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.

@ChillysWaterBottle
‘I'm not sure it's working as intended though - the private school parents are not coming across very well in this thread at all.’

Are we reading the same thread? I could quote you all of the pp’s that have been pretty awful about ps / ps parents / ps children. But I won’t since it’s already here for all to see, if they wish.

20% of pupils are on a bursary at our school. That figure is not unusual.

Two things can be true, in this case we are both correct in our observations.

Nope.
that was a hype statistic
that school was already failing due to cost of living crisis.
a business doesn’t go bust overnight based on something that’s not happened yet 🙄
tories cost of living crisis is to blame.

That poster was quite literally answering the question posed by OP, addressing the subject the thread is actually about.

Yes, some people are more financially fortunate than others, and are allowed to make mention of that fact. That’s life. No one in that position needs to apologise for you, or pay lip service to ‘checking’ it.

Does 'on a bursary' mean all fees paid, or does it mean some sort of subsidy?

cantkeepawayforever
Just for interest, I have looked up the primary school Starmer sends/sent his children to.

I have already linked to an article about the primary school Starmer sent his children to - his eldest child turned 5 the same year as the article.^

2013
Eleanor Palmer Primary in Kentish Town is one of the most coveted schools in London — the kind of school that crops up in conversation at the dinner parties of ambitious parents and on the forums of Mumsnet ...

https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/revealed-the-legal-loophole-letting-pushy-parents-rent-the-best-state-school-places-8878941.html

I teach in a lovely indie and am supportive of private education. I do have to say though that some of the rather more entitled parents on here are not coming across well. At all.

Diversifying investments and buying a couple of properties to let is not within reach of most people - not even most people who pay school fees. Have some self awareness.

You're in the running for an award too.

@OvalLemon

So many people don't think the local schools are the best fit for their child/ren. They just don't have any other choice.

Why wouldn’t they? What issue would they have with it?

Bursaries go from 10%-110% of fees paid. They are means tested.
Approx 25% at DDs school are on bursaries and that can fluctuate between 20-30% each term.

VAT is not going to effect parents who send kids to schools at the top end of private schools because let's face it if you can afford the top end fees an extra 20% is neither here or there and these schools are more likely to be able to absorb the cost anyway.

Parents that will be affected will be those that go to the smaller schools that cant absorb the costs and the parents are already making sacrifices in order to send their kid to a private school.

The state sector isnt going to be flooded with kids from the private sector, houses prices in grammar school areas are not going to suddenly increase (this has already happened) and just because a kid goes to private school does not mean they necessarily have the intelligence for grammar school anyway.

We live in a free country giving us choice and one of those choices is private education and some parents choose private as their state school options are less then favourable.

The government who ever that may be need to concentrate on funding the state sector properly, if the state sector had more decent schools then perhaps there wouldnt be as much animosity towards the private sector.

That is that is the MOST insane comment I have ever read on this forum.

Quite. There are state schools, and then there are state schools. Some state schools are pretty much like private schools, others are pretty much like lawless centres of chaos.

Labour should be trying to improve all state education. Why don’t they increase people’s taxes to suit improved state education? A fixed fee from every person in the uk who pays tax. That would raise a lot of money for state schools - and who’d begrudge it?

This petty VAT palaver, is embarrassing for Labour. Only highlights their weaknesses. And of course does zero for state schools.

@Einwegflasche

41% of pupils at our school are on fee assisted places

One of my children goes to one of the hardest grammar schools to get into in the UK- they have about 10% of children on FSM, and 20% from minority communities.

No comment on that poster but those at the very top will likely just see this as further entrenchment of elitism

What does it matter if some struggling with fees MC parents say with dc with or without SEN have to leave. Whatever, their school just got more inaccessible and elite.

Then a level down ex private put funds into top state and super selective. Again making it more inaccessible to those who can’t.

Throw in some smaller prep schools that fold taking jobs with them.

It’s a big old own goal for education and likely will further inequality

Yes, which was why I went to a source of objective data looking at the actual FSM/ SEN / EAL statistics.

I feel like when people say 'private schools give bursaries' the detail is important - 20% might get some sort of bursary, but in reality not many of that 20% are getting a full bursary.

It means receiving a means tested fee reduction. The average fee reduction across all recipients is approaching 70%, with a fair few on 100%.

Agreed but I do think a lot of people on here are forgetting what this post is about… OP is stressed she can no longer afford fees and what’s advice. Not a debate about whether private school is wrong or right!

Thanks! Another reason to send the DC private haha.

Super selective grammars are often not the place for children with SEN. The clue is in the name. And I say that as a parent with one child in a super selective and one with SEN who isn't.

The reality is that some SEN parents will never be able to access private school - SEN provision is atrocious in many schools, from the perspective of the SEN pupils, other pupils, staff, SEN parents and other parents.