To marvel at privately educated Keir Starmer's hypocrisy?

[Bursarysadness]

Both Kier Starmer and his wife are privately educated. Kier's senior school converted into a private school in the second year of his attendance and he has received a generous full bursary up until his A levels. He has built his life and his success on this education, supported to the end by the bursary funded by the same schools and parents he is now trying to destroy. It pains me as my children receive 50% bursaries from a brilliant local school. We've worked incredibly hard to cover the remaining 50% but it has been worth it, seeing how my children blossomed. We had a very different experience in their primary state schools, including bullying and racism. We don't live in a great area. We have just been told that the school will probably reduce all their bursaries to be able to lower the fees for the non bursary parents who are now struggling because of the VAT introduction. I don't know what the future for my children is now and they have so many close friends where they are. They are both academically brilliant and work very hard - hence the bursaries were granted. I feel so depressed that, from what is becoming obvious, they won't be able to benefit from the generosity of bursaries the same way Kier Starmer did when he was a child ..

@Woww2 As the owner of a one person Ltd company, I was “suddenly hit with a tax increase” when corporation tax went up 6% 2 years ago. Quite rightly, not many people cried into their beer for me and i Don’t remember endless mn threads extolling the unfairness of it either. 🤷‍♀️

No one likes paying tax

Indeed, it's a perfect reply. Free school meals for poorer people... shrugs....VAT on private school fees and mass panic for a very tiny number of people who have enough excess cash to pay private fees.

"AssassinsEyebrow · 06/08/2024 16:07
Oh give it a rest.
Did you feel so strongly when the Conservatives came for free school meals?

If your children are as academically brilliant as you say, they will flourish regardless."

@MrsBennetsPoorNerves "If someone wasn't vaccinated as a child because they had anti vaxxer parents, would you find it hypocritical if they chose to vaccinate their own children and campaign in favour of vaccinations?"
Actually a better example would be a person who benefited from childhood vaccinations becoming an anti-vaxxer in adulthood. They are only alive and well today because of their parents' choices but now wish to take that benefit away from others. Surely you can see the hypocrisy there?

I guess that depends to some extent on whether you see private education as an individual benefit or as a societal problem.

Well I would assume you see it as both.
I see it as of benefit to individuals and to society (like vaccination).
Everyone benefits from having a well-educated population. Nobody benefits from those aspiring for the best education they can get, being denied it.

That’s the point. There are private school children who are happy and settled who will be forced to move due to this policy. And some of them will be forced to move mid year which is extremely disruptive.

Just as a matter of interest what is an average private school fee per term being paid and then what's the VAT on that per term?

I see it as being of questionable benefit to the individual and as a negative for society as a whole.

So for me, the anti vax position is a better analogy than the vaccination one.

What' in your view is the harm to society (if not "unfair advantage to the wealthier individual")?

I think it is incredibly damaging to have a small, wealthy section of the population grow up in a privileged, isolated bubble which gives them very little insight into how the rest of society functions.

Certain state schools in very affluent areas have the same effect. Grammar schools also. They are all equally problematic in my view.

To be clear, I am not blaming individual parents for choosing what they feel is right for their kids, I am merely saying that I think these schools have a negative overall impact.

As far as unfair advantage for the wealthier kids goes, I think that applies regardless of the school type. I think most private school parents are probably wasting their money as parental factors are the main determinants of outcomes, I believe.

You won't get rid of those advantages of birth even in a truly comprehensive system. What you will get, if you manage it well, is a much greater awareness amongst the wealthy of their own privilege and a much better understanding of disadvantage.

Bravo!

Why would they have to move mid year?

Because the policy is being introduced mid year (despite Labour stating during the election that it would be September 25).

If you're a parent with a child in private school who doesn't think they can afford the school fees including VAT, why would you send them back to private school in September 2024 for only one term and then pull them out at Christmas? Wouldn't it make more sense to get them into state school from Sept onwards?

Well there are people that are trying to do that but some LEAs are saying that they have a huge backlog and it will be weeks before they get back to them or that people need to contact the schools (which are closed because it is the school holidays). So it’s impossible for parents to get a place for their DC for September. It’s also too late to give notice to their DC’s private school so they have to pay for a whole term which they wouldn’t use. Plus it means there is no opportunity to prepare their DC for a new school, no opportunity to say goodbye to their old one or visit a new one before they start. It really isn’t fair on the DCs.

In my borough, there are zero places for my children right now. We were told two weeks ago. Now everyone is on holidays and we can't speak to anyone, seemingly until September. So what do you suggest...? Pulling them out? We have to pay for rh first term anyway, and thrn just homeschool year 10 for 3 months? Shall I tell you the GCSE choices? I'm open to suggestions....

The LA has a duty to ensure a school place is available. I suspect you will find this is all sorted out quickly enough through the Fair Access panel.

They'll live. We moved house in the summer hols. Same issue. A place was eventually found in our first choice school, child was fine. Moving schools really isn't a traumatic experience.
This shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone, it's been a possibility for a long while. If you have failed to prepare, either financially, or by sorting alternative schooling, that's on you. You can't demand LAs be magicians. They have to sort a space within 4 weeks (I think) anyway...

Are you in London? I don't think so... Are your kids senior school age? Somehow I don't think so...

Honestly, how old are your kids...?

He didn’t put himself into private education, his parents did 😂 he wants state schools to be as good as private. He wants people who are less rich than him to do well. He wants to get the country out of a fucking mess. Is he perfect? No. Do we have a better alternative? I’ll wait.

Presumably you planned to move house and didnt decide to do it one day and move the next?? And you realise they have to give a term's notice so will still pay the 8k or 9k or however much it is. The indication was that it would be introduced in Sept 25 so it has certainly thrown a spanner in the works for some people given it was announced after the schools broke up.

Omg he is god .. surely? God... Selfless...