To wonder if Private School parents think we can’t read?

[Captainmycaptains]

Work/volunteer in Education so following the whole VAT debate.

SM is full of private parent groups ‘organising’ to get the proposed VAT on fees cancelled - fine you would, wouldn’t you esp.if you’re used to getting your own way.

They’re advocating hassling local schools, councils, demanding stats and figures that don’t exist, wiring to MPs - telling people to ‘claim’ their state place to ‘disrupt’ the ‘system’ while also saying ‘ Obvs we won’t be taking Charlotte and Hugo out of school, we’ll find the money’ etc strive harder, getting granny to chip in’ but this might make the council ‘panic’.

Do they think that people in support of the VAT aren’t seeing/hearing/reading all of these plans???

the funniest one yet is the poster who said ‘ well going to claim our state school places then! See how they like that! We’ll going holiday, pay the mortgage down, shop at Waitrose and save £700k in the process, ha!’
I. no you aren’t 2. Okay - go for it! Who on earth would think £700k is worth it?? Behave like a normal person then…

YANBU - yeah, they’re noisy as expected but the rest of us are as think/ concerned as they seem to think. Also - it’s too late for Sept - waiting lists only…

YABU - applying for school places you have no intention of using is daft, and of course everyone can see what they’re trying to do.

I just can't get excited about it, although I don't agree with the policy. I imagine it does suck for the kids of parents whose financial planning didn't extend to account for the possibility that Labour may come into power and do the thing they always said they would do.

It's a shame people don't put this kind of time and energy into things the rest of the time to do worthwhile things like saving their local library.

This is like the SAHP vs working parent argument.
so divisive and just brings out the worst in some.

what works for some doesn’t another, we are all just trying to do our best for our families with the resources we have.
no one is right. No one is wrong.

If there was a state subsidy (as there is in many countries), I do agree that there’s an argument for adding VAT onto fees.

It’s why you have the same parents at scouts/guides/PTA etc. it’s the same people who volunteer.

No one has hate towards private school pupils.
Of course you can apply, no one is saying differently. People are saying it is childish to do so as a disruption technique.

Ignore it all OP. They’re a tiny minority of parents and Labour run councils really aren’t going to give such selfish bollocks a second thought when they’re got very real financial difficulties to solve regarding school budgets.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of wealthy Tory voters on Mumsnet for whom this stuff matters and this skews the threads somewhat, but in reality most of us living in the real world don’t really care.

I’m more concerned about ordinary working class people being taken in by that snake oil salesman Farage and his band of blackshirts. 😳

I am part of a local campaign to save a local library. Its all poor people involved. Rich people locally do not seem to care.

All these private parents working full time but finding time to post extensively in the middle of the day on multiple threads on this subject😂
I don't work full time, and my children are grown and gone, and my posting is eclipsed by these hard working parents!

Actually a small minority on here do have hate, I have been sworn at just for sending my child to an independent. The hate, anger and swearing always comes from supporters of VAT.

On sick leave thanks for asking

Re, changing schools. It’s significant (& hypocritical) that when Keir Starmer’s secondary school went from state to private as a result of govt policy, he was allowed to stay at that same school until the end of his schooling so that his education wasn’t disrupted. The local authority paid his fees (he was not on a bursary as some have suggested - there was no means testing, he wasn’t “poor”). His parents weren’t expected to cough up the difference. I think if Labour had proposed a similar timeframe, whereby existing pupils were allowed to finish their education at their current school under the existing regime it would have been fairer, would have allowed both families and schools to plan and would have had far less push back. Why didn’t he do that?

This policy is “red meat” thrown to the “class warriors” in his party. It’s neither nuanced, nor properly thought through. They thought it would be a simple policy - initially they said they would impose it the day after the election, now they’ve said it won’t be this coming academic year. By the time they have exempted state boarding schools, SEN children, military/diplomatic families, small schools vital to a rural area etc etc, and schools have offset their VAT on purchases there will be very little extra money.

A lot of the vocal supporters of this policy hate private schools full stop and want them abolished. This policy won’t do that.

A lot of people - including many private school parents - want state education better funded. This policy won’t do that - if it does raise any money at all, it will be a drop in the ocean.

