Fee increase

[SchoolFeePain]

So I’ve put it here to hopefully cut down on the diamond shoes comments…

Is anyone else just staggered by the fee increases this year?! Fees have gone up 11% for us, 9% last year. We’ve cut back and cut back, DS is starting Y11 so realistically we can’t move him for a year but then DD moves to Y11 the September afterwards.

Have you attended Inset training at all independent schools in the country? And at all state schools?

Seems like a rather sweeping assertion to be making.

The teachers are available to him during the summer holidays by email and work has been set.

That sounds horrendous.

It's wonderful, after leaving at school with fees close to £50,000pa and very long holidays where parents were tutoring non stop,it's great to be in school where the teachers actually care about every students success. This is particularly helpful when it's only 10 months away from A-levels

The standard of teaching is also much higher, I think the OP will be pleasantly surprised if she decides to move her DC. Even the so call "top" independent schools have some very weak teachers. DS can see now how little some of them did , the results are due to parents tutoring more than anything else.

Mad, so people end up using tutors on top of private schools?!

I knew quite a few people who went straight from graduating (at admittedly a v good university) to teaching jobs at their independent schools. No teacher training given. It seemed the only prerequisite was to be "the right sort of chap" (as my snob of a mother would say)

@BlossomCloud ". my children's head teacher was rubbing out answers in SATs and correcting them"

Yeah-course she was.

There is no comparison in my opinion, state school teachers are more professional and can actually teach. Parents don't have to rely on tutoring which was the norm at our previous school despite the high fees.

Lots of them at our previous school, I couldn't have said it better myself @@BlossomCloud.

You don’t need to have QTS to teach in private - so this is factually incorrect. We own a company that works with boarding schools and this includes some of your biggest brand name schools.

I heard it from three different mums, whose children had all told them (and my son had told me the same and hes an honest little soul)

She's had a stratospheric career progression, based on "incredible" turnarounds of sat results at various schools.

I am sure most teachers don't , but some clearly do.

Schools can’t make money, they are charities.

However, in my opinion, private schools have taken a massive wrong term in becoming an arms race for the best facilities (think West End standard theatres, premier league quality football pitches etc), an overbloated and overpaid SLT structure and massive support for mental health issues (nice if you need it, an unnecessary expense if you don’t).

What they haven’t done is kept to small class sizes. I am surprised that they are far rather than mine at a decent private school in the 80s.

The fee rise has gone partially to the staff (although no way have they got anything like 11%) and partially to put into savings for the anticipated drop in attendance due to less wealthy foreigners and the cost-of-living crisis.

At some point, fee rises will cause people to move, but it is a small minority at the moment, so they will keep pushing.

Spot on @Newbutoldfather . Parents should be challenging governors on capital expenditure (accountability? value? waste?) and SLT salaries (it is astonishing how quickly Headteachers’ pay has increased in the last ten years in the independent sector - and why is this?).

Why would you think it couldn't possibly be true? Just google teachers cheating at SATS and with all the pressure it's rife!

This while fees were going up year after year even when inflation was low. Hiring nice chaps out of university to keep costs down. Parents tutoring non stop to keep up the image.

We really were taken for fools.😔

This is good advice from @Mysteriousgirl2

@Crinklycut ,

I think a lot of parents quite like the exclusivity of the high fees. Witness those giving additional money to the schools and trying to outbid each other at charity auctions to support the school’s next vanity project.

It does no favours to those other parents who are making major compromises to meet the fees to give their child what they believe to be the best chance in life.

There is a major gap in the market for ‘cheap’ private schools who aim to give an excellent education but without all the added extras.

State schools are currently around £5,500 per child, in London private schools more like £24,000 per child (day schools). There must be a middle market between these two numbers.

The other elephant in the room is the university contextual admissions policy AKA you need higher grades from non-state schools to get in

If you have a top 25% or above child, much cheaper to have some extra tutoring and be reliant grades can he slightly worse. Only downside is organising the tutors.

