Whitehall “braced for private schools collapse” 5

[ICouldBeVioletSky]

Starting a continuation thread in anticipation of the fourth one filling up…

www.mumsnet.com/talk/education/5301690-whitehall-braced-for-private-schools-collapse-4?page=39

Bumpitybumper · Today 10:40
Pay a voluntary payment to the HMRC. Put your money where your mouth is.

Yes and those who wish to pay extra tax can say what they want it to go towards.

It’s interesting those who spend the time countering posts against VAT are more certain no one should comment on how they spend their money.

High interest in other people paying though.

Not an insult just stating that you seem to struggle to see beyond the black and the white. Your 'impression' that it has to be one or the other is evidence of that.

@CurlewKate - do you regularly donate to the school PTAs? As a charitable donation?
We do. The state schools need the funds, they literally cannot afford much without it.
I wonder whether perhaps some pro VATters are coming from that angle, hoping more and more richer parents in state schools will “donate” to make up the shortfalls for IT equipment, playgrounds, glue sticks, list goes on and on.
It is somewhat problematic though allowing the State to get away with state education having to raise private funds from parents.

Employer match funding, charity runs etc etc - PTAs all qualify. A lot of academy trusts are raising millions as a group via donations now. I guess the NHS does also have its private charities to support families with eg ill children etc etc. Even universities are now encouraged to tap into alumni as much as possible and ask for them to be “remembered in their wills”. I wonder where all this is heading.

I don’t ‘struggle’ with anything. It’s your posts putting that across.

I thought you might be a staunch Labour voter who can still see it’s a poor policy.

Wrong again!

Mm hmm

I give up. Think what you like.

If you’d like to suggest an alternative funding model, for all the costs involved in running a national organisation like this and generating funding for bursaries, please do.

We considered lots of options and decided this gives us the best opportunity to create a strong, credible, well-funded organisation capable of growing a national community of supporters of independent schools and delivering the collaborative platform we believe is much needed.

Also, as stated on our web page, we do not want to have annoying pop-up advertising and random affiliate marketing links and that’s why we have chosen a membership fee plus supplier-partner funding approach.

We sought the views of lots of potential members, before finalising our business model, and you are the first person to object to the membership fees; maybe you are not in our target audience, and that’s absolutely fine.

I am serious in asking you how you would go about funding all the operating costs and generating the donations for schools’ bursary provisions that we are incorporating. As stated on the webpage, a percentage of all revenue will be donated to schools.

The current webpage is not asking for any membership fees. It is just an introduction to what we are planning and a request to help us by registering interest early on.

By partnering with relevant commercial brands who will offer our members attractive perks, we can keep the membership fees low and provide added-value to members. With initial memberships costing £4 per family per month (for up to 10 people) I don’t think we are being greedy.

We have been transparent about the planned price of membership, even at this stage, when we are not asking for any payments. There’s no marketing trickery involved.

We have listed in the “family member benefits” section what will be in it for families, including the membership perks and offers from consumer goods and services companies and the opportunity to take part in research that will help to inform debate and address the concerns we have outlined with regards to misperceptions and divisiveness. We have also explained how a proportion of all revenue will be donated to schools for their means-tested bursary provision (thereby opening up more places at the schools for those who can’t afford the fees).

On our temporary webpage we have also asked for feedback on how we can grow and improve. Thank you for your feedback.

We are at the early stages and are only a small team of parent-volunteers who saw the need for a national community for supporters of independent schools and decided to do something proactive.

We are all working parents, investing our spare time in something we feel passionate about and just trying to make a positive difference in a way we believe will be effective.

We know we won’t appeal to everyone who visits our temporary website but we are delighted to have had over 1,200 people register their interest since going live just a week ago (and all we’ve done is a few WhatsApp messages and Mumsnet posts).

A huge thank you to all those who have taken the time to register their interest at this early stage.

I'm currently feeling the need to start with 'not a pro-vatter'. I have experienced what you are saying since primary. DC all went to the same outstanding state primary in a very affluent area with tight catchment. Parents contributed hugely to the school coffers and were very active on the PTA, rotas everywhere for helping in class, swimming class duties, reading with DC etc. We had big summer balls with marquees etc. There were a lot of expensive trips and IT extras that were fully funded by parents. They even went along on foreign trips to help. Aside from larger classes (but generally very well behaved DC) and some of the buildings weren't that smart, it felt pretty much like a private school. Some friends had DC in preps nearby and openly admitted that they wondered what they were paying for when considering our school. At our grammar schools, the demographic was a bit more diverse as no catchment as such but still lots of parental input, particularly with financial contributions and sport/career/university application support. I'm sure yours are the same. Many parents in very senior jobs across a wide spectrum who could help a lot with everything from Ivy and Oxbridge experiences to medical school applications. Again not all fancy buildings but decent sports facilities and opportunities to play many sports at different levels. The top teams regularly play all the top independents. I think parents do throw themselves into contributing, many probably for the benefit of their DC and cohorts rather than for big ideological reasons but it certainly happens.

Free school meals related rather than breakfast, but those who would be eligible for FSMs if they attended a state school but don’t because of their disability can request the LA uses their power to provide FSM. On their website, Contact has model letters you can use.

Labour should scrap the policy.

Regardless of pp diversions re the wealthy use of state schools ‘as good as private’ it’s a damaging policy.

How is it a diversion? Araminta made a valid point and I agreed with it. This is getting a bit ad hominem. Can you please drop it.

I think all I was trying to hint at is that if you already have educational, class and wealth privilege and you live in a nice area with enough people like that, there is really no need to pay for private schools, because the privilege of your children is already entrenched. Besides, if they want to go into politics, the left would be cut off for them.
That is where some of this thinking is coming from.
This has been brewing in the political ideological sphere for many many years. I think it astounding for more newly arrived upwardly mobile immigrants to understand why any Brit may think like that. It just reflect the political power struggle over many years between the two main parties. Of course it is absurd and no children especially not those with SEND should be embroiled in it.

@Araminta1003completely agree with your last line.

It’s not surprising if you have privilege and / or a super selective with committed cohorts and parents you’ll be pretty happy with that.

Those views shouldn’t lead to this policy which is very poor for education and children impacted.

Why would someone being happy with their own great schools lead to this policy?Most of us would realise that not all state provision is like that.

Staggering!

It seems to be to encourage engagement so they can talk about her children and how they are high achievers who went to grammar school, it’s quite sad.

@CurlewKate LOL this has got to be peak virtue signalling.

You can over pay your taxes through your self declaration if you really want. You could send your DCs to an independent school and save the state £8k per child plus contribute to the school offering a (child who can’t afford it) a bursery or scholarship. You could even send your DCs to a really poor independent school if they’re bright to help with equality and ensure you’re not ‘buying privilege’. You can then post about your principles etc and I’ll give you a little thumbs up.

Volunteering other people’s children to pay the price in support of a malignant spiteful set of policies like this only really signals narcissism to me.

@FairMindedMaidenI do hope you feel better for that. It’s 50:50 really whether lashing out at a stranger helps or hinders. I hope it helps you.

I don't need an excuse to talk about my DC. That would only be sad to someone who maybe felt quite bitter about their own circumstances.

I’ll take 50:50, what are the odds for lashing out at children?

I think loneliness is sad, I’m not having a go.

There are lots of things that are sad. Bitterness trumps most though.