Private school on a modest income?

[Mummytolittlegirl]

Hi!

NC as posting some details about income. I was hoping to get some information from people who have done private school on a ‘lower’ income.

Our daughter is 1 year old and we have a lovely prep school near us, starting at age 3 that has really good facilities.

She is likely to be an only child (although I can never say never as we are still only mid- late 20’s). We are worried about the schools near us having classes of 30+ and want to look at our options.

The school is approximately 12k a year including uniforms, meals etc.

DH earns just below 50k and my current salary is 12k although I am only part time and doing some more training, DH is working his way up the ladder so we hope his income will continue to rise.

My concern would be justifying my entire income for schooling and DD potentially missing out on foreign holiday as well as moving to a bigger house.

I’m also not sure we could afford to pay for secondary school education?

Just wondering experiences and whether in your opinion it is worth the sacrifice?

@Fibbke my child also on bursar

Lunch included in fees
I picked up entire uniform second hand
I don’t pay a penny towards after school activities as all included in fees (swimming, athletics and gymnastics. All previously I was paying for when in state sector)
And school trips - all included in fees other than £900 one in year 6 that everyone knows about from day 1.

This notion that all the periphery of private school is eye watering expensive bears no truth to my private school experience

Hi @Mummytolittlegirl there's no evidence that smaller class sizes result in better outcomes. Skills most required in the Future of Work are Learning agility, resilience and social adaptability. She's more likely to acquire these in state school.

The future is going to be very tough for today's kids with climate change etc, cosseting them with rich friends is unlikely to do them any favours.

Send her to state, give her a better start, you can't afford private anyway

@QuickQuestion2019

There’s always the one...

I'm not sure how having rich friends is going to make children less able to cope with climate change

there's no evidence that smaller class sizes result in better outcomes. Skills most required in the Future of Work are Learning agility, resilience and social adaptability. She's more likely to acquire these in state school

Rubbish.

I agree to some extent about social adaptability; I think we've had the best of both worlds with a state primary and independent secondary. But it's not as stark as state vs indie - you can still have a mixed social circle outside school if you're at an indie, while I've got some v wealthy acquaintances at state schools who absolutely live in a skiing/million pound houses/yoga social bubble.

As for other qualities important for the future, one of the reasons people (including me) opt for independent schools is they have the time and resource to teach beyond the exam curriculum. Lots of staff, lots of extra-curricular skills stuff, lots of social outreach/community work, lots of opportunities for responsibility and independence, and lots of active thought about what jobs might look like in the future and how to prepare young people for that. State schools are under such financial and other external pressure, and have much higher pupil/staff ratios, that it's so much harder for them to provide this kind of stuff and to focus on the rounded development of every individual child, rather than just getting the best exam results possible while keeping a lid on behavioural and emotional problems. I'm not saying they don't do it at all - but it's harder.

State til 8 at least. There is no need to pay those fees until they're older. Save your pennies for now and take a view in a few years.