Realistic plan to pay school fees or not?

[cargear01]

Hope to save 60k by the time ds is 5, hes 2 at the moment and I have 24k.

I am able to save around 1k a month towards this at the moment (I do this without factoring in the cms below and can manage).

it would mean when school fees start that I could pay half from the 60k and half from my own income. I haven’t included cms in my calculations as I don’t want to ‘rely’ on it (insane that that’s the state of this country but I’m working on worst case scenario). That said, ex currently pays 700 maintenance and he is a workaholic so I suspect it will go up. He works in the nhs so can’t really get out of it.

do you think my plan is doable? Should I be doing more? Is it totally unrealistic? I have assumed fees will be around 18k a year when dc starts, taking account of inflation.

I understand wanting to send you son to private school, I did the same, but I wished I had just done it for secondary and then saved more money for the uni years. Those two stages are much more important education wise and most kids are fine in state primary unless you live in a terrible area.

It’s going to be tight op

you deserve treats and money spent on you too! Dont commit to years of unnecessary scrimping

I found your message confusing too. Public means private in the UK. In this case, the vocab you have chosen is confusing because it’s wrong.

@cargear01

I;m a private school parent and we are lucky enough to have a terrific one which meets our needs. (Well, DS1s needs who has significant SEN).

In your situation I would start off at the best state primary you can get into and reassess on an annual basis. If you can delay until year 7 for private then you will be in a much better position financially. We were not able to do that because DS1s needs were completely unable to be met by the schools around us, but it would have been preferable to have started at year 7. (Or even about Year 5 tbh to get a run into senior school).

If I were you I’d settle on a state primary school and then revisit the issue for secondary school. The true benefits of a private education don’t start until secondary school. Plus you don’t want to start him in a private school and then have to leave when the VAT payments come in.
Also as some other posters have said don’t you want to enjoy these years with him. He wants to go on holidays and days out with you in these primary years. If you have to watch every Penny life won’t be much fun.
some state schools are fantastic. Some people have awful experiences at private school. Your sons schooling won’t be a mirror image of your own.

Echoing what other PP have said:

• focus on a great state school for primary, and then reassess - you may be surprised, especially with Labour coming in to power, there will be more funding for schools.
• Don’t let your kid be the poorest kid at the rich school. I was - I understand why my parents made that choice - but while everyone else was going on ski trips, my parents were eating beans and I was so aware of it.

My spreadsheet shows about £250k to put two children through secondary to 6th form, so having £60k in the bank is a great start.

Have you spoken to a financial adviser about this? That would be my first port of call.

We’ve done private secondary for two kids, we were lucky to have a wonderful village primary school. I don’t think we’ll have much change out of 400K by the time both finish A levels. Fees go up every year but we consider it money well spent, they’ve had a great time with a fab group of friends.

But having said that, I wouldn’t make life miserable to afford it, the vast majority do just fine at state school. Is your child’s dad willing to contribute? Can your parents contribute? Grandparents paying fees is sensible inheritance tax planning…

Other thing to note is the need to do the research. Our kids go to some of the most expensive preps in London and the extras on top of fees are minimal i.e. uniform is comparable to our nearest state primary, fees and non-residential trips are included in fees and there are free after school club options. The paid after school clubs are between £9-£11 per session per week and completely optional. Depending on where you are, you can get good value but make sure the value-add from an educational point of view is there. By that I mean that the school is maximising the benefit of having 16-18 in a class to individualise learning and build great learning skills setting them up to excel in secondary. Definetely do your research, project costs and you also have the benefit of seeing how a Labour government in place would affect fees. Between now and then - you, dad or both may be earning more. You have 2-3 years to research and observe the landscape. But definetely dont rule anything out and try and think in school stages (primary, secondary, A-levels). State till 8 is also a thing in parts of London (not sure where you are)

Ditto

I was a 'poor' kid in a private school. It was not fun and set me up for many years lacking in self confidence. I was academic and could have done well anywhere. I went to state sixth form because my parents couldn't afford to keep paying and got excellent results. Admittedly I would have had better support to go to Oxbridge if I had done A levels at my private school.