A lot of people think “the rich” should pay more tax. This policy won’t do that. The vast majority of “rich” parents educate their children in the state sector (always at high performing state schools of course, supplemented by VAT free private tuition).

Some people think “rich” people should be forced to use state schools because these parents will somehow make sure state schools are better. This policy won’t achieve that - “rich” people don’t use under-performing state schools; they use selective schools or faith schools or high performing comprehensives in expensive catchment areas.

And to address OP specifically, Labour have told private school parents if they don’t want to pay VAT, they should send their child to a state school so that’s what some of them will be doing - and therefore they have to register them.

Bet you use your “high earnings” to live near a good state school though. I bet if, like me, you lived near bloody awful state schools and can’t move for a variety of reasons, you wouldn’t be quite so principled.

What about the kids who have to leave their friends, teachers and general happy time at school due to this policy. Do you really not give a shit about them? Thankfully my ds is an adult, but he would have been devastated to leave his friends, teachers etc if we could not longer afford it.

Ah I knew the Tory accusation would come out because every single person who dares criticise a Labour policy is a Tory.

the funniest one yet is the poster who said ‘ well going to claim our state school places then! See how they like that! We’ll going holiday, pay the mortgage down, shop at Waitrose and save £700k in the process, ha!’

Missing the point entirely, but I really hope their grammar is better than you have quoted it!

At the state school we were in the head couldn't have cared less about us! I used to ask the teacher why my daughter didn't have a reading book or any spellings/tricky words and she just said "oh she's at the right level so she doesn't need them at the moment". I asked if there was any work/phonics to catch up on when she was off ill and the reply was "that's not your concern" and when other parents asked how their kids performed in assessments she said "that's for us to consider". So no - they don't necessarily want to utilise engaged parents. I didn't ever make a fuss because I could see other parents getting nowhere - so I just said "we're going to move her" and they never even asked why.

*I agree it’s cultural in this country. There’s a laissez faire attitude to kids and education.

So many parents don’t want homework, don’t want to read to their kids, won’t support them in learning their times tables.

Only 50% of kids get read a bed time story now.*

This is the issue I’ve got with the VAT increase. It’s not about the money. No amount of money is going to fix the attitude many parents and their DC have to education.

As for Dancinginthemoonlights rabid rant, well I grew up on a council estate in one of the toughest places in north England. Believe me it’s not something I remember as living in the real world, or anything that I want to inflict on my own kids. It wasn’t a learning experience that has given me resilience. My DC are in a much better place mentally, physically and educationally now, than I was. I work with loads of state educated 16-23 year olds, and they don’t have any additional resilience skills in comparison to my DC or their peers. In fact I’d say the state educated DC I know have higher levels of anxiety and are lacking in resilience in comparison.

They're pointing out that the policy will do the opposite of what Labour are saying they intend to do.

It's hypocritical

Yes even the SEN ones ( and frequently the definition of SEN wouldn’t come near the diagnosis threshold anywhere else but does get your child extra exam time

Ok, so in addition to private school parents you also seem to be angry at SEN children?!

Did you know that in several other countries the state pays money to private schools? In the UK, instead of being happy that households are contributing to the state system without using their place, some people would like to make them pay even more. I really struggle to understand the rationale behind it. Why not ask for a mandatory contribution of high earner like you who are using the state system for free?

Also, « They are rich, they can pay » said by people who couldn’t absorb a 20% increase on their mortgage. But of course, it is always easier to expect others to pay.

Well if that has happened it is not okay.
Although any swearing I have read has been at ridiculous comments posted, not because the person sends their children to a private school.

Also OP if you think it’s just private school parents pissed off, this isn’t true. Pretty much all of our year 5 class are against this because it now means huge increase in competition next year for grammar and best comp places. Surely that is obvious! All the required scores locally have already gone up and it has been bad enough as it is for years. We don’t need this extra stress on top. Only those who have older siblings in good state schools already are fine. Even those at GSCE level are worried because a lot of our best sixth forms require minimum GCSE grades to either stay on, switch schools or to even study some subjects like Maths. They don’t have enough teachers in some subjects so what they have come up with is limiting it for those with the best GCSEs in those subjects!!!!
So keep dreaming that this won’t affect the rest of us.

Like moths to a flame.

Bravo OP 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻😂😂