How much do you need to earn to pay for private school?

[PfizerFan]

From experience, do you reckon it is doable if both parents earn around £60k?
One child, not a huge mortgage.
What are people's experiences of this, with all the extras?
Not talking about myself, just wondering..

Yes I've often posted about our local state being "dire" and told by posters living in London that they bet its not, I quote that stat + progress 8 and they quickly shut up!
I understand that if you've got access to good state schools then paying for independent seems crazy, unfortunately not all of us are lucky enough to be able to access those good state schools.

Prep

I would personally save money and do state primary + independent secondary.
In this country we tend to do primary + 6th form at state really well, it's secondary where it falls down.

@PfizerFan I really don't see the value in prep as there are so many excellent state primaries in London. The only friends I know that have chosen it are ones with tons of money & wanted to avoid entrance exams at 11+, some still kept them in state till 8 & one friend who payed for prep to help get her dc into a grammar.

Ha yes, said child referred to in post lives in a grammar school area

Between myself and DH, we earn less than 60k. Thankfully we made a very risk- averse decision buying the smallest and cheapest house that would work so our mortgage is not high. We never intended to use independent school, but my eldest was funded by the LA at a small, very unposh independent school through his EHCP, as this school specialises in helping children with needs such as ASD and other SEND needs.

Our youngest was verging on breakdown by October half term of Y7, and could see the difference, wishing he could go to his brother’s school. We have now used up almost all our savings, no holidays, new clothes when needed and for gifts etc. Thank heavens he is now in his last year, the VAT on your child not being able to cope in mainstream whilst being highly intelligent and not behaviourally inconvenient at school is a nightmare we could have done without!

I have access to London grammars but the competition is insane so I'm not going down that route despite my eldest being very capable (GD at school). They would have to seriously push themselves because the speed you have to be at is quite something.
Some of my school mum friends with older dc got places at Dulwich College, Trinity & Whitgift (some with bursaries) but didn't get a grammar place this year.
Said friend had access to Kent grammar's which are apparently less competitive.

South London has some fantastic state primaries and secondaries so you would be mad to consider private.

That is SHOCKING

3 dc
£5 a term
One salary almost £200k

You're right. Sadly there are worse ones ie with a 16% of Yr 11s getting 5 x Grade 5 GCSEs.
There aren't any state grammars in NE either so it's either state or independent.

We have combined c210k (2 kids thou) and are really thinking hard about the financial commitment. 1 now at state primary the other at a prep (pre reception). We will get as much as possible saved, once our youngest is with his brother in state primary.
I think it’s a gamble tho, if fees increase (partic given VAT). luckily there is a gap so only 3 years we would pay two sets of fees.

In your shoes @twistyizzy is when you move heaven and earth to make it work and afford private.

South London, you shouldn't start private unless you have the money to easily afford it (and the extras - including what teenagers deem as must haves for life). The bun fight for top state 6th forms this year was crazy - and they prioritise internal students over external applicants.

What is 15k at primary is very quickly 30k at secondary.

Whereabouts in South London are you OP?

The difficulty is that the fees increase each year and there will probably be a big bump for secondary. We have two six figure salaries and only one child and can manage it. I’m not sure we could manage two children in private. We live in the south east so housing is expensive. When we started down the private route there was no VAT and our mortgage payment was about half what it currently is thanks to interest rate rises. It felt comfortable to pay school fees when we started out but now feels like a cost we could do without. The state options round here aren’t great though and my daughter is settled so we will stick with it unless disaster strikes and we have no choice.

If you live in grammar school area then prep could be a good shout, assuming the intention is to send them to state grammar.

From my experience, private school is less how much you earn and how much you can afford.

Run the numbers and add a buffer of approx an additional 5% every year (school trips, uniform, fee increases etc).

One thing I would say though, is unless you have to go private (ie schools are dire, SEN, bullying, etc) don’t unless you can comfortably afford the fees.

Cutting holidays may be a drop in the ocean when it comes to the impact school fees have on your finances.

They are our single biggest expense and our joint household income is about £350K.

We’re almost through the worst of it, but to be honest, the fact that we NO disposable income on our salaries because of school fees is why private school isn’t something I’d recommend.

In answer to your question - yes it is doable depending on what your outgoings are AND what your priorities are re "lifestyle" ( big holidays, new cars etc AND whether you intend to have another child.

Only start though if you can comfortabley afford it for the potential duration of their education, because once they are in the private sector, you are unlikely to want to move them out.

Also check what those fees include. Some will for example include lunches, others will keep the headline figure down by not including lunches. Check very carefully, Uniform tend to be very expensive though very good quality. Most schools have thriving second hand shops which are very well used because the initial quality of the items means they last well,

Also, fees go up every year - which given the major cost is staff, is hardly surprising.Fees can also "jump" quite a bit at different stages. So there might be a big jump between say year 2 and year 3 , and then again into year 7 etc. You need to know that you are letting yourself in for.

6 years ago when I signed my children up to prep in London it was £30k for two, now it is £56k. Frankly if you have found a prep for £5k a year I’d probably challenge on the quality as most are at least £7k. South London actually has really good schools so I would really think hard about it. Come secondary you are looking at £11k a term. That is the whole of one salary.

just because it is private doesn’t necessarily been it’s better.

Pam’s if you are south London, how far are you from the Kent borders? Grammar school is easier to get into because there are a lot more. Rather than say south west London which is just tiffin etc

I earn low £50kish. Ds got a 50% scholarship, so I've covered his fees at senior school for the last 6 years and 1 term - two terms to go

In those years I've also paid for his ski trip, a trip to France, GCSE German language exchange and a UK GCSE Geography field trip. Plus annual bus ticket. I pay about £11,400 a year

It's been tight but I'm nearly there 😁

In Carshalton/sutton area

It's definitely supposed to be a great school... but I think people are right when they say the state schools in the area are also very good. It's just that... well, it's horrible and unfair but.. lot of kids at the prep school get into the local grammars, when the state school kids dont...

Totally agree with the poster who says we tend to do primary and 6th form well - this is certainly our experience and I cannot quite get my head around how a county with so many outstanding state primaries doesn’t have ANY outstanding secondaries which is the case here!
Both the secondaries we have access to have gone downhill and show no sign of improvement so have made the decision to go private. We earn £200k plus gross as a household and it will still be a major impact to lifestyle but grateful we have the option and angry for those who don’t, frankly.

Given the area and grammars, there is definitely an argument for doing prep then state grammar.

I suspect you could also do state till 8 and then move to the prep in order to 'literally' prep for grammar.

In Carshalton/sutton area

I would strongly advise you have a non grammar back up for secondary as those schools are so competitive. People often tutor for 2 plus hours a week from Yr 4.

Does the prep specifically prep for the Sutton 11+ because not all preps do?

It's just that... well, it's horrible and unfair but.. lot of kids at the prep school get into the local grammars, when the state school kids dont...

I would be wary of assuming it's simply down to the prep. Every year our primary has dc that go to the Kingston & Sutton grammars but it's a particular parent that wants the grammars if that makes sense.
There are a lot of parents like me who really care about education but don't think our dc would be a good fit for those schools.

Depends on the fee obviously and your expenses.