My eldest two are grade 9 & grade 7 pathway, top/ second set state comp in affluent area (no selection except house price in NE London). Tutoring is £35-40pph. I spend £800pcm on tutors, but would be £3k with school fees. I can then save £1k towards uni top ups/ rent for them there in the future.

Here due to affluent area the local private schools just serm to take anyone and i know people who have left Forest & Chigwell due to poor teaching, lack of support etc for state.

Its all marketing at the end of the day ... round here the 'exclusive clientele' is just other kids the same as yours, not super rich mega brains .. dont be fooled

It sounds like you're really struggling, is it really worth it ?
If they don't do your daughters favourite subject at gcse can she study that one at home?

I know you say you can't move in gcse year, i understand the upheavel would be huge but you could move and then get get a private tutor to keep the level up? I'd like to think you'd save money with this but no idea!
Your kids will probably thrive in most schools due to the hope their previous schooling

I'm afraid you're misrepresenting what I said. I didn't say anyone HAD to have QTS - but the vast majority do. Yes, you can work unqualified in the independent sector, but you can also work unqualified in the state sector now, and have been able to do so for the last ten years or so (well, in academies/free schools). So not sure this is quite the win people think it is.

I've worked in three independent schools, which run the gamut of the 'types' of independent schools out there, and all three were staffed predominantly by teachers with QTS, across all subjects. I absolutely disagree with this notion that independent school teachers can't teach. Of course you will find issues with some teachers, but you also have those issues in the state sector.

Contextual offers don't apply to every state school, though. Just going to a state school is not going to get your offer reduced, and not every university uses them. This is from Unifrog on what might allow you to receive a contextual offer (https://www.unifrog.org/know-how/contextual-offers-getting-the-bigger-picture#:~:text=Contextual%20offers%20are%20those%20made,circumstances%20when%20considering%20your%20application.):

Not all UK universities make contextual offers. For those that do, each one sets its own criteria, but they usually include a few of the following:

• You have a disability
• If you have a physical or non-physical disability, you may be eligible for a contextual offer.
• You’re a young carer
• A young carer is anyone who - unpaid for - cares for a friend or family member who cannot cope without support due to illness, disability, a mental health problem, or an addiction.
• Your school’s overall academic performance
• If, for example, the performance of your school, college or sixth form is lower than the national average, your academic performance so far might be given special consideration.
• You’ve been in care
• This means you’ve spent time in local authority care. Very often, you’ll need to declare that you’re a care leaver on the UCAS form and have it confirmed by your referee.
• You’re a first generation Higher Education attendee
• This means that you’re the first in your immediate family to attend university. Your parents therefore, did not attend university.
• You have a lower family income, or live in an area with a lower socioeconomic status
• You might be entitled to discretionary payments or free school meals at school/college. Schools also assess whether you live in an area with a lower socioeconomic status using the POLAR or ACORN postcode search. POLAR and ACORN are both classification tools which provide data on young people participating in higher education.

I'm afraid you're misrepresenting what I said. I didn't say anyone HAD to have QTS - but the vast majority do. Yes, you can work unqualified in the independent sector, but you can also work unqualified in the state sector now, and have been able to do so for the last ten years or so (well, in academies/free schools). So not sure this is quite the win people think it is.

Exactly this. I don't think people realise that teachers working in academies don't actually need to be qualified!

Well of course you won’t have sympathy from most. Didn’t our education secretary say you could have afforded it if you don’t go on a foreign holiday? Inflation is at 7-8% and by paying more I assume you are getting enough teachers, instead of having substitutes after substitutes. Some state school students are sitting GCSEs without subject teachers. You not turning on the tumble and having holes in underwear is worth it clearly when you send them to private years ago.

I have looked at Cambridge and Oxford and they don’t take into account you are from state unless you also live in a crappy postcode. Moving to state won’t give you any advantage unless you move house too to a lower income area.

If I had a pound every time someone confidently misinterprets contextual offers....

Just wondering if you had thought of looking at some state boarding schools? We have friends who have teens at one and they are thriving. There are several around the UK and many have 6th form. Good luck - the rise in fees is affecting many at the moment.