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 would seriously consider state primary (or at least "State Till 8") to allow you time to save more money.

Sorry OP, this is madness. It sounds far too tight, and your son won't fit in with his peers if they're all off doing expensive hobbies, holidays etc. You need to have a buffer for all types of future scenarios, and you need to actually enjoy life! Private school is not all it's cracked up to be, you're paying for smaller class sizes and better resources, but not necessarily better quality teaching. We can afford it and didn't choose it for our children. Please enjoy your life and don't put all your eggs in one basket.

@Potentialscroogeincognito i would LOVE ds to go to Repton, a fantastic school. Sadly I think I am very much priced out of it. Any others you would recommend?

One thing I forgot to add- I taught kids who moved from private to public schools halfway through because parents run out of money or moved or dad stopped paying once he had kids from in his new relationship.

How on earth did you know all this personal information about families whose DC you were teaching @Wouldyouguess ???
I would like to think that at my DC's school, IF those sorts of reasons were shared with HT or bursar, then they would be kept confidential!

I taught in private senior schools OP. Many of our pupils came through from our preps but equally we had many join us at 11 and do just fine.

Find a good state primary and then go private later on - our state primary schools seem to be much better than our secondary schools.

How dire are the primary schools really? Primary is about friends, fun and the basics of reading/writing/maths. I would save your money for secondary and use your extra income for enrichment activities outside of school.

Unless a school is actually unpleasant or unsafe, or your child has special needs, it will be fine!

OP I would say it’s a bit too tight, I’m just coming out the other end of the school fees journey as DS2 is in 6th Form.

Look at the local school provision and see where your money may be best spent.
If primaries are good and secondaries more variable then save it for senior school.
If you are in a grammar school area and there are preps that have a very good record with the 11+ maybe pay for one of those.

Are you in the US? Because public schools are a select few in the UK - Eton, Harrow, Charterhouse etc.

Public schools in the US as far as I am aware are the equivalent of our state schools in the UK.

Apologies, editing as just seen that others have already pointed this out (am reading thread rather haphazardly!).

My son is in private primary. He’s an only child and we were fortunate that money is not an issue for us.

The state primaries near us are not outstanding but perfectly fine. However the state secondary options are not good at all.

Therefore, it’s really common for people to do state primary and private secondary. However the best private school in our area offers “straight through” from Reception to Sixth Form, so we thought it was worth a punt, because if he got in at age 4 then that meant no stress doing 7+ or 11+ exams, which has seemed utterly utterly miserable for friends and acquaintances.

We were lucky, he got in (we did not tutor or prepare him in any way, nor did we send him to a nursery that was a feeder to the school).

He is happy and thriving and I do think the small class size has been better for him than 30 in state. As a pp said, the uniform and extra curricular stuff is actually not expensive at all, including after school club that makes it much easier to manage our lives around work. It’s easy for me to say, as we’re in, but I do feel that the foundations of learning that he is acquiring now will stand him in great stead for his time at senior school. He may well have got those in state primary too though- teaching methods have moved on massively since I was a child, I’m sure. (And it IS important to remember that using one’s own experience as a point of reference is not really a helpful way to go about choosing a school 20 or so years later).

Therefore, if you are aiming for a happy stress-free childhood for your child (who isn’t?!) then you might consider either a straight through private or just sticking with state all the way through. I feel that the entrance exams are quite a toxic thing.

On a separate note, you said if Labour do impose VAT then it is a dealbreaker. My understanding is that it is very likely Labour will win and very likely that they will tax private education more heavily so you really have to take this seriously.

That said, our school is already consulting with parents about how to deal with this and they are not assuming that the full 20% will be passed straight on. That does mean, however, that they are looking at cutting back some of what they offer, as they will be able to provide less for what is being paid.

You do realise that not all people who live in the UK are British? Must be hard to process.

I think your money will run out at this rate of saving. So then it depends on why you want to send him private.

If your motivation is primarily academic, then it’s worth bearing in mind that he will have better university chances coming from a state school given how selection criteria are evolving. But the foundations for academic success are being laid early, so it can make sense to send him to a brilliant prep which will then carry him successfully into a state secondary school.

If it’s mainly a social thing, eg wanting him to play certain sports, have friends with certain backgrounds etc, then a state primary will be your only option financially, with a view to then tutoring him into a public school. This will allow you to save more over the primary years and scholarships may be available - plus, coming from the state sector will likely improve his entry chances into the best public schools which are often keen to have a more diverse intake.

My DH works in a private primary school.
So many of the parents are scrimping by just to send their child there. I work in a state primary school. We chat generally about our work places and to be honest I am pleased my children attended state primary schools.
I would certainly hold fire because if Labour are elected I think private schools will take a huge knock.
In my view you’d be far more sensible to to invest in a private secondary school. The fees are obviously much more, but imagine if you sent your son to private primary then couldn’t afford private secondary? He would be thrown into a state secondary. Which he could really struggle with as would be very different for him.
Although you clearly sound very organised, life is full of surprises.

I can’t speak for @Wouldyouguess but from my own experience of teaching in the state
sector and working with a lot of children who have transferred from private it’s simply the case that many children are spectacularly indiscreet, and quite happy to tell us all (staff and students) that they had to move because dad left / was made redundant / there was a massive row and granny cut them off etc etc.

18k seems low tbh

I’m sincerely doubting that you ever taught anyone anything anywhere.

At our, local private school, they have advised that school fees will go up 7% every year and that's without the possible VAT legislation.

it’s worth bearing in mind that he will have better university chances coming from a state school given how selection criteria are evolving.

This is an oversimplification of contextual offers. The overall effect of widening participation policies in higher education is impossible to predict on an individual child (in 14 years time!).

Sorry I assumed you were only saving for secondary. Why not just save for that?

Given that I have dual nationality and my DC triple nationality due to immigration I might just be able to work that out. However, if you’ve worked in education I would have expected a basic grasp of terminology, surely that isn’t too hard to process.

@cargear01 your plan is do-able. You might also qualify for financial assistance so don’t be shy about asking when you apply - it’s only the people who ask and pester the bursar who get financial assistance. I’m in the Home Counties and school fees vary but I pay £2,400 a month (more than my mortgage!) for school fees once I have factored in after school care. I wouldn’t worry about the cost of school uniform - most prep schools have second hand uniform shops that allow you to buy for a fraction of the price. Eg brand new blazer is £110 but £20 secondhand and in perfect condition.

One thing to consider when looking at schools is if the cost of clubs and activities is included. If it is, it will save you a lot of money and also doubles up as wraparound care as the school will arrange taking kids to and from activities. Also check if there’s a school bus - DD can get the bus to school if I have early meetings and she loves it as her friends are on it and there’s a teacher onboard.

For those saying that private school isn’t worth it for primary education, my experience is that it is. DD started school in September and after just one term her reading, writing, maths, confidence and ability to articulate herself are at least a couple of years ahead of her peers in state school.

That's pretty naive! Teachers and admin staff gossip. Just like in every job.

@OneCornetto I wondered that. If I was the dad and didn't want him to go to private school. Hell would freeze over before I contributed to fees.

Not the point of the thread, but … all of those making tits of themselves nitpicking over @Wouldyouguess ’s word choice … you realise the U.K. isn’t just England?

In Scotland

private = paid
public = state / not paid

It appears your English is good enough for misogynistic insults. Well done or did you translate that from your mother tongue too.