.

Show quote history

The Spectator is basically the last place tou should be looking at if you want objective (and rigorous) policy analysis.

I happen to agree that the VAT elimination policy is not good but its also important to not fall into the typical right-wing media hysterical bubble.

GloryBees · 26/04/2023 12:41

Quite frankly Im amazed that anyone would send their child to private school unless they know they can comfortably absorb significant fee rises (ie they are super super rich)

Those fees are already on the lower side so the financial impact on your day to day expenditure (if you can’t absorb an increase) on your lifestyle just already be immense.

As the product of private school, my kids are going to state, it’s not worth the financial pressure and the impact that would have on me (as main breadwinner) and the whole family.

I have zero sympathy for someone who has made the choice to go private without sufficient funds.

Another76543 · 26/04/2023 12:42

Coffeeandbourbons · 26/04/2023 10:27

I’m loving all these ‘don’t be angry with me, be angry at the people who force me to send my kids to private school’

You mean the people that are only where they are due to the fact they went to private school themselves..?

couldn’t make it up

I didn’t go to private school. I went to state school the entire way through. I choose to send my children to private school though.

Okunevo · 26/04/2023 12:44

SmallFerret · 26/04/2023 10:40

It's a common error to believe that NI is all put toward pensions, the NHS, or social care. It isn't, & no statue exists to ringfence it for that purpose. If there were, there would be enough money to fund all the services you mention.

You seem to have forgotten the purpose of society - that to obtain general wellbeing, the better off should pay more, to support a system including those who are already paying as much as they are able. And the government in charge of managing those funds should be looking at maximising general weal, not promoting big business & tax breaks for the already wealthy.

There are some people on lower incomes that do contribute to society in other ways (e.g. carers) but there are plenty more that don’t.
Most people on lower incomes are contributing massively to society.
Unless you want to live in a country where your ailing grandma's hygiene needs are ignored, there is no food on supermarket shelves. no buses, no rubbish bin collections, no lights coming on when you turn a switch & no clean water coming out of your tap. Most of that functional gubbins only comes about because millions of people on minimum or low wages are a vital part of making that infrastructure work.

So a family need to be paying £15k in tax just to cover their children’s school places if they have two kids. But they come on these threads and stamp their feet
The main purpose of state education is to condition kids to work the kind of 40 hour weeks mentioned above. Providing compliant fodder that moves smoothly from classroom to forklift truck & care home loos. The government, & society, is getting good value for its £15k investment: 11 years school costs in return for 50 years labour.

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👏

MissyB1 · 26/04/2023 12:44

Coffeeandbourbons · 26/04/2023 09:20

Schools would be rammed but we would no longer have Eton arseholes controlling the system so maybe just maybe the next PM would be more invested in state schools having been to one themselves, and private no longer being an option for their own children?

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You seriously think every private school is like Eton? Do you know the difference between private and public schools?

Noontimes · 26/04/2023 12:45

mixedrecycling · 26/04/2023 12:10

Oh fuck off. I have spent DD's life campaigning for her needs. Luckily now in a fantastic state school that is willing and able to meet her needs. Because I fought.

A good friend's DD has a 1:1 TA and is out of lessons all day because they just don't know how to teach her. She needs to be in a specialist school within travelling distance focussing on life skills, not in a mainstream school supposedly 'accessing the curriculum' but in reality offering a baby sitting service. Which they can't afford to turn down, because nothing else would be offered and even the baby sitting service would disappear.

Congratulations on being able to buy yourself out of the system, and feel free to turn your back on those who can't.

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I certainly don’t have the time to start arguing against a system which is so ingrained. My ASD child has very simple needs. To attend a school which has consequences for bullying. That’s all. They state school can no longer provide this is an absolute travesty.

Another76543 · 26/04/2023 12:46

BlastedPimples · 26/04/2023 12:37

@Another76543 I'm talking about their children. Are their children privately educated?

I can’t find those figures because, unsurprisingly, a lot of MPs are tight lipped about it. What I do know though is that even those MPs who choose to state educate (eg Starmer) ensure that their children go to selective state schools or to the “local” highly performing school which happens to be in the catchment of very expensive houses. MPs aren’t, in general, sending them to the local failing comp.

hillaryswankfan · 26/04/2023 12:48

On Mumsnet we really need to stop the narrative that average income houseolds people make sacrifices, in order to send their children to private school. Research by the UCL Insistute of Education ( https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/2021/02/08/housing-wealth-not-bursaries-explains-much-of-private-school-participation-for-those-without-high-income/) howss that the proportion of children attending private school across 9 income deciles is close to zero, with the figure only rising once into the top 10 percent of household income. Even then, only 10 percent of children who's households are in the top 5 percent of income go to private school, and only half of the top 1 % of households send their children to private school. This means that the vast, vast, majority of children in private schools are from extremely privileged and well off families. The same study finds that it isn't bursaries and scholarships that account for the few children that are in the lower income deciles. For secondary schools the average day school fee is 14280 and the average bursary covers 35 percent of that so in reality scholarships (which are not charitable, but mostly connected to academic performance or students adding value through sport or music) cannot be used to explain it. In any case, only 7% of all students recieve any kind of funding with more than 50% of those still paying more than half the fees, and only 1% of the entire population of private schools being given a full ride. Household wealth in terms of houe prices actually explains most of the reality private schooling for children from the other deciles, along with grandparental help. Private school not achievable by the vast majority of the population no matter what sacrifices they make, and the data shows it. Pretending it is just continues the narrative of hard work and good decisions rather than making it clear that this is a paid for privilege.e.

