GCSE exam fees £750

[MrsHGWells]

GCSEs are upon us in the coming weeks - do all pupils need to pay £750 for exam fees . Is this standard practice or negotiable by school? how do parents cover this fee ?

Well now you show your true colours!

Thanks, but my children and I are not mediocrity. There is no 'them and us' in my mindset - I teach in a private school and have met lovely children and parents who are fully cognisant of their relative privilege; I don't begrudge them the choices they have made, especially as some are making sacrifices to afford school fees. However, I don't see the issue with parents paying for the specific number of qualifications their child is entered for - you wouldn't want an average amount to be factored into your fees over a lifetime of schooling if your child is taking 9 GCSEs, and the child at the next desk is taking 13 of them and only joined the school and started paying fees in Year 10! Your school is presumably billing you for your child's unique exam entrance situation, and this will have been in the Ts and Cs. It is not the fault of state school parents if you were not aware, and neither should our system subsidise yours.

The bit about handing over your salary sounds like far right paranoia/conspiracy theory territory.

I presume you would have been happy, or at least oblivious, if exam fees had been rolled into the termly fees that you have been paying? You can ask your school for the reason that the exams are billed separately, and indeed why the fees are so high but do not include exams - could efficiencies be made?

Arguing that this is some kind of discrimination against the privately educated is very odd.

Yes agree. Is it AI I wonder? Talk of "the silo of independent" is rather odd.

I also don’t understand the frequent references to the impossibility of moving between schools or sectors. Plenty do it. Yes it’s not a good idea in the middle of year 10, but I personally know people who have moved to or from private schools in year 8 or 9, with no dire consequences.

@MrsHGWells you really did miss a trick. You could have sent your child to an under performing state school like I did. Top GCSE grades and A levels & without even paying a penny for tutors before they got their place at Oxbridge. Job done and all for free.

Surely this is just the same as private healthcare? I've just had some private treatment and a substantial part of the fee was drug costs. I'm old enough to be entitled to free prescriptions on the NHS and I could have had my treatment at my local hospital. But I chose private care. I wanted the advantages of being seen sooner, treated by the Consultant of my choice and at a time that was convenient to me so I opted out of NHS care and into the private sector. There's no option to take all the plus points of the private sector and still get my prescriptions free and it wouldn't even occur to me that there should be. I chose private healthcare and hence I expected to have to pay for my care. All of it. Had I chosen private education I'd expect to pay for all of that too.

You are not tied to the 2yr curriculum. Plenty of children move in the middle of their GCSE years. It's not ideal but it isn't impossible either.

Don't really get the complaining about having to pay the GCSE exam fees.
You chose to go independent/private, that means you take on all of the costs yourself.
If you want the state to pay, then you use the state funded option.

What do you mean there were no places in the State system?
Were others in the same boat? What if they could not afford Independent?
If your child is doing GCSEs now they must have been in year 5 and 6 during the worst of the lockdowns. The gap in achievement due to socio/economic factors increased during Covid. It doesn't sound like you were e.g. a single parent with 3 young kids in a council high rise flat, or 2 parents working split shifts in min wage while trying to home school children.

Sorry but if you want free exams then send your child to state school

I honestly wonder about people sometimes.

This is so disingenuous. Nobody believes that "saving the state many thousands of pounds" was the slightest factor in your or anyone else's decision to choose independent/private education.

So altruistic that they’d like the government to refund them the £8k that their child’s education would have cost the state each year.

Our DD took her maths gcse a year early.
It was her choice and she got an A.
We paid for it. I think it was around £75. That was 6 years ago

That's quite the slippery slope you've slid down there @MrsHGWells 😂

Waiting for the threads kicking off in 18 months time about those pesky state school pupils whose education she subsidised taking all the places at top universities and it's unfair how her DC are being discriminated against.

In private schools you pay the exam fees just like you pay for everything else. This should not be a surprise.

Agreed, point noted in hindsight the stance that should have been taken.

'Neutralise a "them and us mentality"'. Where to start? 93% of children are state educated. Privately educated pupils are very much in the minority. On what basis, OP, should it be the responsibility of government to 'neutralise a "them and us" mentality'? National debt is nearing 100% of GDP, taxes are at a record high, one third of our children live in poverty, yet you think this is the time to dedicate public funds to helping already privileged families feel better about themselves.

How would that work exactly? Printed Gen Z socks for the privately educated: I'm one of the 7% - Don't kick me; crop tops issued in freshers week Free for all - qualifications rock

Knowing the state paid for privately educated pupils' exam entry would create a gulf where currently there is a gap.

Standard 10 papers.

I was just thinking the same.

A lot of your sentences don’t quite make sense OP. It reads a little like you’ve used a thesaurus to replace some words, but without checking if the sentence still reads well. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but agree with pp.

For what it’s worth, YABU. I’m in agreement with the government’s all or nothing stance; if you opt out of state ed, you should pay for the lot.

Maybe just maybe if 93% of the population didn’t feel entitled to “free” and didn’t belittle those who chose to pay for services that maybe the country deficit wouldn’t be in the quagmire it is.

The point is exam fees are just one more thing an independent pay for that state crowd takes for granted .. or possibly calculated on, with their salt of the earth humbleness and lush home on the green next to the grammar school of dreams… that’s all. In hindsight the grass is clearly greener on state side of the fence.

Then state is what you should have chosen!

I'm sorry WHAT?

I have never belittled anyone who uses private school. It's not for me for a number of reasons, but it is the right choice for a lot of ppl I care about, again for a number of reasons.

I don’t know anyone who belittles parents who make this choice.

State-funded services are not free anyway, obviously; they are funded by taxes which many of us pay. Those who do not pay them bc their income is so low are more than welcome to my tax funds to support them.

Most children in England do not attend a grammar school btw; the vast majority of sec ed is comprehensive.

OK I know I am rising to your baiting posts but really. What have I read here.

Maybe just maybe if 93% of the population didn’t feel entitled to “free” and didn’t belittle those who chose to pay for services that maybe the country deficit wouldn’t be in the quagmire it is.

I don’t think anyone is belittling you for choosing private school. However, I do think that posters are surprised that you did not realise that choosing the private route meant paying for exams, in the same way as those choosing private healthcare also pay for aspects of their treatment that would be free via the NHS.

I have never met a parent who felt entitled to 'free', not least because 'free' is not actually free as the majority pay taxes. Nor have I come across parents who pay being belittled. Envied, yes.

Like the NHS, state education is free at the point of use. As a mostly 93% parent, I was not entitled myself. Neither do I belittle parents who choose private. My DD went private for sixth form. It was a choice I felt privileged to make, not only because I could easily afford it but also because I live in a country where such a choice is possible (for some).

Citizens cannot reasonably be held responsible for the deficit. Numerous factors created it: governments' failure to achieve economic growth since 2008; the ever-expanding expectations of the NHS; the COVID furlough scheme; debt interest; the economic impact of Brexit.

Neither is it the case that 93% parents take costs for granted. State parents are not provided with an itemised invoice every term, unlike independent parents. There is no reason for them to have awareness of costs.

The case you have outlined in summary is that you have made a choice without thinking it fully through or reading the small print. Now you are seeing pitfalls and you don't like them. Once again, you have a choice: pay the £750 or move your DC to the state sector.

Typo

Maybe just maybe if 93% of the population didn’t feel entitled to “free” and didn’t belittle those who chose to pay for services that maybe the country deficit wouldn’t be in the quagmire it is.
Er, you do realize that we've been entitled to free state education since the Education Act of 1870? It is hardly a sign of the decline of western civilization as we know it!