How to know whether you’re comfortable enough for Independant schools?

[AppasAnnie]

Growing up in a council house this was never something I ever had to think about, but DD is nearly 3 and I am starting to look at our options since our local primary has gone downhill since a new head was hired 6 months ago.

I know lots of parents on fairly ‘normal’ wages put their children through private schools but I am not sure whether there are things I need to consider before knowing if we are comfortable enough?

I am planning to save at least 2 years worth of schools fees as a back up if anything happened with our jobs, but I might just be overthinking the affordability piece.

Obviously I can count and perform basic arithmetic so know we can objectively afford the fees. But having no experience of this situation I’m not sure if I’m missing something as I’m worried about jumping in and at some point it becomes too expensive.

Can anyone help advise on the ‘extra’s’ I should factor in to the fees? Trips etc. as I have no idea

Assume fees will rise by 5% a year minimum excluding the coming 20% vat hike. Most people's salary increases don't keep pace with school fees so you need to be ready for this. Also the senior school fees can be typically double the primary school fees (which are often very affordably pitched similar to nursery fees).

Check if the fees include lunch - some do, but if they don't the cost will be way higher than state school lunches.

Extras like trips will vary by school but there's not usually something very expensive that everyone does. There will be pretty affordable things that everyone does like eg theatre trips and a few very expensive things where there's only capacity for 10% of students to go so there's no stigma in being left out.

With just one child and a better-than-average but not-stellar salary it Is certainly affordable if you manage your expectations and live a standard of living as if your income was much lower.

our local primary has gone downhill since a new head was hired 6 months ago.

In what way? And how do you know?

Do you mean the local gossip mill has gone into overdrive because the new head's face doesn't fit or they don't like change? Or because of objective evidence?

I find it hard to believe that a school has deteriorated to the extent claimed in the space of 6 months and that the parent of a child who doesn't even attend the school has objective evidence of the alleged deterioration within 6 months.

as a trade off, state school but then using private tutors ?

Agree. How can the success of any school be measured in just 6 months of new leadership?

We did state primary to give ourselves chance to save up. Managed to save 3 years of fees and now pumping as much away as possible. We only have 1 DD, a small house + mortgage.
As well as fees you need to budget for;

• uniform + sports kit. Cost just over 1K last year to kit her out for Yr 7 but hopefully now that will just need topping up each year with a few items
• lunches. DDs school includes lunches in fees but not all do
• transport. £700 per term here
• trips. Not many in Yr 7 but Yr 8 there is already ski trip + week in France. She joined choir so there is a summer trip for that top
• yearly fee rises. So far averages £1-2K per year
• VAT which will be 20% on top of fees. Honestly this will be the killer for us and could make it unaffordable. 6th form is definitely out of the question but up to end of GCSEs we will scrimp further to get her through
• cost of GCSEs. Approx £250 per exam

It was definitely the best choice for DD and she is thriving in the smaller classes and amazing pastoral support. In the same way, stare until end Yr 6 then private Yr7-11 was also the best fit for her.

count on fees rising above inflation. Average senior school fees will likely exceed 30k per year within 5 years.
If you're not sure if you can afford both primary and secondary, save your money for secondary, when it makes more difference.
If you can get a decent state place for primary, grab it. A lot of preps are going to go bust when the VAT changes come in. So even if you see a prep you like, consider whether it'll still be open in 5 years time.
I have friends who've gone private all the way through, and whose children are near finishing, and the general consensus in discussions is knowing everything we know now, we'd have saved the money, used state primaries, and tried for grammars, moving house if necessary. Because the private schools, nice as they've been, just haven't been worth the money.

But that only works if you are in a grammar area. Some of us only have the choice of comprehensive or private.
Not all fees are heading towards 30K+. Depends whereabouts in the country you are. Ours are still below 20K, just!

fees of just under 20k now: let's say £19,900.
Add on 20% the year VAT is first added, and 6% in 4 other years, and you have...
£30,147
and there you have it: fees above £30k in 5 years.

Yeh I wasn't including the VAT in the fees because it isn't was the school will charge as fees. Made sense in my head 🤣 So I would say 18K + VAT for the fees
At the end of the day that's why VAT will make private school unaffordable for many who already use them

Lunches are the main extra at our school, they are about £60 per month. I wouldn’t worry too much about uniform, expensive to buy new but most schools have second hand uniform shops.

Trips again, expensive but not all the kids go on all the trips. Breakfast and after school club you would have to pay for at any school.

Exams add up at GCSE level but it’s a one off, my daughters came to around £400 I think.

Personally I don’t think the extras are as bad as most people make out. I have had 4 children at 3 different schools and none have been terrible.

The fees are eye watering though. I would definitely only send kids to secondary unless I was super rich. You can easily top up education at primary with helping yourself, tutors etc. Private school is totally worth it in my opinion at secondary level.

