To be glad that the VAT on school fees

[Shaketherombooga]

Is now going to be happening in January? what’s the point in stalling it? I think it’s one of many decisions that we just need to get in with.

YABU - it’s SO unfair. Labour hates ‘strivers’ etc etc

YANBU - Yup, Labour said they are taking away tax breaks for private schools, so let’s get on with it.

I sort of agree with you, despite being an ex private school parent.

That absolutely is not a fact!No state schools won’t.😂

You really underestimate state education. It’s laughable.

I am aware.

In my area, we would not qualify for a bursary yet can't afford the fees.

The only option for us would be a scholarship which is not an option because I didn't hot house my child from birth.

The unfairness of it is many state educated kids get the same results without the advantages but still get overlooked for the top unis and jobs!

Frankly I think labour needs to go further and cap the amount of top uni places inline with privately educated percentages.

they would be used to house state schools, or other state managed facilities... or be turned into housing/flats

Bless you. Do you really believe the hype about how much further ahead the private schools are?

Just goes to show that money can't buy wisdom, I suppose.

It's not daft! You only have to read some.of the threads on here about parents stressing over their child being moved from the top sets in state school to realise how much importance people place on it.

A good private school would have ensured pupils were well ahead in terms of curriculum coverage than a state school and working at a greater depth. It will be interesting to see how that works in terms of dominating the top sets at state.

Oh dear. Its absolutely not hype if it's a decent private school.

One example - Dd finished her A level psychology curriculum in March and her friend at state didn't finish at all before the exam.

Mugboat yes but these buildings belong to the schools or charitable trusts. Before they were turned into state schools and housing etc they would have to be bought.
This would cost a lot of money - would they be sold in the open market? In which case I guess developers would buy them.
If they were to be turned into state schools it would cost the government a fortune to buy them - unless you think they should be seized by the government?

About 4-5 years i think, until the next general election.

she's grade 8 on 2 instruments and is in an orchestra- she's 11

That is not just money talking. Or even years of constant hard work. You need talent to get to that level. Yes there may be children in deprived families with similar talent they are unable to realise, but we shouldn’t dismiss the talent and hard work taken to achieve this just because they are from a well off family.

Not meant in a malicious way, but I look forward to state school parents who are running their hands in glee getting what they've asked for... half a teacher more per school and over the next few years larger class sizes.

I don't think people will move kids unless they absolutely HAVE to, so impact will be seen within a few years when parents don't start their kids in private school at all or do transfers at the typical points like year 7, year 9, year 12...

When you read stats that x% of state school kids are below the expected level of reading, it's only a Labour government that want MORE children falling within that category..!

They would have to be bought, by RR's magic money tree. They often have big grounds so would be expensive to buy, and probably more likely to be bought by a developer than a state school. The council wouldn't have the funds to buy or maintain big grounds

I'll ignore the rather childish clapping emojis and respond.

The reason people like me pick up on it is that it is being used an excuse to justify private school... I.e. "hard working parents are being punished".

If you think that the VAT increase is a punishment, the correct statement would be "parents sending their children to private school are being punished".

Hard working has nothing to do with it.

it's an investment. Magic money tree? Who are you? Theresa May?

If it had massive grounds, I'd some off to private developers.

Of course they are. They are selective. There are no "bottom" sets. DD was in the forth set of five. She got an 8 at GCSE. Most of year 11 is spent on consolidation and revision, past papers, as they have already finished the curriculum. Private school pupils are ahead because they have a select group of pupils and they have longer hours.

sounds malicious to me.

stop being so emotional about it.

I agree, she's definitely talented, and motivated. As I said, good luck to her.

But talent needs to be nurtured and, in this case, classes paid for.

Same here. Dd was in 4th set maths (out of five) and got an 8.

The top two sets started working on A level maths before their gcses.

It's not even highly selective.

DS has just finished year 12. He has covered all of the content for two of his subjects and is almost there for the third subject. Year 13 after October half term is entirely consolidation, revision and NEA for one subject.

wouldn't advocate for seizing. Would advocate for selling off to the govt and private developers, depending on what is appropriate for the grounds.

@Sprinkle5 even with the state system, everyone acknowledges that children surge the most motivated parents (the ones who read to them, do work at home, expose them to diff activities etc) do the best.

If you gather together the most motivated parents AND introduce a selective element so you take the cleverest children with the most motivated parents, surely it's a no brainer that that group of children will no do better than others.

Such a typical left thought that children should be penalised for having switched on parents who are motivated to ensure they are well educated, while I sympathise with the situation you found yourself in.

You should be campaigning for improved state education not trying to penalise children with more motivated parents than yours...

Right so no one who has a suicide attempt gets mental health support now. Bollocks. For some pupils, an unhappy transition will lead to a downward spiral and, ultimately, some will end up in crisis. I’ve been there, I don’t know why you have to undermine the mental health difficulties that some people face.

The private school child will find that being further ahead in the curriculum doesn’t confer much advantage when they will be working on the same point in the curriculum as everyone else. If they are working at odds with the rest of the top set group then the school might decide there is no point disrupting the top set anyway and will put the private school pupil where there is space and ask the teacher to provide differentiated work.

Top Universities already allocate places based on demographics. When I went for my university place I knew I had to do that much better to have a chance of gettingin - white young female with a Dad who went to university - yes the UCAS form asks if your parents went to university. It doesn't matter than it was night school university whilst he worked a full time job during the day, we were very much 'working class' and I went to a school which was so bad they tried to close it twice in my time there. I knew my course was taking a certain amount of males, of mature students, of people from ethic minorities, of student whose parents were not university educated. My course already had 1000 applicants for 40 places, and I was in a group of approx 800 competing for around 20 places of which I 'fitted the bill'. That's flippin tough in anyone's book, to beat 780 out of 800. But I did, not because I went private, but because I worked really hard.
However, private schools did give me a leg up, as our local one ran sessions for state school pupils on how to complete the ucas form well and how to succeed at the interview. My school did nothing, and im sure that without the help of that private school I never would have beaten 780 people to a place. That's where private schools do better, no because they have much better teachers, but because they give that focused support to succeed, which every school should provide. My state school rarely had anyone go to a top uni, they just didn't recognise that I had the ability and drive to succeed and didn't support me.