Does anyone REALLY send their children to private school?

[Mosschops30]

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5 K a year sounds quite reasonable. What part of the country are you in?

Actually just done my sums Pre-Prep is about £4,500 Prep is £5,500

Fairyfly, I would agree with you that we are all definatly not poor. I suppose that it all depends where you darw the line and say 'that' is rich.

I don't consider myself to be rich. Comfortable, for sue, and damn luck to be that way. I have been poor so I do know the difference. But I am not rich in the way of not needing to watch the pennies, IYSWIM.

Our school costs far less than a private nursery, for eample

Aloha, we pay around £5000 a year each...I pay for the kids out of my salery as a teacher, which is not exactly big bucks.

aloha, round our way your looking at £8 - £9k per year minimum. I would say £10k pa min at secondary level. that is of course w/o after/school holiday care in some cases.

eek - you're

DS isn't at school yet but we've already registered him and opened a savings account for the fees.

TBH, I think it's all about priorities. Everyone is free to priorotise their income as they see fit, and for us that means school fees.

Part of the problem for me is that I teach in the state sector so I know what it's like. That's not to say all state schools are awful but rather that they don't have the facilities that I want DS to have access to, i.e, small class sizes, excellent sports and science resources etc.

I think you'll be surprised at how many 'normal' parents actually make the decision.

So two kids at least £16K which is about 20K of income?

Hopefull sp will be a priority too!

Where did that y go?

This is a bit of a "parp" topic for me, so all I will say is that I do find it sad and depressing and all the mumsnet teachers are dead set on keeping their children out of state schools.

But revealing?

2 kids out of London more like £10k if at the same school - so you'd need to earn around £13k income to pay in the provinces....unless you're aiming at a very swanky expensive kind of private school!

Round us ( west yorkshire) its 9k min at secon dary level and remember that is NET earnings. We are lucky - my eldest took 11+ and got into a grammar school which is free but like private. I went state and dh went private but is against it. I hate to admit it but i think selective schools give a child a better start - well at secondary level - primary schools i think its a bit much!

I don't really totally agree with this comparison with private nursery. We didn't have DD until DS was on the nursery grant so have never paid full fees for both at the same time. I think you will have to bear in mind the length of the commitment.

Dino, I find it sad too but I've got to put DS first.

aloha, assuming it is the top slice of income taxed at the higher rate it is more like £27k - min.

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aloha, I probably have lower standards than most - I want the DSs to be reasonably happy at school and have a reasonably good education, but, for reasons which I have banged on about before at length, I have problems (not financial ones) about the whole issue of private education and so would only turn to it as a very last resort.

As I said, it's a parp for me. I know most mumsnetters disagree.

LMAO, I don't even come close to upper tax bracket!

it's the awful class sizes in state education that frighten me.

if we had not been able to find a really good grammar then we may have considered sending ds to private school BUT it would have led to loads of family sacrifice.
luckily we found a an area with a grammar school with results that beat many private schools so plumped for that.
its going great so far.
we did move 300 miles north to get it though

Aimsmum, I went to a comprehensive in a very rough inner city area and I was bullied because I wanted to do well at school, because I didn't want to truant, achieve nothing and end up in the same situation as most of the women around me.

there are too many variables in what constitutes affordability to make this a meaningful discussion, e.g. not only the fees and one's own income, but what is the household income, housing costs, need for after school and holiday care, expectations of future earning potential etc etc.

I send mine to state. I find it quite shocking that some people use almost all their income to pay for children's education. I hope its worth it. I doubt if if you already live in a fairly nice area where schools are good. I think if really bad state schoools, perhaps worth it though. There is so much more to bringing up a child and educating him or her than schools. If you spend all your money on schools, can you never afford to take them to the theatre, museums, go on holidays to visit other parts of the country or other countries/cultures? I think this part of a child's education too and your children can miss out if you only rely on a good private school. Thats my opinion.