Do private school fees really not include exam entry fees? I had no idea!

Ds will (hopefully) get 12 GCSE passes and additional maths from the state school that he’s attending. That would be a fair whack to pay on top of fees and definitely something that people need to be aware of. We were looking at private school for sixth form, we have decided against it but none of them made us aware of having to pay extra to enter exams.

in the same vein, is their last term cheaper as they’ll be finished ahead of normal term dates?

No it's not cheaper lol 😆 wish it was!

I think it’s ridiculous to conclude that a school has gone downhill after just 6 months of a new head.

In terms of affordability, I think the question is what would you do with that money if you weren’t paying school fees? Will your savings and pensions take a hit? Would you otherwise be able to help your kids with a house deposit? With rising wealth inequality I would say help with housing was far more valuable than private school.

Sorry exam fee info wrong! Around £600 total for GCSEs!

Its just my personal pov and i say it as someone who was state primary, private secondary....

I wouldnt contemplate private primary if i couldnt def afford secondary.
Going back to state after private is often...a adjustment....

And it sounds like its a financial stretch.

We are exploring several different options before even looking at private prep and our hh income is 300k gross
We are on the fence even about private secondary...

That’s not so hard to swallow but I’m still flabbergasted that they’re not included in the school fees, particularly as the last term is full price despite them not being there for a good chunk of it!

300k gross sounds easily more than enough for fees unless you have a HUGE mortgage and pretty luxe lifestyle

Yeah, it’s a teeth-clencher but it’s true.

I assume that the exam boards are paid for every student, but the government either pays directly or reimburses state schools.

State schools have to pay exam boards but it comes out of their budget.

Some private schools fees do include exam costs but its obviously built into the fees! One of my DCs does but the other doesn't although the one that does is stopping it next year I think.

OP- it is possible to avoid trips. Most are not compulsory. One of my DCs school raises money via the PTA to help parents with curriculum based trips.

However, I would try the state primary and see how you go. It's always possible to move to private at a later date.

I would say if you are not sure, do state first and supplement with tutor if needed. Our dc are at state (eldest moved on to private secondary) and even though we could afford private from the start, we decided it made sense to wait. We only used a tutor to help with 11+ prep, but I know plenty that use a tutor for math and English just to get ahead or keep on top of things.

Agree with previous poster that ‘extras’ are a rounding error compared to fees, especially in junior years. I reckon uniform, trips, lunch, after school care, etc. is about the same as our state option, though within that some items may be more or less expensive. Lunches and ASC/clubs are included, for example, and while nominally the uniform is more expensive, about 80% is available second hand. There might be more of a difference in secondary, but from what I hear lots of local state schools offer expensive trips as well.

it is hard to anticipate long-term affordability, though. It is a bit like taking on a mortgage in that you cannot possibly anticipate all the ways your finances or broader economics will evolve over 10+ years - a job loss or skyrocketing interest rates can turn a safe decision into a risky proposition. Conversely, if you don’t buy the house you really want (or the school you really love) this can become a missed opportunity that you regret down the road

we are currently at a private junior school, having initially started in state, and despite all the economic uncertainty are very happy with our choice. The last couple of years have been a perfect storm in terms of rising prices which affect school costs as well as our own disposable income, and this is compounded by the threat of vat. It is nerve wracking. My stance though is to focus on making sure we have a sustainable 5 year plan and not overly fixate on whether fees will be 2x or 3x by the time we get to 6th form. If ultimately fees become unaffordable we will have options, which might include a planned switch to state at a natural transition point, but also might include selling / downsizing other assets, turning to grandparents, etc.

Lots of private schools do include exams; some don’t.

We're sending DS to private school in August (age 10) and we're in the 'normal salary' bracket I guess by MN standards.

I would say, do your research. Predictably there are already posts saying you'll need to spend £1000s on uniform, trips, music lessons etc. Which isn't always the case.

I've bought most of DS uniform and predict when I'm done I'll have spent £350. His bus is the most expensive extra which will be £800 a year. He can take packed lunches. All sports are included.

Not saying it's 'cheap', just that all schools are different and MN posters love to tell you how you need a back up of £200k before you even consider it.

From our experience, the major potential expense that hadn't occurred to me was that quite of the few of the DCs would proceed to independent at secondary, which is much more expensive and wouldn't suit our child anyway for various reasons.

You do need to be sure in your own decision making and plan well ahead for secondary and then back from that.

Which secondaries do most DC go to in your area?

What does the most recent Ofsted of the primary say, and are there no credible alternatives?

Is a house move at some point a potential alternative?

We had a situation where the LA were short about 200 primary places (a new school was built but I wasn't sure it would happen in time).

So different situation.

I don't regret the private primary but I should have thought more about plan B for secondary earlier perhaps.