Sibling discounts....what do people get?!

[Storm15]

Come September we're going to have 4 kids at the same independent school (we currently have 1 but have decided to send the other 3). I asked about sibling discounts and got offered 5% off DC2, 10% off DC3 and 15% off DC4. I know another family of four in the school and they're getting 100% off DC4 (the Mum told me after she'd had a few vinos). Can't decide whether to mention this to the head / attempt to negotiate. What do other schools do? Has anyone else successfully negotiated or is that just really bad form?! Thank you...

We get 15% off the oldest child while all 3 are at school. Once they leave nothing.

ds has no siblings, so this isn't direct experience. However, I do know that schools don't like being asked in the vein of 'Mrs X gets % off' more that you have to keep asking what they are prepared to offer you. Our school I think its around 33% for 2 or more.

I'm surprised they don't have a set rule about this, as people are bound to compare notes and end up feeling peeved.

Ours is 10% off for the second child. No idea if there's further discounts for third or fourth children.

20% off the 3rd and fourth child which stays even when the older ones have left.

No sibling discounts

My sister was (very reluctantly) going to take her twins out of their school after GCSE, as the 6th form fees for both at once were just too much to manage. When she wrote to give notice, the bursar rang her and asked what sort of reduction would make her change her mind. She said she hadn't thought about it, (as she hadn't been trying to negotiate, just genuinely thought they'd have to leave), so the bursar offered to waive the fees for one child completely. This was a highly sought-after school, so I guess they must have really rated my nephews and wanted to keep them.

My sister never told a soul (and this was around 10 years ago).

Thanks everyone. I'm on quite good terms with the head and I know he's desperate for my son to start at the school so I'm going to have a word with him.

To clarify that the discounts remain in place even once the older children have left if nothing else!

See, that surprises me. Why on earth would you receive a sibling discount when there are no siblings left in the school?

Nothing, at one stage we had four in the same school! One of the other mums with 4 asked and was told, come back and negotiate when you get to six. Oversubscribed, selective, no need for them to offer sibling discounts, and tbh I do prefer that they put that money into bursaries instead.

Six!

And Clam - because chances are the siblings that have left would be at the attached senior school.

At our school is 25 % off 2nd child and then 50% off others.. Its very popular with families as you can imagine!

Wow EatSleep, that's quite generous! :-) Not surprised it's a popular choice!

Our school offers 10% off for DC2, 15% off for DC3 and all subsequent DCs. That continues into the attached senior school, but obviously not once the elder ones have left completely.

Wow clam that is amazing, ive never heard of that before.
Our school offers 10% off third and nothing for second child. Wish they did though!

Ours is 10% for 2nd then 50% for subsequent children, you still get the discounts if you have scholarships etc too.

Discount stops once a sibling leaves, can't imagine why it wouldn't.

Some people do negotiate when they have change of circumstance which I do agree with to an extent but my friend has managed to negotiate 50% discount off the 2nd and 3rd child as her husband didn't get a payrise. She doesn't work at all (completely out of choice) and the children are juniors/secondary so not that little.

She is lovely and I don't have an issue with it personally as its great for them but I think it is quite unfair as I would imagine there are many people who haven't had payrises for years (any public sector thats for sure). I am guessing there was the threat of moving all 3 DCs so the school would rather keep them.

15% off any siblings but I don't know if it continues once the sibling leaves ( they haven't started yet)

5% for first child then it increases in 5% increments for each subsequent child to a max of 20% and carries on when siblings leave as a loyalty discount

5% at ours, no matter how many siblings.

Ours is 5%, then 10%, then I'm not sure!
These days, the majority of families are 1 or 2 children.

Ours is full fees for first two children, 40% off for the third, 60% off for the fourth, and free thereafter.

They also offer a few significant bursaries.

Always a sticky subject in my experience. If the Head has changed, or indeed the bursar, often there can be discrepancies in what's offered. There is also the fact many independent schools are now under the umbrella of a "group" now so the rules as to the value or amount of scholarships may have changed. You may have year 11 children who entered school when the school were desperate for numbers so the offers of big scholarships higher. In recent years many educational trust have taken over schools and they have standard scholarship offers of around 5-10%. I have friends who have sent 4 children through private schools and have basically come to an arrangement with the bursar that they are guaranteeing 4 bums on seats and effectively got a pay for 2 full fees, 3rd heavily discounted and last one effectively free. Better to have 4 pupils paying something than none. It's a sticky area generally I feel, and to be fair if people have had the balls to negotiate then I suppoose you have to give them some credit. No worse than parents who can easily afford private fees but play the grammar system thus taking the place of someone who may not be able to afford fees but is equally bright. it's a minefield and the gfund page set up by parents in East Sussex to pay for school fees shows just what lengths people will go to for their children. Yes I've been reading the Dail Fail again