To think that those private school parents banging on about their fees

[Thegreatergoodgerald]

Seriously have misjudged how little anyone else gives a stuff??? NHS, social care, state education, public transport, bloody potholes everywhere - that’s what matters to everyone I know.
Not whether or not VAT is added to a business.

YANBU - it’s hardly the end of the world if Clemmie or Charles end up going to a state school. We have bigger things to worry about in the U.K. right now

YABU - of course everyone cares private school parents might have to pay more

Just because it’s somebody else footing the bill, the word ‘only’ doesn’t make it less. Private school parents are usually paying top rates of tax so to earn ‘only’ £12k more, they would need a salary rise of £24k to pay fees alone. Then there are all the cost of living increases.

Its so simple to downplay when it’s someone else’s money

I suppose though people have the choice to not agree with you on the principle of Private School, we live in a democracy after all!

Labour dropped their disability pledge. They don’t gaf about people with disabilities.

Labour are putting tax on education. It will raise nothing for state schools. They don’t gaf about education.

And Labour are going to let predatory men into changing rooms where girls are. They’re going to let men taking women’s places in sports, and scholarships etc etc etc. They don’t gaf about women and girls. We don’t have gender neutral toilets only in private schools because they don’t have to follow what Labour are going to impose.

I’m sick of the tories but not sick enough to vote for Labour.

Secondary? And an equal distribution?

There are places in failing schools.

Private education is morally reprehensible

What about the opportunity of loving a sibling? I am an only child who had a string of ponies bought for me when all I really wanted was a little brother or sister.

It is a big issue for many. Private schools have already hiked their fees in anticipation of this and many are looking to recruit pupils from overseas to mitigate their admissions drops.

For every child that drops out of or doesn’t go to private school, the taxpayer pays c8k per year to fund their state education, thus increasing the strain on the education budget fund.

@FromTheWindowToTheWall and what about Secondary schools, many of them are coping with bulge classes.

And spaces in schools may not be where independent schools are.

And even if a school has places they don’t get funding straight away for additional pupils

But private schools closing will mean a bigger pool of teachers for state schools to choose from - very good news for us, many vacancies will be filled.

All in year admissions get allocated to places the lea schools that have spaces. If it's really far away lea have to provide transport very often the school's that have places have places for a reason. Given the cliche that Mumsnet is full of middle/upper middle class types I don't think they'll be worried that their highly sought after over subscribed state school in an expensive area will be 'flooded'. Doesn't matter if you buy half a block next to said state school of it's in year and full you're scuppered

@ForlornLindtBear I have a sibling who hasn’t spoken to me in 20 years. I think I would rather a pony.

Many only children get on absolutely fine without a sibling

What’s having an only child got to do with private school?

They are deluded unless they live in a deprived area and also send their children to a low performing school.

@sheoaouhra many teachers will just leave education. And schools don’t have enough funding to recruit teachers even if there were any to recruit!

You do realise that qualifying private school kids get contextual offers as well dont you? Many of my son's friends did because of their postcodes and the fact that neither of their parents had been to university.

If they have hiked the fees anyway then they might as well introduce vat.

I got on absolutely fine but it is never something I would choose for my own child.

Yes, many expensive new houses are in postcodes with low progression to university due to the fact nobody previously live there.

As a group en masse, I don't give a stuff. It's the right policy (provided the money is invested straight back in state schools).

For individuals, I feel sorry for many. Oh course, some people won't even notice, but for others it will make a big difference. Imagine if your biggest outgoing (eg. your mortgage) was suddenly subject to a 20% government surcharge. You'd be mad too!

Again, absolutely bizarre, leave private school to go state 6th form you will hav zero advantage.

It may be the case that only a small proportion of private school kids leave - only time will tell.

What is virtually certain is that this will have a much bigger impact on the numbers of children who start private school in the first place.

I think there will be relatively significant numbers of kids entering state school at 7+, 11+, 13+ and possibly 6th form, who without this would have gone private.

I know a number of parents who were hoping to go private for secondary and have now ditched the idea. There will also be privately educated kids who will be pulled out and sent private at these ages as there is a natural juncture.

For 7+ it may not be an issue or may even be a good thing given low birth rate. But higher up the system we will see these families throwing money at tutoring for grammar school entry, or spending huge sums on moving house squeezing people out of catchment. The effects won’t be equal across the country but they will absolutely be felt and no-one will gain from it.

Started a new job this week. A colleague told me in two conversations on the same day (a) about his full time live in nanny (b) how upset he was about VAT on school fees as he feared he would no longer be able to afford it. I didn't dare ask him what cars he and his wife drove or how much his various annual holidays cost, or his choice of supermarket. I don't think it was within his lived experience to understand trade offs between luxury choices. He really thought he was being hard done by.

This shows a complete lack of understanding of private school parents at most normal independent schools (not the huge, big name public schools).

many families legitimately make sacrifices in my son’s class. They don’t go on holiday or for meals out. They have chosen to prioritise differently and the extra money simply won’t be there. People assuming an extra 250£ a month forget that’s just ONE child. What if you have 3?!

it’s not doable for many, many people.

Utter bollocks - only physiatrists can diagnose SEN. The difference is private school kids have parents who can likely pay for private diagnoses and the state school kids are being missed.