How's the Private School VAT increase impacting you?

[mumsthewordi]

To private fee paying ...are kids/s still in private ? Are you comfortably still able to afford and happy paying it ?

To state, how do you feel? Have you been impacted by more kids in class or would you expect that to play out this year? Or perhaps you weren't supportive ?
Do you think state schools will improve ?

Full disclosure
A struggling fee paying parent of one kid only other is at state and my oh is an amazing secondary school teacher - we are a divided household indeed at time, but we've made choices best for us.

@morechocolateneededtoday
Oh, that's disappointing. Can you find me an example?

I agree. More so than ever, these days because of how bloody expensive everything is.

Imply not infer. One of my kids is ASD and went to mainstream independent school, there are plenty of others…

Infer is correct. You may have a child with ASD but there are people on these threads using disabled children to justify their ridiculous arguments. I'm sick of it. When they don't know the first thing about it.

They decide to run with this 'poor children with SEN' narrative because nobody cares to hear about how they can't afford as many holidays now. Or they think that they are superior and entitled to have more than everyone else by default.

? What? You told me. I was agreeing with you. That’s what they say they do.

Hopefully the children!

💯

Surely it’s better for people to spend their money on their children’s education than on anything else. It’s good for the children, it’s good for society to have well educated children. The money is spent locally, in the community supporting local jobs. The alternative is buying consumer goods made abroad, or spending the money overseas on holidays.

The only way to see it as “a bad thing” is if you believe there is a fixed number of life opportunities and these people’s children will get ahead of yours. This isn’t the way free societies with open, market economies work. Success and opportunity creates further success and opportunity. It’s not a zero sum game.

What do you mean ‘that’s what they say they do’?

Each university sets out the criteria for widening participation / contextual offers.

It was you saying that switching from private to state gives those students preferential treatment at Oxbridge and other universities.

Added advantage to those people moving from private, of having state school on their univ / Oxbridge applications.

Your statement quoted above isn’t true, is it?

I know it's an autocorrect but we definitely shouldn't be having 'well executed' children.

Fair! I thought, I had edited out all the typos, but no.

I wouldn’t say that private or ‘state’ pupils are more intelligent or capable one way or the other.

One thing it’d be hard to argue against is that generally, pupils who are in selective schools (state grammar or private), are reliably capable.

Frankly I find this whole ‘state vs private’ debate ridiculous - given how varied state schools (in particular) are. Buying houses in top state school areas, or already living in houses in expensive areas and using the local state school, is also ‘buying privilege’ (yawn) but few talk about that. Especially not Starmer and his cronies who work the system.

ps. There really was extra forgiving places (lower offers) offered by Oxbridge to some state school pupils. It’s been well documented. A prof at Cambridge resigned because of it, and the implications. I think they may have gone full circle now, as of last year, and stopped that policy. Again who knows, really.

No infer is not correct. Imply means to suggest indirectly, infer means to deduce or conclude.

This is only the second VAT thread I’ve posted on but numbers of posters on the last thread had kids affected by this (mine aren’t).

People will be annoyed about the impact on SEND regardless of whether they are related or know to any such kids because it’s discriminatory and a Labour government, of all parties, should have thought that through.

Yup, it. Was happening when everyone was being gas-lit and told, it doesn’t happen.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-68545303

@SabrinaThwaite i think it probably is. But we’d never really know.

What we do know is that there are also some courses / opportunities only open to state school pupils (not Oxbridge / uni but general opportunities usually before uni). That’s a bonus for any private school children that had to move.

I have taught in both systems. 7 years private, 21 years state, now in my 6th year of private. For financial and geographical reasons my own children were 100% state. DH state, me private (boarding school - parents lived in Saudi). So, I see both sides very clearly.

My school is a fairly ordinary private all through day school in a relatively poor city. We are very badly feeling the effects. Entrance at primary is way down (50 in a year group down to 30). Pupils are leaving, or being told they might.

Terrible effect on kids' mental health. Lots of tears and anxiety.

We are going through staff redundancies. The government projected a 10% drop in pupils. That, for us, is about 20 jobs (about half teachers, the rest support staff). My department will be cut by 1/6 teachers as we only need 5 if year group sizes drop.

We take plenty of SEN kids. Many with autism / ADHD / partially blind / physical disability. Plus, we have a lot of girls in particular who move from state for a more relaxed experience or do get more support for anxiety etc.

I think children are suffering badly. I don't understand the haste. Why not bring it in slowly? Allow time for kids to finish exams etc? Why the rush for so little money?

So, it causes harm to kids, costs jobs and is driving many to despair.

It is just cruel. My own kids are, thankfully, adults now. I am so glad I was not put in the position of making the terrible choices some are having to make.

No impact at all on our friends with kids at private school. Clearly they would rather have the money in their pocket but they accept it is what it is.

No visible difference on our state school, but that was oversubscribed anyway so no room for new kids.

1st child staying private for now.

Considering state for youngest, who is 3.5

Would be considering this anyway, but the fee increase is making it slightly more likely.

No infer is not correct. Imply means to suggest indirectly, infer means to deduce or conclude.

Yes, Which is what certain people who know nothing about SEN (repeatedly) do. They see one person that talks about their autistic child in a mainstream private school and decide that it would be a good argument to use to further their own agenda.

@Sasskitty

A prof at Cambridge resigned because of it

If you mean Butterfield, then he’s managed to be sexist, ableist and elitist - quite the trio of endearing qualities in a Cambridge Don. No doubt he would have fitted in very well in the Cambridge of the 1950s. I’m not surprised he’s moved to Ralston College.

People will be annoyed about the impact on SEND regardless of whether they are related or know to any such kids because it’s discriminatory and a Labour government, of all parties, should have thought that through.

Come on, now. Dear me, nobody gives a fuck about disabled children or disabled people - that has always been the case. Which is why nobody cared about the last government inflicting abject cruelty on the disabled. It’s also why I see through disingenuous attempts from private school parents on here to try to convince people they actually care what happens to children with SEN.

Perhaps you would like to share some links to these examples?

You can’t ‘infer’ something to ‘bolster’ an ‘argument’ you can only imply.

which is what people on these threads like to infer, to bolster their crappy, transparent arguments

And like to suggest makes sense whereas like to conclude does not.

This is very extremist.