What to budget for after private school fees?

[Getagripgertie]

I don't want to make this a private vs state thread. I will preface this by saying that the only reason we are considering private is that DS has mild SEN and needs the smaller classes, as he is not coping in state.

DS will be starting at the local private secondary school in September. We are receiving significant help from grandparents with this, but of course, we will pay all extras.

What extras should I set money aside for in year 7 and how much approximately? e.g. uniform, trips, etc

It will totally depend on your school, so might be best to find someone local to speak with, or talk to the school directly- mine are very friendly and approachable!

our school actively encourages 2nd hand uniform sales, so 70% is bought second hand and top up bits new as needed. Probably not much more than when we were in state, despite more kit being required.

trips will vary - some seem to do loads of residential, while others not so much. This one will be very school dependent

extracurriculars - ours provides many after and in school clubs at no cost, but if they are into music or other special interest clubs they would need extra. Other schools will be different.

in general I think the ‘extras’ are overstated, at least based on my experience of one school. So far we haven’t found it that much more than state.

@Labraradabrador Thank you. I've seen some people saying on mumsnet that 'if you can barely afford the school fees then wait until you find out how much the extras are'. This led me to believe that we are talking thousands on top of fees per year.

Are private school trips usually more expensive or they have more of them than state schools?

I would expect an entirely new uniform to cost between £500 and £1000, if you can get stuff second hand, then that will obviously help. Music type lessons are more expensive than at state school, probably £30 and up per lesson, but clearly that's optional. Trips might range from £20 (museum) to £2000 (overseas sports tour) and are particularly difficult to predict without knowing the school well.

If you can ask the school that would be best, if you want a ballpark estimate, then maybe an extra 5%-10%?

Our situation is similar to roundcork - one more expensive residential in key years, and then maybe 1-2 day trips a term which are £10-20 each. Also forgot to mention that lunch is included in fees:)

GCSE Entry fees, possibly.
If the SEN gets more impactful as he progresses up, then possibly also any additional support they need.

@Getagripgertie
The big one for you might be send assessment. They rarely have experts at independent schools. These will be private and expensive. Always needed for extra time in exams.

Many uniforms will be way in excess of £500. Ours was well over that 20 years ago! At a “name” school you really will have to buy their kit. No one could possibly have got our uniform from Amazon. The next big spend is sports kit. All sorts of bags, shoes etc. They will tell you what to get and it will have logos.

There might be lunches and teas. There could even be books and exam fees. Not for us but not unheard of. We also paid for music, dance and LAMDA tuition. Others paid for sports coaching. Then there’s school trips. Sports trips can be £3500.Local trips m to the theatre, for example, will be charged. So you really must ask the school to see what’s on offer and what it might cost. Subject trips can mount up m. DDs did art, geography , history, and a few more I’ve forgotten! Plus they should have a charges list. That means you choose what Dc wants to do and budget.

Expensive uniform (although most schools have second-hand sales).
Lots of branded sportwear.
Sports equipment - hockey stick, gum shield, etc.
Many bags - my son has a branded games bag, day bag and swimming bag!
Trips (including residential trips).
DS's school have a lot of visits from authors and they encourage us to buy the books (not compulsory, though).
DS's school also has special events, which you can sign up and pay for (e.g. Christmas cookery, Science demos)
Some clubs may be chargeable - in DS's school many are free and run by teachers, but some with externals charge
Music tuition

Oh - and school lunches (currently £295 per term).

It definitely depends on the school.

At DS’s school, lunch is included (and very good!) as are snacks at morning break and in the afternoon. £400 would cover a full new uniform and kit but 2nd hand is also available. I think his Y6 residential cost something like £325 for 3 night away, so the Y7 one will likely be much the same. All his clubs are included.

The only regular extra we pay is for the school coach, but it sounds as though you are close enough not to need to factor in transport costs.

at my dd’s school:
exam entry fees
uniform, but there is a second hand shop and also a parent site where you can sell/exchange uniform
GCSE revision books, but not compulsory to purchase and prices are well below recommended retail prices
music lessons
school trips - end of school year for example at around £50. The school does offer trips to the US or Borneo which are expensive, but in the school holidays and therefore not compulsory
Some clubs have a fee if there is an external provider eg dd did kayaking

I know you don't want this to be a private/state thread and would not want to second guess you, but have you actually tried your son out in smaller classes and seen improvements, or are you just kind of guessing that "smaller classes will mean more individual attention" etc. ? And does the school offer personalized help/tuition in the type of special needs that he has?

