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.

@Findingfactsaboutfees that's a steep rise in 12 months. Is the school financially sound? Have pupil numbers fallen? Is it a day school?

Why is that good? That the elite become even more privileged and removed from the rest of society?

Funnily enough, plenty of doctors, such as me, manage in state schools with wraparound care. DS’s state school is open from 8am-6pm, and that costs me £60pw, compared with £25k per year in the local private schools.

If your family member is also paying a nanny, there is no reason at all to send the children to private school solely for the afterschool care. It’s fine if they want to and can afford to, but it isn’t a “need”.

Exactly. If you look at it critically, you know there’s no way the LP is doing this.

smaller class numbers can make a huge difference. My dd is studying maths and further maths a levels and there are three students in the class. There are two other a level maths classes but dd’s is only for maths and further maths students. They finished the entire a level maths syllabus in two terms; it’s a very small group and the pace is very fast.

Sorry I don't believe a typical nurse is sending their child to a school like this more likely to be using a food bank in my experience.
Have you heard we are in a time of inflation? You're spending more on school than some earn if you can't afford maybe consider a state school and tutors.

I guess rich people are going to need to accept they are poor too 🤷🏼‍♀️

BBC News - Bank of England economist says people need to accept they are poorer
www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65308769

Why? Lots of countries partially subsidise private education (the cost of state is transferred to private), and it works really well. Far less of a gap between state and private, and private far more accessible to those that want / need something different from what the state provides.

I am not anti-private schooling and I was privately educated myself. But I cannot get sad about private school fee increases when there are children at the state school I teach at whose parents cannot afford so many simpler things in life that children and families need more than private education.

Pay the fees and privately educate your child if you wish but please don’t expect sympathy for your privileged life choices.

This, exactly

Whilst in theory, it should be straight forward protocol isn't always followed. Councils have a backlog and are taking more than 4 weeks to process applications let alone issue places. LAC children take priority (rightly so) and most schools are oversubscribed- I know of at least two families who received a response from the council that said the only option they can offer is homeschooling and so they have continued to pay fees as they can't homeschool.

Did you just feel like sharing an irrelevant anecdote? The only thing on the topic this story could feasibly demonstrate is that private school in this instance does not provide adequate childcare for the needs of its customers. Same as all the other schools.

That is a significant increase, have they been brought by someone? Struggling financially? What do the accounts say?

ours have gone up by 6% (London)

why good? you want to continue the chasm between rich and poor? surely removing all private schools would be better. Follow places like Finland where private tutoring is illegal and all children are taught in state schools, where the standards have to be high as the Bankers child is educated next to the shopkeepers child. Thus all children are given the best education. This should be the aim of the UK.

Private education is not illegal in Finland:

[[https://www.aacrao.org/edge/emergent-news/private-education-is-not-prohibited-in-finland#:~:text=Private%20education%20is%20not%20prohibited%20in%20Finland

Many people who work long hours send their children to state schools. Private schools are for wealthy people. Anyone who can afford 16 000 to spend on school per year is wealthy. Subsidising your feelings of guilt is not a priority for anyone but you.

That LA should still be arranging for FAP at the point the child will no longer be on roll at the independent school. I arrange several cases like this per month with kids coming out of private school along with around 50 to 80 children who are new to the city/UK and need to be placed. We are in a crisis situation for secondary school places but by law we have to offer a place. It may not be your preferred school but it will be a place. You also can appeal for your preferred school if you have had a written refusal.

A lot of extra money for heating, lighting will be a major cause for the increase. Ive heard of pubs paying 20k a month for energy bills. Look at the size of a school and work out the heating costs. Added to that food costs which have significantly risen and staff wage increases.

Completely agree that they are out of reach of most "professional" families now.
The ones near me have a surprising number of children who's parents are drug dealers or loan sharks.
You couldn't pay me to send my kids there.

London £24k/year. It went up about 5% this year. 19% would rule it out - as it is she is in Y13 now and i funded the last two years from our house sale.
Your fee is definitely at the lower end, especially as that is the amount AFTER a 19% rise! Did they give a reason for such a rapid rise? They must have been underfunded for some time.

That is a much bigger % increase than we have had (SE).

I anticipate increases if Labour get in but will prioritise the fees over everything else. It's not about privilege or buying success, but making sure our DC's needs are met. If that's possible in state school, all well and good, but for some children that's not the case.

@Findingfactsaboutfees your weird justifications for private school are nonsense. Private schools don’t have much longer days than state if u include wrap around childcare, and us “ordinary office workers” 🙄 may also work long hours and cope with mum guilt.

You were lucky enough to have the choice for private education because you and your dh clearly have well paying jobs. Own it without making the rest of us feel we just don’t care enough to bother 🙄.

Private education will only be for the ultra-rich

And good state schools will be even more the preserve of middle class parents who can afford the exhorbitant house prices around these schools and elbow out less affluent parents even more.

Just love the idea of where the government funding is going to come from if private school parents decided to compete with the rest of the population in getting into the best state schools.

Politics of envy will come back to bite the envious. Sadly, life is unfair.

Private education will only be for the ultra-rich if fees continue to rise at the rate that they are

Well let them keep it! It's your choice if you want to keeping sending your kids to an 'overpriced' establishment.

Who needs educating here?

When you could afford it did you get annoyed on behalf of all of those others who couldn't? Or is the anger only now you've been priced out?