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.

Anyone who says that the context in which exam grades are achieved is irrelevant while sending their own DC to independent schools has a bit of reflection to do on their own thinking in my opinion.

Not really no, that anyone is concerned is problematic and 4 sources is quite a lot for an article of that type.

And equally, it could be four people grumbling into their pints in the back room of a pub, or it could be four people all from the same college.

We’re both randoms but only one of us is disputing the word of people who actually work in admissions at Oxford.

I’m not inclined to take a single one sided article from a newspaper as indicative of anything.

The upcoming review will be much more informative.

You’ve backed yourself into a corner and all you can do is deny. You’re just arguing for the sake of it now, I’m done.

I haven’t backed myself into any corners, and I’m not denying anything. I’ve said I’ll be interested in the findings of the university’s review.

Enjoy your Sunday.

If this Government decides to implement laws that enforce all state schools to follow the national curriculum, then they are essentially taxing parents who do not want to follow the national curriculum. I do think that is very Socialist State- is it not? So I think the changes they are making in the state sector are relevant to this tax as well.
In addition, had they wanted schools to be able to absorb the cost somewhat, then they would not have hit them with a triple whammy of business rates, NI and VAT on parents - when school budget for the school year had already been set. Schools have to follow employment laws, redundancy and contracts just like everyone else. Hitting half way through a school year when everything is already in place signifies either that they fully intended to harm or that they are simply entirely ignorant. I am not sure which one is more concerning.

Nobody wants to to flown by a pilot who cant’t fly a plane, but is qualified because he had a ‘unfair’ bad nights sleep the night before an exam. Welcome to the real world.

What a ridiculous ill-informed post. Spectacular illustration that the poster hasn't the first clue about widening participation and contextual offers. Bravo!

Anyone who supports this, especially parents, should be ashamed.

I'm a parent, I broadly support this policy (though I think they should have waited until Sept to implement it), I'm not ashamed.

Yes, but you should be. It’s nothing to be proud of.
Whatever has happened or is happening to someone to make them so bitter, blaming a subset of children and closing down schools will not help them.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/10/meta-ending-dei-program

Well it is all changing in the US and they own the social media platforms so will have influence on the thinking here too, whether anyone likes it or not.

What's the big deal. If the type of school you go to makes no difference whatsoever to what you achieve academically, why not just send DC to any old comp? That's applying your logic not my own reasoning BTW.

Usually I can’t bear it when the US sneezes and the UK catches a cold. In this case.. Bravo 👏🏻

Maybe two sets of qualifications for each profession would help? One based on competency and knowledge and another set based on equality of outcome and a letter from your mum. People could the. choose which qualification they prefer somebody had before they operated on them for example?

Not all subjects have tests.

The data on scores of those admitted and those rejected is patchier than grades.

That logic applies to you as one whose kids benefited from the few gold dust selective schools within the state system.

That option was only available to you because some councils resisted the Labour policy of abolishing state selection.

All sorts of reasons. For me it’s smaller classes, the schools are selective which weeds out the bad parenting and disruptive children, classic education and teaching resilience rather than education minster de jour nonsense, wrap around care and the teachers genuinely seem to love their jobs and care about the children to bring the best out in them. All these things probably also help academically to be fair.

I’m comprehensive educated and although there was nothing particularly bad about it, PS is a much much better approach. We should be expanding the sector, not shrinking it.

The ignorance of this post. Maybe read a bit about widening participation and contextual grades before getting on a soap box. Do you really think someone would get through medical school and all the way through surgical exams with inferior ability and a letter from their mum? Why don't you have a look at a UCAT clinical entrance exam? It's pretty tough and to even get an interview for a med school place you need to be in approx the top 10% of all medical school applicants. It might give you a bit of reality check on who we are choosing to become doctors.

I said that wasn't my reasoning at all. I think it makes a huge difference which school you go to. Someone in a sink comp getting four A* does have an extra wow factor to my own DC achieving the same in a top grammar. It's common sense.

You ensured your own kids didn’t go to “any old comp” putting them in for the 11+ and schooling them with the top 10% wealthiest in the country.

Meanwhile @JamesDad2 went to a comprehensive and you’re lecturing him on ‘widening participation’ and context?

You are totally missing my points. I'm totally owning my privilege. Some on here would do well to do the same. Just because we are in a privileged position doesn't mean that I can't recognise that others don't have that. Of course context matters. It matters hugely. My DC would say the same. They are at top universities now and say that the brilliance of some with very adverse socio-economic backgrounds where the odds were stacked against them is very humbling.

Sorry, I think you misunderstood me. I’m not advocating that you lose your right to choose the equality of outcome qualified person as your teacher, surgeon, pilot, accountant etc.. Just that we have two sets of qualifications so people can make informed decisions on who earned their qualifications on merit.

So are you saying that the ones from the disadvantaged background got theirs on intrinsic merit whilst the ones from private schools/grammars got theirs with a huge leg up then? So the first trumps the second? Yes I can see some logic in that.

You merely claim posters miss your point when they say something they don’t like. I’ve never disputed that context matters, where have I said it does not? I made a separate point that, as someone who’s benefited from the elite side of the state system, patronising an ex comprehensive student about “participation” is a bit rich.

@Mirabai ‘You merely claim posters miss your point when they say something they don’t like.’

This made me laugh because I thought the same earlier. But couldn’t be bothered to reply.

Has anyone responded to this with an answer yet?