Private school fees - have yours gone up for next year and by how much?

[Hulababy]

This is DD's first year at private prep school - in PP1. We have just had the letter announcing the rise in fees for next year, and was just curious if the level of rise is standard.

Not complaining or anything - we knew it would happen most years, but keen tof ind out more!

DD's fees have gone up by about 15%.

Trust me when I say that state secondary provision in my part of London is near the bottom of the national league tables

i still fail to see what is 'ugly' about saying some state schools are as good as private?

so what about the child a couple of miles down the road otter? or over the border in the next county? do they not deserve the same opportunities? I think it's a bit of a cop out to just talk about the child next door as if no one else matters. The fact is there IS inequality. As has been said countless times before, some people by chance live in catchment areas of high performing schools, some earn shedloads of money to be able to buy into good catchment areas, some people do extremely worthwhile jobs but can't afford to. Given that there isn't an equitable system, why try to deny anyone the chance to make what they feel is the right decision for their children.

Well I am glad you agree - it is indeed UGLY that many children will not have the opportunities that yours enjoy and yet you revel in that on this thread!

That some of us have the opportunity to pay our way out of this situation, does nothing to relieve the lack of choice that the vast majority of parents face! But that's okay because Otters kids are fine!

each to his own i say ebeneezer - just dont use words like 'better' and 'poor' people

what??????????????????????
soapbox please read the thread

I have read the thread Otter! All of it!

so do you live in an under privalaged area soapbox or do you just not want your dcs to mix with the 'poor 'people?

well said hatrick

Well I have never held that position Hatrick, far from it!

Otter has consistently posted in the manner of a silly gloating fool, that because her child is enjoying a remarkable state education, then there is no reason for anyone to opt for private education.

The ensuing my schools league tables top yours (and I get it for free) is truely vomit inducing behaviour!

The fact is that people pay for private education to have some chance of the kind of experience her children enjoy! What is wrong with that?

To deduce from her experience that all children in state education are getting the same options is rather odd.

I am pretty sure that you wouldn't Hatrick - me neither.

Whilst one or two people hold rather extreme views about the joys of private education, they really do not seem at all typical to me and Otter seems to assume that by posting equally extreme views in the opposite direction, then that is okay!

But frankly two wrongs don;t make a right, in my view!

The thing about any league table is that of course there will always be someone at the bottom the problem is that in Britain even being marginally below average is to deliver a standard of education that is woeful compared to other countries, as Otterspool so lamentably demonstrates.
What both sides in the debate on private vs state miss is that the average private school delivers pretty crap results as well. They only look good compared to British state schools, compare them to French or German schools of any kind and they look like the under achieving trash they are.

I agree Soapy. I don't think I've used the words 'poor' or 'better' in my threads, yet it appears accepable for otter to gloat about the position of her DCs school in the league tables! I don't send my children to independent school because I think it will make them 'cleverer'or 'better'. I send them because our change of circumstances enabled us, and we feel that the school they are in reflects what WE value - ie academic excellence, drama, sport, music etc WITHOUT the significant swathe of disruptive and disaffected pupils who sadly exist in many state schools. And by the way, I don't equate disruptive pupils with poor families - most of the truly difficult children where i teach have plenty of money.

Errr, DC, that would be why there is a flourishing market in Germany for agencies that procure places for German teenagers in UK boarding schools, would it? And why affluent, savvy, university-educated German parents are queuing up to take their teenagers out of German Gymnasiums (Grammar schools) and send them to British public schools or UK state boarding schools for all or part of the 6th form?

I have at least half a dozen friends and relatives who have kids in and/or teach in German state schools, and all they do is moan about them. There is a huge crisis of confidence in Germany regarding their secondary (and primary) education system, particularly following the PISA study in which they scored much worse than most comparable countries. Barely a week goes by without a breast-beatingly critical article in the German press about the need for educational reform.

Do try not to make trite generalisations on the basis of vaguely-remembered media mutterings from 25 years ago, there's a good chap.

