If you’re charged VAT will you remove your child from their private school? I’m v stressed!

[Liikklu]

We won’t be able to pay the increase. Only hope is asking grandparents for the shortfall which we don’t want to do. Anyone else in a similar boat? Do you think it will literally be a 20% increase on fees or will schools absorb some of it? Our school has said they will address the matter ‘if and when’ it applies.

Sorry to be a pedant, but public schools are an elite grouping of private schools, state or maintained is the correct terminology for schools that are publicly funded in the UK.

Do I want to pay +20% for DD's school fees? No, not really.

But I'm a liberal, and I believe that the rich(er) should pay what they can into society, and the poor should take what they need.

If this is some sort of 'rich tax', I'd prefer it was applied to the billionaires, rather than the middle class double income workers, but hey ho.

Lost money on that pupil, but making a profit on the ones (the majority) who stay.

Apologies. I'm not in with the lingo. I meant my kids go to regular school that costs no money to attend.

These are the OP's parents. Of course you can ask your parents - that is what family is for. If they don't have it or can't give for whatever reason, fair enough. Grandparents delight in supporting their descendants if they are able to - that is the whole point - at least should be! I hope my kids, grandkids never hesitate to ask me to help.

‘If this is some sort of 'rich tax', I'd prefer it was applied to the billionaires, rather than the middle class double income workers, but hey ho.’

but hey ho there is not incentives for the middle class to live here anymore.

Mine went through the state system, our experience is that 60%-70% of teaching staff were either shit or required some level of additional support /retraining. it really didn't matter which of the two issues it was, the effect was the same - an inability to meet the requirements of the job. We did lots of extra curricular and our experience was not unique across three different education areas. Even at the Ofsted outstanding schools there were often issues, academic performance was bumped up by parents paying for tutors to try to get into the the best selective or private secondary schools. For my DC's the headteachers were also ALL Shit, bar one (3 year tenure). These were schools in decent areas. Behavior, 'low level disruption' was a huge issue, as was the poor standard of support by the dedicated Sencos or Teacher / Sencos.

IME Primary schools have increasing problems with children requiring higher levels of support often without the funds for that support/ barriers to formal diagnosis. Children were arriving not toilet trained and with a restricted vocabulary, in spite of funded nursery places. At secondary level the problem worsened. It was clear that many children were not at the level they should have been for a number of reasons including intentional and unintentional over scaffolding at the primary level or undiagnosed learning or behavior problems. This is before we get onto problematic home settings at both levels. Remember these are schools in 'average' areas with a low proportion of pupil premium students.

VAT on private schools is not going to level the playing field or stop teachers from leaving in droves. you cannot pay sufficient numbers of good people enough money to put up with toxic classroom environments, difficult parents or inept headteachers or inspectors. It's not going to prevent/address the effects of a problematic early years upbringing or identify why there are increasing numbers of children with additional needs. Those parents whose children are forced to go to a state school will just spend money on the best tutors.

This is a typical vote short term vote winning policy designed to attract the attention of blinkered, jealous or entitled voters.

That is a political choice though. Private school parents will certainly do their bit - pay VAT etc. But ultimately, the government is going to need to invest more in education to make any real dent in the gap. And private school parents are paying fees, their taxes and possibly now VAT. The rest will have to come from elsewhere at some point!

We will continue with private come what may. My year 2 twins have SEN and could not cope in state with the large class sizes, and more especially, the playground. My DS has just been referred to be assessed for autism and both of them are at least a year behind 'expectations.' We only moved them this year, and reluctantly so, as the local school is literally a short walk away, in a lovely community and we have many friends there. We don't only make financial sacrifices for our children, but also have significant time and logistical challenges but they are worth it because our kids now have the support they need and their self esteem has rocketed which is priceless. For those saying move to state and you can support and educate your kids at home, and they will be fine, it's simply not true for all children. If they are bright, then yes, I agree. But after 7 hours at school per day, 5 days a week, most kids with SEN literally do not have the capacity for extra learning and need to switch off.

On a more personal note, I cannot understand the sheer level of spite in some posters and that even the children have been mocked with name calling such as 'little Tarquin.' Such stereotyping would not be (and should not be) acceptable if it was aimed at any other group of people.

😆 yeah that should cover it!

I don't agree with the two tier system but I can absolutely guarantee you that the private sector will Never be removed because the country in run, behind closed doors, by the privately educated elite and they want to keep it that way. The private sector will eventually be for the very wealthy and not for those seeking alternative provisions for their DC who could not cope in the state sector. My whole salary goes to cover school fees and we live on DP’s average income. It is a complete
Misconception that only the rich send their DC privately - most haters have absolutely no idea the sacrifices made by these families.

@Floatingvoternolandinsight luckily our north west city comp is great and tbh the teachers are amazing but there just not enough funding. It's a very mixed area and I think around 25% pupil premium, maybe more. All the local high schools are great but same huge challenges. Some can't even do much extra curricular despite great facilities as no staff

I have a child I had to pay to have via ivf because local area only allows 1 attempt even when you have medical problems that were ignored by the nhs. 30k. I’m now paying for private because he’s on the waiting list for an adhd assessment and can’t handle large class sizes.

I will find a way to pay for his fees + vat. One of the things I’m doing is diversifying my investments so they pay me more of an income so I can cover part of the fees. I’m also ttc for number 2 and will be paying for ivf again soon.

I do this by budgeting and saving and investing carefully. We don’t spend a penny more than we have to & we deliberately bought a house under our means so we could afford ivf / private school for 2.

@juggleit tbh I don't mean those with SEN children who can't cope in mainstream, But there's vast amount of children with SEN out of education all together as parents can't pay to go private. I know 5-6 personally.

Yup. That’s basically what’s going to happen.

Yes.

not just the rich. The kids of army officers also get private schools.

Which the MoD pays for if they meet certain criteria. And it’s available to all ranks.

Under some scrutiny now due to various frauds.

You are very lucky to have a good school. Can I ask why there are no staff, if the school is great?

I think we'll see a lot of people voting Tory for the first time this election. It could even swing it as a lot of people that would benefit from Labour tend to not vote, as happened last time.

Just send them to the nearest state school and use the savings for something else.

Why the need to go private?

No you don't.

Tell you what, if you can get Starmer and his cabinet to pull all of their kids out of the grammar and send them to an academy as well (seeing as it is unlikely any of them are FSM or SEN because grammars filter those out if they can) then fine, turn DDs school into whatever rat cage you want to. They won't do it and I can bet you they won't ever challenge the super selective grammar system. Funny how those who really could afford private like to imagine their privilege doesn't count if their kids get into a grammar.

This is a .gov.uk blog https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2024/03/19/school-funding-everything-you-need-to-know/

It says that the average per capita funding across the UK state school sector is £7,460.

Absolutely this. ⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️

Just remember to factor in the 5-7%+ fee increases schools do every year, so it will be 20% on top of that for each child.

I'd also look for schools with a lot of pupils that will act as a buffer. I suspect the middle of the road rural offerings will slowly close as parents using those are usually stuck for options and scrimping.

No one knows. So do you prepare for the worst and scrabble for a place at a state school before September or risk it? A few in DD's year have already left for a grammar "before the rush".