Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Education

Join the discussion on our Education forum.

Original poster

Outrageous school fee increase

27 replies

FluffyAnimalsRule · 27/03/2018 19:12

I know school fees go up every year. But the general estimate given is 5%.

DD's fees for the next academic year have just been circulated to the parents. They have gone up by:

15%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am outraged......

OP posts:
ChocolateWombat · 27/03/2018 20:17

I'm not surprised at your outrage. That's terrible!
Is there an increase between key stage included in that, or is everyone facing that increase. Goodness, imagine if that continued for several years!
Any explanation?

Hoppinggreen · 27/03/2018 20:19

Bloody hell, that’s steep

Original poster
FluffyAnimalsRule · 27/03/2018 21:49

Three of the school years (one with a key stage change but the other two without) have 15% increase. The other years (and it's a 3-18 school) have 3%. it's Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 with the big increases.

They have Nursery class and about 80% of the Reception class come from the Nursery class, so it feels like they hook you in at Nursery, then you're committed to the school and then they completely change your expectations of what the fees are going to be!

OP posts:
Original poster
FluffyAnimalsRule · 27/03/2018 21:50

They said in the letter they were pleased they could 'keep it to a modest increase'

OP posts:
LadyMetroland · 27/03/2018 21:51

Who owns the school?
I'd be concerned it had financial difficulties with that sort of fee increase

TansyViolet · 27/03/2018 22:04

I wondered the same

Teenmum60 · 27/03/2018 22:08

Maybe this is because of the government 30 hrs free early years scheme - which I know is causing allot of private nursery issues- hence they maybe looking to close the nursery by making reception/Y1/2 fees unattractive....then close the first 3 years too....or trying to offset the cost of the nursery in the next 3years.

Kokeshi123 · 28/03/2018 08:56

What is their justification? Have they given a reason? They ought to.

notanurse2017 · 28/03/2018 08:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TulipFromAmsterdam · 28/03/2018 09:36

Is it a typo?.... ie a 1 added before the 5? The reason I ask is that with the narrative around a modest increase.... I would ask

AnotherNewt · 28/03/2018 09:40

With 11 year groups having a 3% rise, I think that is a modest increase for the vast majority.

What size are the year groups in R, 1 and 2? And how do the fees there compare to fees for the rest of the school?

Have there been any recent statements on the future strategic direction of the school?

TulipFromAmsterdam · 28/03/2018 09:50

As others have said this may be because of the government free hours

Original poster
FluffyAnimalsRule · 28/03/2018 10:11

To contextualise it the fees in those year groups are now 37%, 29% and 31% higher than the other three closest independent schools in the area.

I agree for most year groups it's a modest increase but making the fees at the bottom of the school completely uncompetitive and expect the parents to absorb such high fee increases doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling about the school.

They haven't given a reason for the much higher increases in those year groups.

OP posts:
sportyfool · 28/03/2018 10:18

I have a friend who works for a private school . Apparently if you are cf enough you can pay less or not at all . Maybe they are having to subsidise these people 😬😬

FraggleRockHopper · 28/03/2018 12:03

Is it a very selective school higher up? Are they trying to have lower numbers at the bottom of the school so they can take more high ability kids higher up?

Clavinova · 28/03/2018 12:47

What are the current Reception parents paying? Have the fees actually risen by 15% - or you didn't notice the step up?

jeanne16 · 28/03/2018 14:24

Is it a school that is massively sort after, such as a St Paul’s? Schools like that can fill their places regardless of the fees. Otherwise that is an extraordinary amount.

Original poster
FluffyAnimalsRule · 28/03/2018 15:17

Clavinova - My daughter in going into year 2 - this is data based on current fees and the revised fees they told us about in the letter, so it's based on real data. From the 2017/18 year to the 2018/19 year rather than me just not noticing earlier increases.

Jeanne - it's not in London but it is viewed as probably the best local school academically. However, they aren't completely full in Lower Juniors and have plenty of places still to fill.

Fraggle - it's selective all the way though but much easier to get kid into Juniors than seniors

OP posts:
user149799568 · 28/03/2018 16:22

FluffyAnimalsRule - just to be perfectly clear, are you going to be paying 15% more than the current Year 2 parents, or are you going to be paying 15% more than you are currently paying in Year 1?

Zodlebud · 28/03/2018 16:28

Sounds like a school in my town in the leafy Home Counties. If it is that school then I’m not surprised - it has a reputation for not really caring about how much things cost and EVERYTHING is added to your bill as an extra.

Doesn’t excuse it though. Shocking!!

Mouseylu · 28/03/2018 16:29

Are you sure it wasn't a typo and should have read 1.5??

Justquery · 28/03/2018 16:34

This is making me upset just reading it!! 15% seems a big jump

BalloonFlowers · 28/03/2018 16:39

Our school is having to move in the next few years. In order to raise the money for the new school, we had 17.6% fee rises last year. Dreading this years letter....

ChocolateWombat · 28/03/2018 18:00

Very odd.
I would email the bursar to query it - point out that the other year groups have 3% increase but you face 15% - ask if that can be right, especially as they refer to moderate increases - say that you wonder if there is an error, as the message and figures don't seem to add up. And ask if there's is a 15% increase just for certain year groups why that is.

HopeClearwater · 28/03/2018 18:04

Did you work out the percentage correctly?

Swipe left for the next trending thread