Are private schools worth is, 2025

[Lauracoombs]

Thoughts please.. Are Private schools still worth it with the VAT increase/ on-going increase in schools fees?
Our DD is currently in Year 5 (private prep school) and committing to Senior School and potentially 6th feels a huge commitment.
Is it worth trying to make it work with all the recent changes and current position of Senior schools ie having to absorb the increase, making cuts etc.
It’s not back pocket change for us and would have to make sacrifices to continue so really trying to figure if its worth it.
For us, we believe the benefits are smaller class sizes/more opportunities. That kind of thing.

Thanks

You could search the other 50 millions threads that come up on at least a daily basis.

I think that is far too general.

You need to think which private school, compared with which state options. You need to think what is your DC like, would they cope in larger classes (lots of state educated kids come out with all grades 7-9 after all). Would supplementing with private tutoring work?

That really depends on your child snd the schools !
For us it’s worth it - oldest is autistic and would sink without a trace in our local secondaries . he’s at a private special school and on track for decent gcses.
Youngest is arty, and would get ripped to shreds in our local primaries (where boys do boy’s things, and girls do girly things, but they don’t cross)

Depends entirely on your situation.

How good is the private school?

What are the state/homeschool options?

What is your child like?

How much of a sacrifice is it likely to be?

In retrospect you probably would have been better saving through primary and then going private for secondary, but a bit late for that now!

sorry @Lauracoombs I missed this and posted on your other thread but basically what everyone else says

100% depends on where you live, what the options are and your child.

Is your child taking advantage of the opportunities currently?

Such an incredibly narrow and badly informed view of state primary school!

@NoKnickerElastic glad you know the state schools around us so well.
we’ve tried them. it didn’t go well.
my information comes directly from the schools. lufe is rough for neurodivergent children in these schools.
your local ones might be fine, ours aren’t

Is art a boys thing or a girls thing? This every school?

For my eldest - yes. Autistic high achiever with difficulty relating socially. Her private school is perfect for her.

For my youngest - no. AuDHD and is well supported by a SEN unit within her state primary.

It all depends on the child and the available options.

Depends entirely on the child, the school in question and how much of your income it represents.
I teach in a small private school. It's really lovely - not at snobbish, and the children are mainly very nice and they do well; in many cases, better than cognitive testing suggests they should. I have no idea how much of that is down to the school and how much is down to having good, attentive parents who value education, manners etc in the first place, but it makes for a nice environment in which to learn and I honestly believe most of them actively enjoy coming to school and remember their schooldays with fondness subsequently.
However, I also believe that most reasonably able, neuro-typical and well-adjusted children thrive just fine in state schools, particularly if they are lucky enough to go to a good one. (I couldn't have afforded private school for my kids, and I felt they were better off going to school in their own local community and having a more socially diverse mix of classmates, but we were lucky to have a decent community college locally.) Private school is probably only necessary if your child finds school difficult, academically or socially. Yes, there are more opportunities, but if you don't pay for schooling perhaps you can afford more out-of-school activities.
If you earn a very big salary or have independent means, you can probably just choose private school because it just feels a bit more pleasant. If the fees would represent a huge chunk out of your disposable income and would leave you struggling, then it's probably not a good idea and definitely not a necessity.

Not dissimilar to our experience in state, sadly.

@ladyamy all the schools we have a chance of getting in (2 primaries, 2 secondaries)
Not bad schools by academic standards, but a) 3-form entry primaries with some extra kids thrown in (not good for a quiet autistic child, they quite literally lost him), and b) due to demographics very traditional “boys play rough and love football, girls love pretty dresses and makeup” (yes, in primary). We had intense bullying in the school nursery!
The teachers are great, but can’t override parents telling their kids that a little boy is a sissy and a looser because of his hobbies.
There are better schools around, but you need to either live within 1/4 of a mile of them (and the house prices around are unaffordable), or be catholic.

Over the years I've worked in them, prepared hundreds of kids for their exams privately etc and, in my humble opinion...not really.

If money's no object, your DC has earned a scholarship or someone else is paying then they can be great. They do come with plenty of potential drawbacks though.

But at £22,000+ per year, per child? I genuinely don't think it's worth it anymore if that comes with lots of personal sacrifices.

@Lauracoombs- same boat, and so divided. Made worse by having the choice of a superb top London private school as the choice we’d walk away from. So hard!

DH and I were a mix of private and super-selective state.

DD is SEN (dyslexia and ADHD) and interested in music more than academics.

We've opted for "State Plus" and been very happy with it.

Prioritised finding state schools with a lot of arts/music provision, relatively relaxed discipline and very large schools with lots of extra curricular, lots of options and lots of setting in almost every subject.

We've then supplemented with lots of extra curricular music and tutors in almost all subjects in Y11.

Has cost a fraction of what a private school would have done. She's been incredibly happy and is now leaving to specialise in music post 16. Would she be getting better academic results if she'd been to a private school? Maybe... but probably not more than a grade higher if I had to guess. Given she will have exactly what she needs for the future, it definitely would not have been worth the £180k or so it would have cost over 12 years.

If I had to do it all again, I'd make the same choices.

If my state options were terrible then I'd have possibly made different ones.