Housing wealth, not bursaries, explains much of private school participation for those without high income

Jake Anders and Golo Henseke. Although less than a tenth of children in Britain attend private schools, who goes matters to all of us. This is because of the considerable labour market advantages that have persistently been associated with attending a...

https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/2021/02/08/housing-wealth-not-bursaries-explains-much-of-private-school-participation-for-those-without-high-income

Another76543 · 26/04/2023 12:52

hillaryswankfan · 26/04/2023 12:48

On Mumsnet we really need to stop the narrative that average income houseolds people make sacrifices, in order to send their children to private school. Research by the UCL Insistute of Education ( https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/2021/02/08/housing-wealth-not-bursaries-explains-much-of-private-school-participation-for-those-without-high-income/) howss that the proportion of children attending private school across 9 income deciles is close to zero, with the figure only rising once into the top 10 percent of household income. Even then, only 10 percent of children who's households are in the top 5 percent of income go to private school, and only half of the top 1 % of households send their children to private school. This means that the vast, vast, majority of children in private schools are from extremely privileged and well off families. The same study finds that it isn't bursaries and scholarships that account for the few children that are in the lower income deciles. For secondary schools the average day school fee is 14280 and the average bursary covers 35 percent of that so in reality scholarships (which are not charitable, but mostly connected to academic performance or students adding value through sport or music) cannot be used to explain it. In any case, only 7% of all students recieve any kind of funding with more than 50% of those still paying more than half the fees, and only 1% of the entire population of private schools being given a full ride. Household wealth in terms of houe prices actually explains most of the reality private schooling for children from the other deciles, along with grandparental help. Private school not achievable by the vast majority of the population no matter what sacrifices they make, and the data shows it. Pretending it is just continues the narrative of hard work and good decisions rather than making it clear that this is a paid for privilege.e.

7% of children go to private school. 7% of the general population are not from extremely wealthy families with an endless supply of money.

AskMeMore · 26/04/2023 12:55

Who says wealthy means you have to have an endless supply of money?

JacobsCrackersCheeseFogg · 26/04/2023 12:59

We are all suffering the cost of inflation relative to income and outgoings. Having said that, paying for education when the State provides it free leads me to think it's a luxury. So if you can afford it, don't complain how much it costs. There's an alternative.

DrPrunesquallor · 26/04/2023 13:00

Plumbear2 · 26/04/2023 12:37

We are not talking about kids who apply with the normal intake time. This about people who leave private because the can no longer afford them and move to state in other years, 9 for example. If the only place available at a failing comp then that's the school they get. People who move house in year 9 etc also fight for the best schools, if the places are full they won't get them, they get the school with spaces. Rules won't magically change for ex private school kids

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But the rules or something would have to change.
Approx 135,000 children could have to leave private schools if they become taxed.
See article above

Happylady165 · 26/04/2023 13:00

Poopoolittlekitten · 26/04/2023 10:32

'but we made a choice to prioritise our DD’s education '

Oh for fucks sake. THIS AGAIN. like WC people and everyone else chooses NOT to prioritise their child's education.

You can’t make it up 🤣 Sorry DD for not “prioritising your education” like these other mums and dads. I was actually trying to make sure we can get food this week. Comments like that make you feel like you’re failing your family.

SmallFerret · 26/04/2023 13:01

Dibblydoodahdah · 26/04/2023 11:57

@SmallFerret well if you can find £16800 for a day nursery place (no funding up to the age of two) without using savings then you have enough to pay for one child in prep. And yes, plenty of people do that and use their whole salary to pay the school fees. That may astonish you but I’m presuming that you have no direct experience of private school. You just think you are an expert.

Oh and I was one of those parents - yes I earned more but I had two kids in private school so it took almost my whole salary after tax. Just enough left over to cover my petrol to work. No regrets, no complaints. But don’t be surprised when some of us take your child’s state school place or take our valuable skills to another country when we can’t afford it any more!

Oh, that won’t be me by the way. No self pity here. I now have one at a state grammar so I’m clawing back some of that tax that I’ve put into the system and will be paying the fees for the other DC in advance to avoid the 20% VAT.

I’m presuming that you have no direct experience of private school 😂

You're presuming wrongly @Dibblydoodahdah

As to the rest of your post, it's clear that the only values you believe contribute to society are money & privilege, so I'm going to politely disengage now & wish you, & your VAT calculations, all the best.

Dibblydoodahdah · 26/04/2023 13:01

@Coffeeandbourbons I didn’t got
to private school either. Former free school meals kid from the comp here. Hardly any of the parents at my DC’s private school went to private school. You think you know private schools but you really don’t.

DrPrunesquallor · 26/04/2023 13:02

Another76543 · 26/04/2023 12:46

I can’t find those figures because, unsurprisingly, a lot of MPs are tight lipped about it. What I do know though is that even those MPs who choose to state educate (eg Starmer) ensure that their children go to selective state schools or to the “local” highly performing school which happens to be in the catchment of very expensive houses. MPs aren’t, in general, sending them to the local failing comp.

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Starter also went to private school

Plumbear2 · 26/04/2023 13:04

DrPrunesquallor · 26/04/2023 13:00

But the rules or something would have to change.
Approx 135,000 children could have to leave private schools if they become taxed.
See article above

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Why? Because it involves private kids now? It's ok for state kids to be sent to worse schools but not private kids? They would need to go to schools which have places, they do not get first dibs on the best schools leaving class sizes bigger for everyone.

DrPrunesquallor · 26/04/2023 13:05

TheThinkingGoblin · 26/04/2023 12:39

The Spectator is basically the last place tou should be looking at if you want objective (and rigorous) policy analysis.

I happen to agree that the VAT elimination policy is not good but its also important to not fall into the typical right-wing media hysterical bubble.

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Not surprisingly I couldn’t find any sort of analysis from a left wing provider.