I cannot see that your plan to educate privately at primary level is financially viable. I think paying for extracurricular and tuition would be a better bet.

Private school has longer holidays which you're going to struggle with as a single parent. Better to wait until secondary to have longer holidays.

Having used private, government (inc grammar) schools for my kids I would recommend using your savings to move house to a better schools area or to pay for tutoring etc classes.
We have twins and at one point had one child in private for four years while the other remained in government which allowed us to directly compare the schools. We were so disappointed with the private education our biggest regret was not sending this child to the government school. People assume private means better but it doesn’t necessarily. Mumsnet education forums is good for advice on private schools

That makes no sense at all. Vocabulary needs to have a common understanding or it doesn’t work, you can’t decide to call a cat a dog because it pleases you. Public schools in the UK are private schools, usually the posher ones though. Tax payer funded schools are called state schools.

I did understand you though, only I thought here is somebody that is not familiar with UK school terminology.

As a pp upthread mentioned - what if your circumstances change in the next few years, ie new partner and new baby? You can’t guarantee that any new partner will be an extremely high earner, so you may be left with having to pay for school fees for your eldest whilst having to pay for childcare for your youngest so you can still work. Then two sets of private school fees at the same time? I honestly don’t know what level of household income you would need to have to be able to afford that, alongside mortgage, bills etc etc. Secondary school fees at the schools we looked at recently range from £19k to £26k… so having a spare £40-50k plus, for school fees and associated costs, after tax, would surely require a salary of maybe £70k, just devoted to paying the school fees?

You are looking for a guarantee that no-one here can give and as you have realised this is a very risky prospect with a great deal of unknowns. If it does not work it is MUCH harder for a child to move from private to state than from state to private, so I am going to add my voice to those strongly encouraging you to consider state primary followed by private secondary. Move if you must.

I think the idea of state primary is probably something I will have to consider. The schools are not good round here. If I move then I leave my support network. I just don’t know what to do. I could try and save more but I’m already living in a quite a basic way to reach this 60k.

Would you be willing to give an idea of the region where you live? If not then name change and post on the education boards. There are a lot of helpful posters.

1. Make decisions about schooling with your ex. If you are both interested in private then split the bill. Factor in a 5% increase in fees year on year, plus fees rising with age. If this is not something you both agree on doing, start in the state sector. Chances are your child will thrive there. You can always revisit for 11+.
2. Your £60K will run out very quickly and would be better spent on enhancing his opportunities beyond what the state provides. Music lessons, sports clubs, mini-breaks to visit castles, extra tuition if he struggles in an area of the curriculum...

Where are you in the UK? London fees around £25k per year now. Factor in five to ten percent fee inflation per year, maybe more if Labour go ahead with VAT, so they will double from reception to upper sixth.

@AinsleyHayes yes we are in Derbyshire Staffordshire boarder

@Stoufer thanks, I won’t be having more after my experience with my ex so even if I met someone I won’t have another child.

Would Lichfield take you too far from your support network? Some excellent primary schools there. You are wise not to move away from practical support.

You're insane.

He's not even 5 yet and you're insisting on spending ridiculous money on private school fees when you have no idea how he will get on in state school. I hate the way everyone just assumes that private will be SO much better for their kids 🙄.

My son attends a lovely state school (he's 9) and my eldest attends a state secondary school. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure private schools don't have the shortage of science teachers that state do, but I honestly wouldn't want my kids in private schools, that are full of posh, stuck up mini tories lol..

Just as an aside, as much as do not support the Tory government, I honestly think Labour would be insane to slap 20% VAT on fees. Private school will still exist (as does private healthcare), and this will just drive the divide even wider in terms of elitism. They should be focusing policies on how to ensure private schools provide subsidised / full bursary places etc., and make it more accessible.