AIBU to discuss A level success without private school spending?

[Absorbthecost]

Parents/carers who have not spent a penny on Educating their children and they have just received great A level results.

The sacrifices made all the struggle,

I’m interested to discuss families where the child has succeeded without need for private school

https://www.gbnews.com/money/private-school-fees-soar-vat

https://www.ft.com/content/091b214d-231b-414a-8f3e-9ef9fc021926?syn-25a6b1a6=1

Those who did pay,

presumably to secure great results at A level

The same kids off to Uni, placements easier to secure as less international competition. Uni the playing field evens.

And now time to pay for Uni,

https://inews.co.uk/news/education/university-tuition-fees-11000-2030-4705197?srsltid=AfmBOorss52PSHD6xJzisWMdeNxcXDen3IrCGS49nnGH1ZyDnmvTOh_k

A child who did outstanding (without spending a penny) the same result as a family who spent £250k + The above article is a low estimation for a selective U.K. day/ boarding.

The kids holding the same result off to the same Uni, How are families feeling!?…. Did you save to help towards the Uni Fees/accomodation.

What current statistical knowledge? You’re talking nonsense. Multiple landmark studies show that state school students consistently outperform private school students at university when they enter higher education with the same prior grades.

I mean Oxford look at GCSE grades in context. There is no state/ private school divide. If you took your GCSE grades at a top performing grammar where the average GCSE point score across I think 8 GCSEs is top, then you won’t be getting brownie points either. And they treat 8 and 9s the same. So they are as “anti” grammar/expensive comp catchment arguably as anti private.
But what has happened now is that employers are “discriminating” back at Oxbridge with blind recruitment. So Oxford demand you have to be top of your cohort, but now employers demand you have to be top of your cohort at Oxford. If you get a 2:2 at Oxford that is really not going to help you. Hence some kids are specifically choosing other unis with courses more tailored to their actual interests anyway.
The most important thing is kids study the exact A levels that suit them (and work with each other for the onward path they are likely to choose) and apply for the exact uni courses and teaching styles and methods that suit them. The prestige etc rather more irrelevant these days. The networking is of course important but you don’t need to go to Oxbridge to build up a huge and relevant network. Far from it. The most successful people network across social classes and unis and schools and get along with everyone. They are not judging people for the type of school they went to. Just because some politicians point score the easy class wins in the UK - that is just cheap and shows that they are ineffective leaders.

And I'm sure they will relish the opportunity to fund 60% of the UKs spending for the next 40 years. Time will tell whether the current UK exodus affects GDP and living standards over that timeframe.

Well the rest of the world isn’t looking so peachy at the moment so 🤷‍♀️

Being a HENRY without bank of mum and dad makes you more of a flight risk than a kid from a wealthy family. I think it’s more of a question of are you rich enough to stay in the U.K. and weather the punitive income taxes not the other way around.

Really not seeing that. Do tell where you’re going to disappear to. The USA doesn’t want anybody outside of its own shores, Australia is a lot more expensive to live in than the UK, the EU will prioritise people from the EU( thanks Brexit) and we have significant wars and global warming impact in many other areas….

Yes, I think you're right - although the level of wealth needed to weather the current UK direction for another generation is really very high. Much higher than what's needed to go to private school.

You've been saying for a while that it's a worrying problem for the UK - I think you've spotted it early with your kids being at that stage.

This is such utter rubbish. State schools operate on catchment areas. Most are far more homogeneous in terms of demographic than an average (not Eton) indie. The states near me are overwhelmingly white and range from affluent mc in one part of town to very much deprived, 'blue collar' in another. Where they are more mixed, the kids' peer groups are not. They find their tribe and you simply dont get, especially at secondary, the kid from the least aspirational background hanging out with the ones with eyes on Oxbridge.

In average Indies you have a range of kids, some with fee remittance of one kind or another, some v wealthy who also dont necessarily mix though smaller numbers make it more likely. What you do very often have is a wide international mix. My kids go to school with others from at least 15 different countries. These kids talk about their lives. Some are on scholarships from Eastern European charities or recently, Ukraine. To suggest there is a bubble of a fantasy world is just lazy trope thinking.

This is such utter rubbish. State schools operate on catchment areas. Most are far more homogeneous in terms of demographic than an average (not Eton) indie. The states near me are overwhelmingly white and range from affluent mc in one part of town to very much deprived, 'blue collar' in another. Where they are more mixed, the kids' peer groups are not. They find their tribe and you simply dont get, especially at secondary, the kid from the least aspirational background hanging out with the ones with eyes on Oxbridge.

