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%.

Elocution? Really???

Really! I fell-about when I saw it on the bill. It was actually billed as a lunch-time drama lesson. DD1 gets to read and learn poems and small snatches of dialogue and then perform them to the rest of the class. All very low key although it is possible that it has partly contributed to a recent and noticeable increase in her confidence.

lol Issymum !

When I say 'actually billed' I mean described to us when we were persuaded to sign up for this activity.

Would be a fascinating exercise. At a certain age children even within the same school often kind of "tribe" into a certain kind of clothing, speaking group which is interesting to observe. Could we tell the private/state pupils apart first by their hair or clothes and then when they speak - or not may be?

I think most parents who pay are generally happy with what they get and numbers in private education have been steadily rising. As most children don't go there and still do fine it's not worth anyone beating themselves up about it just as some children of stay at home mothers seem to survive the experience without emotional damage. Genes probably play a much bigger part in our children than we think even (today's news) in whether children get very fat or don't - pick husbands with care.

"On the whole you'd probably want to go to dinner with the private school output at 18 rather than the state school lot."

Ha ha. I remember a boyfriend at poly trying to grab my clothes after a first kiss - which turned out to be his first kiss ever. He went to Downside. And note, he was only at a poly

Crumbs, it's hard to imagine how our parents and even our generation got on in life isn't it?

After all, I'm guessing most of these people didn't go to private school and many were brought up by non-working mothers.

We could all have been so much nicer, so much better as dining companions and so much less emotionally damaged. But hey, best not to beat ourselves up about it...

Elocution! DD sometimes has to learn poems etc at lunch time to learn poems and snatches of dialogues to perform for the class - it is known as practicing for class/year/infant assembly or mass

I know which 18 year olds I would be at dinner with - at uni it was always the ex public school mob who ended up throwing bread rolls and getting drunk (we couldn't afford so much to drink)

Issymum - DD gets to go into summer uniform, complete with boater, after Easter - and she can't wait! She loves her summer uniform!

I would certainly never suggest Downside would be the place to go if you wanted good A levels.

Hulababy: I like the school but hate the uniform. The boater is the single most pointless item I can think of - it's not comfortable, it's not washable, it doesn't fit and it protects from neither sun nor rain! I have asked the headmistress to consider dumping the boaters and blazers, but to no avail. Yet!

I suspect he's now very rich now though xenia, so that'll tick your box of "better"

No boaters here, in fact the uniform is really plain. Summer dress is striped rather than gingham mind. Teh blazer is a horrible grey wollen thing and they have sun hats.

Ah Issymum, but DD loves it! And definitely prefers it to the grey winter coat and felt hat. The summer dress is one of the most shapeless items of clothing ever though. Striped dress here.

School is lovely so uniform is worth it. DD actually quite likes her school uniform anyway. Wasn't so keen ont he tie when she first started last year but doesn't bother her now she can tie it (in a fashion!).

I know this thread has completely disintegrated from the OP's first post! Sorry! But I want to sling my 2 bob's worth in:
a) fees have gone up way beyond inflation for a very good reason- private schools are businesses. They're run by business managers. They'll charge as much as they think they can get away with. They rejoice at the red-top tabloid depictation of state schooling as they know that'll send a new herd of panicked parents into their fold, parents who will have largely been state educated themselves, mind!
They rub their hands in glee at the ever more child-centric society we've created where little Oliver and Charlotte achieving the potential mummy and daddy just KNOW is there, untapped by the nasty state system will ONLY ever be freed by St Grabbitt's 9K a year fees.

b) off thread: Do certain posters on this site ever wonder whether one day their children might stumble across their parents' written contributions and discover how they are only valued for their A level grades and how 'nice' (prental definition of 'nice' inserted here) they've turned out?

I think my children know I value them whatever they do.
As for them being businesses they aren't. Virtually no UK prviate schools make any profits at all and no one is there drawing out profits. ALl money goes to the education of the children. Of course anyone can set up to make profits as I think the Gems group does and Woodhead but most of the schools aren't set up like that. All the good ones - Manchester Grammar, the Girls Public Day School Trust schools, NLCS, Habs, all those relating to the city livery companies none of those make profits at all which are given out to shareholders.

Miljee, dd's school is a registered charity with the fees set by a board of governors. Under the school's charitable deed 5% of fee income has to go towards bursaries. Then there are scholarships.

The school has no endowments so fee income pays for everything.

Just been chatting with a friend about the rises and all is not as bad as it seems. Until this coming year PP1 has been about £150-£200 cheaper per term that PP2&3. So, the actual fee rise for PP2, which is what DD is going into is actually about 8% - much more "normal" by looks of it and well withint he 10% we had been told to expect by our IFA. The larger rise is for PP1 - new starters - to bring it inline with other schools.

However they are going to start charging for after school club come September, which is currently free. No idea how much that will be though. We rarely use it anyway.

My son's Herts boys' day school just raised their fees by more than inflation. We were forewarned. They always send a little pie chart, in colour, showing where the money goes! Psychologists must have discovered that such unpalatable information is better received in colour. I still think it is value for money - and am sending another son there in September. Personally, I think a good, rounded, classical, education is the best gift you can give your child(ren) - second only to loving them unconditionally. I don't think the private system turns out better people though. There are some pretty ghastly boys at my son's school, when they leave they will have been well educated but they will still be ghastly!

Our schools just send out the new fee tariff but don't tell you what the old ones were.

Yes, ours went up by a bit more than inflation.

They usually say that they are tracking the government Teacher Pay Award, which has been more than inflation for the last several years.