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.

That’s shocking.
We were so lucky to move into a lovely town with good schools.
It’s what makes the biggest difference to a child regardless of background and I’d have more respect for Labour if that’s what they would concentrate on.

This vat on private schools is just pure electioneering on Starmer’s part.

I have already responded to these points before. Please read my previous posts. You may like making the same arguments over and over and over again but I really don't feel the need to.

@DinnaeFashYersel similar to sixth form students living on the Scillies - they 'board' on the mainland and attend the local state sixth form. No extra privilege there either - it's simply a necessity, and allows the islands to be populated with families

Just on this "tory" point - I've never voted tory. I never will. But on the same basis, I could just call everyone in favour of this policy a brexiteer.

There are small private schools with poor education who really should close.

@purplecaterpillar can you give some examples of these private schools which you think should close?

Your views are rather extreme. I am sorry your jealousy has prevented you from having a balanced view on this issue 😔

@Barbadossunset Progress School in Thrapston, Northamptonshire near where I live. There are many more.

I went to a specialist school funded like the Royal Ballet. It's entirely means tested, most paid very little.

(I have to say, I wouldn't want my DC to go to the same place, but thats another story!)

There are children with the names OP referred to at our comp! Rather chippy behaviour in my opinion ...
I think it is wrong for them to charge VAT on top of existing fees and that people should have a right to choose where they educate their children and come up with the cash if they choose private!
The reverse snobbery that exists, especially in politics is frankly disgusting. Cheap and nasty.
I'd step away from social media for a while yes!

@purplecaterpillar thank you for answering my question.
Surely if these schools are proving unsatisfactory then they’ll close anyway because of lack of pupils?

‘The misunderstanding is that this will happen in deprived parts of the U.K’

This boils my piss. The idea that WC don’t get involved or don’t add value to the schools their children attend or somehow are not as invested in their child’s education.
Our school just completed the installation of a new 4G, landscaping and outdoor space at a fraction of the usual cost because a lot of the work was carried out gratis or at a massive discount by parents who work as designers, landscapers, gardeners and builders, electricians and carpenters…

@Barbadossunset some will. But vat on school fees may accelerate this. Good private schools will be fine.

One way of dealing with the military and SEN question would be to make sure all children in those categories go automatically to the top of state school waiting lists and get priority admissions to any state school of their choice.

Children in specialist schools are in specialist schools because they cannot be supported adequately in mainstream schools. There are thousands of children with SEN in England alone without a school place. Some of these children will been teenagers working on targets such as mark making or following someone across the room with their eyes. Often they need two specially trained TAs each. How would that work in a mainstream class?

The person who said kids moving out of private to state ‘will take up all the top set’ says it all for me tbh

I know of one that was forced to close following a damning inspection (safeguarding issues). It cost the local council approximately £270,000 to reopen a mothballed primary school and staff it for five months until all the children could be allocated school places. That was ten years ago, equivalent to £380k today’s money.

@Sloejelly ten years ago there was a shortage of state school places. That is no longer the case.

@sloejelly - where did I say “mainstream” state. We have an outstanding state special school where I live. The trouble is there are not enough of them around. Governments have failed to plan for them, shoved many disabled children into mainstream to cut costs, let private providers provide the service and now councils are whingeing that they cannot afford the fees for private special schools. And they have also been told to cut costs, in a situation where recruitment of staff is already incredibly challenging. Part of the thinking on this policy is to make private providers cut costs, including SEN schools. Unbelievable in my opinion. Successive Governments do not plan for disabled children and this is all they can come up with.

Not so in that local authority. You also need places in the correct year groups and catchments or you spend much more on transport (and once placed the council would be committed to continue transport until they age out of that school). Schools shuffle classes each year to maximise class sizes - the reason places were found after five months is it was then summer so the classes could be shuffled again, Schools don’t operate with under occupied classes, even if there is space in the school for extra classes, if they can be shuffled into a full mixture of straight and composite classes.

@Sloejelly most parents if their private school closes will find another.

*Araminta1003 places in state special schools are not allocated on the basis of simple choice. *

Not everyone lives in London, if a private school closes the other commutable private schools are unlikely to have the spaces to absorb them; few schools can double in size over the course of a weekend. I do know someone who worked in an alternative school; they had desperate parents on the phone for weeks

I do have some sympathy for your post op. I had a door knocker asking me to sign a petition against school fees vat, she seemed bemused when dsd who happened to come past her in from work at just that time gave her a resounding no. One of mine did board on a bursary, but i would prefer equal education for all! If you want to privately school i think you should have the right to do so but as its a luxury you pay vat!

Our school currently provide free sessions for the local primary and secondary schools in their pool. They have said that if this comes in then they will charge for the sessions. They also currently run maths, chess and sports competitions, extra lessons and masterclasses and offer holiday clubs at much reduced cost to children attending local schools. This discount will also cease.

They have said they cannot continue to offer things for free whilst increasing the cost to parents by such a margin as they at risk of losing too many students.

We use the private schools because being a military family we move every 2 years. Having to find new school provision and my dc having to make new friends and adapt to different lessons, teachers and curriculums is not sustainable. What many we know are indicating is that they will leave the military in order to give their children a stable home address.

I honestly don't get people being so gleeful when it is literally children being impacted. I pay tax on my earnings and don't use the state school places my children are entitled to. By being out of the state system they are not using resources that can then be used for others who can't afford it.

It would raise more money if they just decided to go after the tax dodging multimillionaires and corporations but that is far too difficult - much better to target families just trying to get along.

Indeed, fair few local private schools where I am.
A surplus of school places too, but only in the requires improvement category.
I wish them the best of luck.

@mitogoshi “One of mine did board on a bursary, but i would prefer equal education for all! If you want to privately school i think you should have the right to do so but as its a luxury you pay vat!”

Just like Starmer then. No use to you anymore so no empathy for others or anyone else who may still have benefitted from a bursary. If these schools have to cut costs, they will have to cut some bursaries too.
Can you explain why you are now anti private having personally benefitted for one of your DC? Was it a bad experience?