In average Indies you have a range of kids, some with fee remittance of one kind or another, some v wealthy who also dont necessarily mix though smaller numbers make it more likely. What you do very often have is a wide international mix. My kids go to school with others from at least 15 different countries. These kids talk about their lives. Some are on scholarships from Eastern European charities or recently, Ukraine. To suggest there is a bubble of a fantasy world is just lazy trope thinking.

Funny that in my local secondary there are kids from at least 15 countries as well. There's a very large mix of students. The difference is they don't pay to go so you have a mix of wealthy mixing with the poorest of society. Have you ever visited state secondary school?

My son (private) does a hobby which takes over a huge part of his life and is what his degree subject will be in. Through this hobby he has far more state school friends - from a variety of different schools - than private.

Of course many of us have visited state schools . Most private parents have relatives and friends at state. A not insignificant number have children in both sectors, where siblings have different needs.

Have you ever visited a private school?
Thought not.

I worked in them, so yes

L went to them, taught in them and my kids used to attend them. I told you what the school's in my area are like. That's great that there's a mix in your local one but its not the case everywhere. In many areas of the country the demographic is not mixed and catchments keep the wealth diversity to a minimum. I used to work in a town where all the state schools were excellent, had catchments that were tiny and unachievable without a 6 figure salary. Those kids were no less in a bubble than you claim indie kids are and there us far more disparity between those schools and the ones a couple of miles up the road in a much more deprived area than between those and the average indie.

This is so ridiculous I don’t know where to begin.

Data shows that the average school represents around 29 different recorded ethnicities and an incredibly diverse student body. According to the Department for Education's July 2026 School Census, 38.7% of all state school pupils in England are from minority ethnic backgrounds.

In places where there is more cultural diversity it will go down through all economic levels- from those who can afford private fees to incomes that can’t .

Data can show all it likes. In my town the 4 state schools are overwhelmingly white and 3 of the 4 are largely populated with people whose houses are either rented or cost less than 200k. The other one, the catchment is 400k plus. There is no one statement that is true for any kind of school, or area or type of kid but this lazy trope that indie kids are not in the real world is bollocks. I teach full time, so not on a bad salary but live month to month. I run a car, have some kind of holiday most years. Im not using food banks or letting the power go off because I cant afford to put money on the meter. Is my world not real then? Because lots of people, especially in my region, are living like that. Amd lots of the students and my indie school are similar to me and my kids. One or two professional salaries but well below 6 figures. Yes some are well above that, but actually its not the norm in my area.

It's not just about YOUR area

Of course not, but I bet if you dive into that data its massively skewed by the bigger cities. If you go rural, small market towns you'll see a lot less. Anyway. The wider point that I was refuting is that Indie schools are not the real world. Of course they are. Just a different part of it than some others. The kids in the town I mentioned before are no less in a bubble in their 800k+ houses or the ones who dint see much outside of their sink estare? Why do we always somehow think there's something worthy about being at the bottom end? Its very 'four Yorkshire men '

Because data shows the whole picture, not your tiny town. You really are in a bubble.

I don’t have a child at school.

I’m reading this and thinking.

All fur coat no knickers!!!

So there are parents who are at these big “posh” schools who can’t afford the fees and they choose to just stay and make everyone else pay more. Fees raised each September and private school internal growing benefits bill?

Who in their right mind would want to fund that? Private school families, full fee payers, paying taxes for a state education they don’t use and also paying private supplement and benefits for other private school families!? (1/3 on internal benefits).

I’m reading this thinking very few can afford private school. The ones who can must be sick. The money they pay for their families directly going to internal benefits for those who won’t send their kids to state as it’s beneath them.

Then on top of that….. Once state have worked hard and built outstanding 6th form they want to leave the private schools and jump back to state? WOW.

We need to scrap private school it’s not fit for purpose! The U.K. needs the Scandinavian model. The best education as standard FOR ALL.

Data can show whatever you want to make it show. I dont live in a tiny town and I referenced several other examples. Tell me exactly how the kids at an average Indie school, again, not Eton etc are living any differently to those whose parents pay 500k+ to get them to a catchment school of similar types. How is it different?

The UK economic model doesn’t look sustainable to me. With a shift to more retired and less working, and a growing working age not economically active (10m).

Some hard decisions will need to be made about welfare, state pensions, and what we want to prioritise as a nation.

Not only that they want to move to state for 6th form and kick out the state kids already on role because the private kids have better grades. How utterly disgusting is that? State is for all abilities, you carnt just kick out state kids who have used it all their lives to favour private kids who just want to use it for 2 years to get a better chance at university. If they want the state 6th form maybe join in year 7.

Thankfully the ECHR protects the rights of private schools and they can’t be “scrapped”.

So they want private untill year 11 then want to kick state school kids out of their 6,th form so the all important private kids can get a heads up for university. Thankfully in in most schools state gets priority over private on results day.