I'm just saying this because I sometimes see threads on here started by parents whose child has mild SEN, got moved to a private school in the hope that small classes would be a panacea, only for the parents to discover that the school didn't offer any tailored help, that small classes were not actually resulting in anything more than a tiny increase in the amount of individual attention their child was getting, and now they did not have any money left over for SEN-oriented private tuition (which was most likely what would have helped their child).

Lunch
transport
music/1:1 lessons
trips
uniform
instrument/cricket bat/etc
donations (eg charity home clothes etc)

the finance office should be able to send you rough figures.

We're secondary. Lunch and clubs included. At our school I'd probably allow 750 for the first full uniform kit out, but you can save loads on that by using the secondhand shop (no stigma, loads do). It's the sports kit that's pricey - normal daily uniform can all be got in M&S or wherever. Our only regular big cost is music lessons. Day trips negligible. Overseas trips - depends how many you want to do. I put a bit of money in a separate savings account each month, with the intention of doing one big (2k type) trip and two or three smaller (500 quid type) trips during their time. That's it really. Very little tapping up for fundraising etc. The occasional parent social if you want to go. One good thing is they don't need their own tech until sixth form, because there's lots at school.

Obviously uniform and sports kit but other than that, I was looking at my old school the other day and they list the following as extras:

School bus £4-£9 per day depending on distance

Lunch for day pupils ~£300 per term

Music / dance / speech and drama lessons

Learning support £40 per session

Exam fees for GCSE and A level

£11.90 per hour if DC need any special access requirements for exams

Art / DT materials as needed

Trips including ones required by the syllabus (eg geography field trip)

CCF

Printing

House subscription

Parental fund £30 per term

Photos

Private tuition

I was surprised they would charge for supporting SEN pupils but I think the rest is fairly standard.

A bit more detail - music lessons are from £36 per lesson, dance is £9-20 per lesson, speech and drama is £100-200 per term plus exam and festival fees.

Based on this thread, I'm not sure there is a 'standard' though - it seems to vary so much. Things on your list which would be free (or don't exist) at ours: lunch, SEN support, art/DT materials, printing, house subscription, parent fund, private tuition. I forgot about CCF and D of E, I think there is a charge for those.

Sorry, 'free' is the wrong word, of course - I mean 'included'.

Yes, I suppose it all has to be paid for one way or another (not the optional activities but art materials, printing, food etc) but it's just a question of whether they are part of the main fee or separate.

I guess separating them out gives people the option of taking a packed lunch / parents printing stuff at work / buying art materials on Amazon / getting your own tutor etc. So a good thing really. At first glance it looks like a lot on top of £8k/£14k fees though!

Yes, I agree you'll be paying for it one way or another. And that there's an argument in favour of charging extras separately. Personally, I like the budgeting predictability of (mainly) all inclusive fees and very few extras, but I accept that I'm probably then paying for some things that I'm not necessarily using.

I do think that special access arrangements for exams should be 'free' though - the whole point is to try and level the playing field for DC with disabilities, and the idea that some might be able to afford it and some might not is a very uncomfortable one.

Agree.

This. We looked at two private secondaries for DS, one had a brilliant inclusive ethos where his SEN would have been supported brilliantly as it was 'baked in' to the school's culture, and another where it probably would have been OK but we would have to pay for assessments and support. I get that this isn't a one vs the other thread, but just be careful that you're getting what you need.
^
We moved from a massive inner city primary to a tiny village for small class sizes, only to find with a change of head that they acted like DS was the first autistic person they'd ever met.^

First lot of uniform about £700 (not including shoes, trainers). School trips this year about £3k so far (not done all of them, thank goodness DC doesn't want to go skiing). Lunches (£400 ish per term), art/DT stuff extra. Agree that a LOT of uniform is second hand. BUT DC wanted to start 2ndary with brand new stuff and it's nice to do that.

This so depends on the school, it's clear! I looked at DS1's bill just now and the only extras are:
Music lessons (around £300/term per instrument, which includes an ensemble fee)
Optional contribution to the tour fund (to make sure all kids can go on school trips if their parents can't afford it)
LAMDA lessons
(We don't pay for any of the activities which can really add up, as they lay on plenty of free ones).

And then outside the school bill we pay for uniform from the second hand shop, school shoes, musical instruments, and a contribution to the class present for the teacher at Christmas and end of year. None of those are really extras though as they would be the same at any school I would have thought.

However DS1 has no additional learning needs - my cousin has SEN support and that's all paid for by the hour and not "baked in" to the fee. The fact that his set is only 8 kids really helps though, so his teacher has time to coordinate with the SEN teachers to make sure they're all on the same page to help him.