To think Private schools are using the new fees situation

[Pandadunks]

To cover up all the changes in fees and with teachers etc in their schools that they are making anyway?

Dfriend is leaving her private school, along with FOUR other teachers, mostly because the private school - along with 100s of other have or are leaving The Teacher’s Pension scheme. She’s moving to a state school, where she’ll earn about the same BUT will have a protected pension.
Her fellow teachers - 1 leaving solely because of TPS, 2 leaving for promotions TPS a factor because there’s little opportunity in the school for promotion,
to state schools,, 1 leaving because they feel they are being bullied by HoD and want out of there.

She was at sports day, and realised that most of the parents think the teachers are leaving because the school has to ‘save’ money in prep for VAT. The school have put out some vague ‘changes need to happen in mitigation for blah blah’ message.

So I asked her - did you tell the parents it’s because of TPS and lack of promotion opps? But no, she didn’t, she and the other teachers want to leave on good terms, they need references etc. They’ve have had less applications to the school because the fees have increased around 7% for the past decade.

YANBU - off course schools will blame any unpopular change on Labour and possible VAT on fees if they can.

YABU - that’s cynical. Private schools would never do that.

The fees at ds school went up 8% last September and are going up another 7% this September! There's a suspicious amount of teachers leaving, and yes I firmly suspect that's got a lot to do with leaving the pension scheme. Although I do think there is some nervousness amongst staff about whether the school can survive the vat thing (it's a fairly small school).

Every teacher who left DS’ school this year went to another private school. There were about 5 of them and they said the reason they left was because they needed to earn more money to afford vat on their 50% off school fees (it’s 50% off for all primary / prep teachers at all privates in the county). Lol they also have incoming prep teachers trom those same privates arriving for the same reason.

The reason that they’re leaving the TPS is because costs have increased so much and they can’t raise fees anymore than they are already. VAT is an additional burden and means they will be under more pressure to save money. So it’s all connected

Private school parents aren't daft - we fully understand the TPS issues. We're the ones funding the contributions after all. Although with all these private school teachers moving back to state, the tax payer will be picking up their pension contributions instead now. So that's a positive.

I have noticed teachers talking about some privates offering poor pay compared to state pay. If pay is less than state schools, then I can see why they are leaving. Although, the pension thing is already a slap in the face.

Gotta break eggs to make omelettes.
There’s always going to be people shuffling around for advantages. I hope those teachers find things are good in state schools in future - Keir Starmer has his work cut out for him. It would be nice to think state sector education is the best place to work, I think that is what we should be aiming for.

YABU. Many (maybe most) private schools haven't been able to afford the contributions for the TPS for a few years now. The govt insisted on the increase and pay it for state schools (I think) but (understandably) not for private. The school I work at had to come out of the TPS 3 years ago now and we weren't the first. Nobody left as a direct result afaik. We know we get a worse pension deal, longer hours and a lower salary than state but the pay off is smaller classes, less admin/marking, longer holidays, fewer hoops to jump through and generally easier pupils.

We are very worried about VAT and know we cannot pass all the costs on to parents. Fees will have to go up but they can't go up 20%. There are various cost saving plans under discussion but I'm not party to them.

We need every parent we can get, we don't/can't throw them under the bus to try and save ourselves.

Departures due to TPS has been an issue for a few years. Long before VaT was on the horizon.

They are linked though. Schools have to plan ahead. The VAT on fees has been on the cards for a while. Taking teachers out of TPS is one way they can absorb some of the costs for parents.

Yes, true. If the school hasn't already left the TPS, it would be a good way to make savings.

That’s was friend was saying. Economically
it makes no sense for her to chose working in a private school over a state school.

Don’t you pay tax?

You presumably pay tax, or are you unemployed living off some tax dodging trust fund???
I’ll happily pay taxes all day long to pay for teachers salaries and pensions. And I think it’s a fucking joke that private schools are screwing their staff over their pensions.

Private school aren't screwing us over our pensions! They can't afford the contributions. The govt put them way up but pay them for state schools. Obviously that can't be the case for independent schools so they have to find the money themselves. The majority can't. We were set up with perfectly good alternatives. It;s not as great as TPS, obviously, but it's fine. And there are plenty ot thinggs about working in private that are better than working in state. Swings and roundabouts.

They’ve have had less applications to the school because the fees have increased around 7% for the past decade

7% over the last 10 years? With the cost of living being what it is? Do you think teachers shouldn't have pay rises andvthatcschools haven't been affected by utility increases etc etc?

Hmmm - it was the govt who removed the tps pension provision for private school teachers, just fyi. Our school is really open with their budgeting - they absolutely could not afford to make up the shortfall in the same way they can’t cushion the vat in the same way some of the big public schools are. A few teachers left which is totally understandable. Most stayed - many say, though they earn less than they would in the state school sector, they have a much better work life as generally there are smaller classes and better discipline (this is obv a generalisation - they are many exceptional state schools, though also many that aren’t…).

Private school parents aren't daft - we fully understand the TPS issues. We're the ones funding the contributions after all. Although with all these private school teachers moving back to state, the tax payer will be picking up their pension contributions instead now. So that's a positive

Yeah! All the private school teachers leaving gbto go to state schools. Hurrah! We don't have to pay any more pensions!

You want a teacher teaching your children, right? A good one? With experience?

The only teachers who leave ds' school, retire, apart from junior language teachers who usually stay 3-4 years and then move on.

As parents, we're fully aware of the situation with the TPS. As are the teachers, the school and the PTA. Budgeting is open and we're working together to cover the gap between us.

Do you imagine it's a secret OP? 🙄

None of our teachers have resigned, most left the state sector years ago and don't want to go back. They want the freedom to teach in calm classrooms, with the respect & support of parents.

I would imagine this poster means 7% each year over the last 10 years, not that fees are 7% more than 10 years ago. I’ve been at my school 7 years and it’s been at least 5%, sometimes closer to 10% every year except 2020, when they froze fees but obviously the offer was a lot worse than usual (no sports fixtures, trips etc).

We were pulled out of the TPS 4 years ago. Teachers who were there at the time got a pretty good deal instead. New teachers do not. I’m not sure where cuts can be made to be honest. It’s all very well saying increase class sizes but our classes aren’t full, increasing class sizes has been the sole objective since I’ve been there!

It’s entirely up to businesses to decide what they do with their charges to clients and how they compensate their staff, but those are massive price hikes for the consumer - the parents- whichever way you look at it.

I know quite a few teachers in private, and they aren’t getting pay rises that reflect the rise in fees PLUS private schools are leaving the TPS, taking away a major teacher benefit.

But ultimately I don’t care if private school is already just for the wealthy and becoming more so, because I don’t send my kids to one.