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.

@CuntRYMusicStar - the impact on military really worries me from a security point of view too. I thought the military have trouble recruiting too? Can you please explain if that is true? There are literally wars going on that may well impact us quite significantly in the near future. Why can’t they just exempt military families? Is the MOD doing something about this VAT?

There is a state boarding school near to me, in the Home Counties. It’s one of the highest performing state schools in the area. It’s easier to get a boarding place than a day place as it’s not based upon catchment so it’s targeted by middle class families because it’s cheaper than a day place at a local indie. Particulary the “flexible” boarding option which is about £9k per year. That requires the pupil to live in commuting distance so definitely no one living in a Scottish island!

Oh @Araminta - Starmer's was an odd case, and you surely know it. His school switched while he was already there as a state pupil. Even the Telegraph doesn't turn the knife, saying 'His attendance at Reigate Grammar School would prove controversial in later life. It would have become a comprehensive school had it not been for a directive issued by Margaret Thatcher as education secretary, and instead went private, though boys who were already at the school, including Sir Keir, did not have to pay.' Neither he nor his parents chose fee paying. The grammar system was in place across the country, and he got a place on merit.
My husband was the same generation - passed the 11 plus, then his grammar went comprehensive, and that's where he stayed. Starmer's took a different route because of a quirk decreed by Mrs T.

I honestly don't get people being so gleeful when it is literally children being impacted

@CuntRYMusicStar because they’re poshos innit.

Nobody is being gleeful. We are just not crying a river for them.

Also, Scillonian secondary school pupils who do not live on St Mary's board there for secondary school. It's only primary school that runs on every inhabited islands

They are exceptions and those pupils do not attend a private school.

All the MOD will have to do is recalculated the value of the Continuity of Education Allowance.

There's not going to be any impact, other than the need to increase the ceilings (something that happens annually anyhow) - itll just be a bigger increase when it comes into force. Ditto diplomatic service and all other qualifying government personnel.

Yup. They’re in for a shock when their kids experience some real competition.

But when a government loses so much tax money from global organisations like Amazon and so many millionaires can off-shore their wealth and avoid taxes, and inflation increases making salaries and wages go down - where can the government go to create income to fund the Liz truss debacle, the costs of Covid? Where can they go? We poor suckers without creative accountants will all have to shoulder the burden together.

The English private school system for many is a tax exempt power purchase. It's a massive privilege. Why should a privilege machine be a tax exempt charity status institution?

I can see arguments for and against this position of course and I was educated in both systems. But I do find it harder as I get older to see the ethical basis for private schools to have charity status.

@mpsw - but does it not eat into their budgets? The extra VAT that is? I mean all these various government departments compete with each other? So whilst it is all tax revenue that is why there are arguments between the different departments in the first place? And not all school fees for military personnel are covered? They self fund some of it? How does it work? Will certain staff be harder to find due to this policy?

Some military children board as their parents are posted overseas, how does that work if they get told they are now going to a state school? Doesn’t matter if they go in the top of a waiting list

Starmer is using the politics of envy to get you all to vote for him on this issue.

I will be laughing my guts out if this gets vetoed down / thrown out by the high court challenges after election day.

The English private school system for many is a tax exempt power purchase. It's a massive privilege. Why should a privilege machine be a tax exempt charity status institution
@Allshallbewell2021

Maybe you should ask Keir Starmer as he said he’d remove charitable status but then back-pedalled so presumably there are good reasons why Labour have dropped the idea.
However, there’s nothing to stop you starting a campaign to have it removed. Maybe a few riots a la poll tax riots would get you the result you want.

This is where well off people show zero understanding. It is not the politics of envy. It is the politics of equity.
This strokes me as politically illiterate. It is like people saying to someone who can not make friends - they're only jealous.

Are state boarding schools mainly weekly boarding? Because military families might prefer the option of full boarding?

Labour found it would be difficult legally to remove charitable status from private schools without removing it from other charities providing educational help to disadvantaged children.

Then they can pay for it.

@Allshallbewell2021 purplecaterpillar has answered your question.

Where's the glee? It's this attitude that is also giving ps parents a bad name!

I totally agree. There is so much exaggeration, it is tiresome.

Why do you think private school pupils would be the ones in a RI schools? If they are applying at a break point (primary/secondary/sixth form entry) they would likely position themselves for the best schools. If they are moving out of private they would likely sit on waiting lists until spaces become available in better schools then move then. In either case it would be other children shunted to the RI schools.

Almost every single thread on MN about this issue has been started by private school parents, w a relentless narrative about how non-ps parents are jealous and spiteful - it's so embarrassing!

@Sloejelly it stands to reason if all these private pupils are leaving private schools, then they will not all be leaving at the end of primary or sixth form. Although a lot of state pupils go to college rather than sixth form.
If it is only those leaving primary or entering sixth form applying to state, then the numbers will be small.

So some of the defence budget will be spent on school breakfast clubs?