Can I afford private school for 3 children?

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We are struggling to make financial decisions about the kids’ school. Our local state school is awful (violence and very poor outcomes)

Our local private school is going to cost us £12K a year per child (staff discount). The fees go up 5% a year.

We have 75K joint earnings, no mortgage. No hefty bills such as car payments etc and a basic UK holiday each year. We also have investments that bring in 25K a year.

Should we just move to a better school catchment?

YABU - you cannot afford this
YANBU - you can afford this

Your eldest and youngest are 5 years apart so assuming your eldest goes to a state sixth form you will only have 1 year where all three are in school together, the rest of the time you will only be paying for two at £24k a year. You have no mortgage and on your salaries a £2k mortgage wouldn’t seem extreme. If you save for the next 2 years you can probably make it work but obviously the increases may be tricky, it will mean you can’t leave your job as you’d lose the discount and you would likely have to forgo other luxuries like holidays - how will your children feel if they’re at a school where they’re seen as the poor kids?

Yes this is literally just school fees.

Absolutely not.

Just so I get this….You are asking whether you will be able to afford all your kids into year 7-13 (with them currently year 4, year 2 and 1 or 2 years from reception).

It sounds as if one of you works at the school, so I think you should ask yourselves:

1. How much movement is there in year (is it easy to join in 8/9/10 or is it pretty much a year 3/7 or 9/ sixth form entry?).

2. What would you do if teacher parent lost their job? That’s not such a daft qn these days.

3. How confident are you that your chosen school is suitable for all 3 of your children?

4. How certain is your investment income? Are you likely to get money from inheritance etc?

More importantly, how do other “children of teachers/staff” cope? I’ve known some who thrive; others hate it and move. “You only got the role/prize because of your Mum/Dad” can be an issue (depends on the kids and their social circle).

You have about 18 months to attempt to live frugally and figure out the answers to the above.

Yr 13 mum

Looking for the best school for us was
a non selective
B good ofsted report
C good gcse results
D a broad curriculum

I spent months triangulating house prices, catchment area and likely primary offers( dd was just starting year 5 so we bought a nailed on secondary catchment house in a place where it was likely we would be offered a good primary )