And the very knowledgeable and capable French maternalle/primaire headteacher whose gite we rented last year felt French secondary education was going down the pan too, funnily enough frogs. We had long and very informative chats about the current system as opposed to what I remembered back in the 80s and as in Germany, things have changed a lot. He had no particular axe to grind as one of his daughters was a stellar Lyceenne and the other a happy CES student.
I still think we have much to learn from the French system in principle but in practice it has huge problems at the moment.

Can I just add a little disclaimer. I dont also like the way the thread went. I repeat, I have nothing agaisnt private schools and ds's name was down for one as a back up if he didnt get into his excellent state school.
FOr me it would be a no brainer to send them privately if our state school wasnt so good.

What I did object to was the attitude from xenai that they produced better mannered and nicer children although it is true I should let such silly opinions pass over me.

Btw at my last state school we had many a posh evening for parents with wine etc and the surroundings of the school were incredibly nice - def not a posh school either. But I wouldnt have sent my son there personally.

The attitude sadly seems to have gone the other way more so on this thread.

frogs, German kids come to England to learn English, hardly a ringing endorsement of our system. What sort of numbers are you talking of ? Do you have a link ?

Indeed Germans are not happy about their education system. That is a big difference with Britain where people complain more about the failings of our national sports teams than our education system. Germans, not just German parents care a lot more, that's not a "German thing", it's a "no-British" thing since no one seems to care less.
We don't get breast beating in the British press for the same reason that they don't cover Ukranian tractor racing. No audience interest.
Germany does seem to have adopted various British characteristics in their education system, such as a depressing increase in the study of languages, but I note that although you talk of them getting worse, you don't mention that they still crap all over us.

If you're going to try and patronise me, I'd at least try to get your facts right. The media don't cover education hardly at all. The nearest we get is coverage of the complaints by teaching unions which is not the same at all.

This is why we are going private. Any school who does not realise the importance of children having outside interests or being given time to relax and have fun has got it seriously wrong.

girl banned from school prom and netball club

Trust me, DC, they're coming because the parents have lost confidence in the German secondary system. Perfecting their English is a bonus. I don't have figures, just anecdotal ones -- at least four of my mother's childhood friends have sent their children to Uk boarding schools, and there seem to be significant numbers of Germans in the 6th forms at pretty much every public boarding school outside the super-premier league, who presumably don't need to bother. In the main they're not necessarily the schools I would make a beeline for: Malvern, say or Ardingly. But there's clearly a demand for what is perceived to be a good-quality traditional British education.

The main perceived advantages of the Uk system seem to be the extra-curricular activities, the pastoral support and the standards expected in both academic work and behaviour.

Go to Google.de, and google Internat England or Internat Gross-britannien and you'll see what I mean.

I never said the grounds, lakes etc decide the matter or are the most important but if you're going to spend a lot of time at a school and with other parents there it's nice to know the lawn you'll put your rug down on might be well tended, there is no graffiti etc etc But I haven't chosen "posh" schools at all - I don't think Habs and North London could possibly come in that category. They're like Manchester Grammar and those kinds of independent schools - loads of competition for places and very mixed bunch of parents with the common factor the children face huge competition to get in and tend to be reasonably bright. That is what I most sought, not the grounds or any accent or business development/networking opportunities amongst other parents etc. I want schools which make daguthers realise they can be leaders rather than married to leaders so the posh blonde thick private schools are out.

Isn't that a ridiculous thing to say islandofsodor? That is one article about one school - and yes, I think they've got it badly wrong.

I'm sure if you gave me a few minutes I could trawl around a bit and find lots of negative articles about private schools, but I wouldn't make the assumption that all private schools were like that, and say 'that is why we are choosing a state school'.

That adds nothing to your argument.

Most children go to state schools and most children turn out fine so obviously there's nothing generally intrinsically wrong with them and they've been copying the private sector like mad in the last 15 years anyway, uniforms back in, houses, streaming etc.

But I think in general you get value for your money if you pay and I can afford it so that's great for us.