Can't afford uk boarding schools any more. Alternatives please

[Letsgetouttahere2023]

Simply cannot afford/ justify the cost of uk boarding schools. No parental help self funded, it is / will kill us. Would love to try and replicate, happy to move abroad to do so (we can wfh /internatinal jobs)

. 3 girls all brilliant all rounders, but particularly sport talented (hockey). 12y 11y 9y old.

Looking at re locating abroad . English only fluent language
School the priority for relocation, we can easily sort job post covid

Any recommendations For Schools? Not sure where to even start!

Thanks

Sorry, I meant Wycombe. Stand corrected.

Do people really consider relocating to Switzerland, where the cost of living is astronomical, in order to save money on boarding fees?

The cost of living in Ireland is also higher than the UK, although it is cheaper than Switzerland, so there's that.

In order to be actually be more affordable overall wouldn't the OP have to move to somewhere where the col is also cheaper than here, like India for example.

Again... if you can agree on a good ex pat package, then school fees are often included.

And... the wages are proportional to the cost of living.

Plus... you can rent out your UK property, if you have one.

It's quite logical, if you have the skill set and the notion to do it.

So whilst choosing schools might not be the number 1 priority when considering positions abroad, the needs of your family, and education of your children is always a high factor. And some of these schools are quite frankly, amazing.

One of my friends currently has job offers for Zurich and Brussels. Before they accept, the family are flying to visit the international schools in both areas. Another got an amazing offer in an international school in Singapore last year, her DH transferred his finance job and they are having a fabulous time. The school is amazing and the opportunities offered to the students is incredible.

HTH.

Expat packages are declining.

My reply was in the context of the thread - ie having to save on school fees.

The OP says the fees are "self-funded" in their opening post, so an ex-pat package with school fees is not on the table.

Yes, people often receive fantastic relocation packages, however in the OP's case, we don't even know if they have an employer at all - they may be freelance.

@VivX OP equally said is willing to move for international jobs. I was also replying in context.

Thank you

Thank you!

Yes seems mumsnet not the correct forum, everyone piling on not stopping to consider

They WANT to board. Done it already and LOVE it (eldest 2 anyway, youngest still thinking, her choice, but seen her sisters thrive and is keen)

It's not my social media rules I'm worried about, it's other parents

Yes seems mumsnet not the correct forum, everyone piling on not stopping to consider

I'm sorry that you've had such a bashing

Your post is very unclear, so I am not surprised you have had no useful advice.
Now you toss in a cryptic comment about being worried about other parents. Why?
I am not just being difficult. I have a lot of experience in this.

Most scholarships just offer 5% max, some just confer streamlined access to the sport or what not, no financial benefits at all :-(

Sadly this isn't significantly cheaper

I am really surprised by all the vile comments. The forum was created for boarding parents to avoid the above comments. This is very disappointing!

A lot of people whose parents were sent to boarding school haven't chosen that option for their children, @Forsuchatimeasthis , and there are also people here who have boarded themselves. You can't expect all views on boarding to be rosy, therefore.

Absent the recent information that the older two children are already loving their school experience, posters here have just responded to the OP, which you have to admit is short on detail and long on attitude.

Hi OP, hope you’re still here.

I agree this is a board for boarding parents and was supposed to be where they could chat about boarding without Hank g their parenting questioned as has happened here. It’s a pity that this has happened.

I am not a boarding parent and love our choice of day school, but if you’re really committed to this choice of a move abroad driven by the desire to provide thus full boarding experience, I would suggest you look at St Andrews, Turi in Kenya. I have some experience (not my kids - all at home with us in the UK!!) and it’s a great school, and living in Kenya a potentially amazing experience. Full boarding fees are about £6k a term.

Like others though, what about you as parents in this? Don’t you have careers that need to be within striking distance of UK? Friends? Relatives? A move across the world might be hard I think, just so you can give the children the boarding school experience. Day schools can be very immersive and wonderful too!

Colleagues DC bordered in Denmark. Apparently it was a lot cheaper.
some schools have foundation places for DC with special circumstances. Eg Reeds, Christs Hospital, Lord Wandsworth, I think KingEdwards Whitley. Gordonstoun I think has a scheme in the name of Prince Philip.
Jersey I think has cheap private schools. May be worth a look but difficult to live there.

Thank you. Fortunately we don't have "special circumstances ", it's just with the price rises in fees at almost 10% per year the last few years it won't be long before we cannot afford to have 3 in boarding at same time- its 150k pa net plus extras .

However we are decent-ish earners (two professionals) so wouldn't qualify for any means tested bursary.

When we committed to boarding (led by kids) fees were 20% of income, now 40% and only going up . We had allowed for inflation in our calcs but at 5%, fees outstripping that by a country mile.

Eldest two are flexible boarding at the moment and love it, so looking to make the switch before they get too old and don't want to move . Then we can give same opportunities to all 3 children.

Also feel like the dynamics in uk boarding will change as families like us get priced out, aware already a very lucky / privileged cohort but as fees rise in danger of becoming an environment that isnt very wholesome.

Finally also feel UK isn't the best place for us right now - government policies / tax burden on families like ours etc, so have decided we are now very up for making the move.

We both have remote working jobs for international companies who are happy to support us working from most places, so we are just looking outside the box.

I don't think we are alone in this, a lot of colleagues have done or are planning similar, although not always school related.

In our experienxe its the mega weatlhy or those with grandparents supporting / paying fees who are now populating these schools. Sadly we arent either of those cqme from state schools, non university educated parents, mum left school at 16 had eldest at 19. No help coming from there. However we have worked our bollox off, earnt well and made sacrifices to support the type of education our children wanted. Thought we could cover it but fee increase trajectory is forcing us to consider alternatives as we would not want to be a forced exit from a school as that would severely impact the kids.

we are aware that the toxic haters on mumsnet might give me a bashing for this but even if only get one good idea it's worth it!

Several useful posts buried in amongst the bile early doors so thank you to everyone who has posted constructively:-)

Thank you- were they bilingual?

I think it's very useful to plan. Many bury their head in the sand and it's not uncommon for the schools to file Bankruptcy Petitions on the parents when fees haven't been paid.

@legallyblond hopefully I've answered most of your questions!

Yes, exactly this. We are ok now but when we put the recent fee increases into our spreadsheets we sadly will not be able to cover the full length of education for all 3 kids, not to mention university afterwards and we absolutely do not want to be in a forced situation, it would be devastating to them and us.