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 ?

Agree to disagree in several different ways.

DS was at a prep school for a while. Classes were smaller, it does work for some but he had many more friends to choose from once went to a local school. Sport dominated and the longer days were really just so that sport could be done. All the money went into sport. Also, the longer holidays even out the longer days. Maths was behind where the tiny state school he moved to in our new location. There were no properly trained TAs. 'Support' was also not provided by well trained staff. Having experienced 'freedom from government rules' as a stale curriculum that hadn't changed for way too long and set it's own standards that amounted to lower maths expectations in Yrs3-4 with massive catch up needed in later prep school years, no thanks. Charges for every little extra is one thing, but charging for children to take exams that are a core raison d'etre of senior school is a rip off.

Not sure what you are disagreeing on?
I said my reasons were why fees are high.
Those reasons are why people state they go for private.
Not all schools provide all of them.
And many people don't want/value those things and thus wouldn't go private.

Er, my reply is so specific and based on a common model of private school practice. Very deflecting reply from you

Ok, I must be missing something, no worries.

Though private schools, like all other private establishments end up charging clients one way or another for all costs, whether as fees or extras.

A case in point is that Nurseries are now hampered the 'free hours' that the government doesn't properly reimburse, hence the proliferation in charging for extras.

And presumably profit for the private equity funds that have invested capital in some private schools with new or refurbished buildings.

Of course, if that is a concern, choose a different school.

Depends upon the time they are entered for it or whether they change tiers after the first entry deadline - they can go up to triple fees in those cases. Some MFLs are about £65 from the outset.

There's also the fee for inspections that has to be paid by every school, state or independent and from what I remember, there's an additional admin fee for independent schools.

Yes, but taking a charge for exams is grabby as in years 10-11 preparing for and taking exams is the main role of the school.

Well surely in that case that's the main thing the parents are paying for?
All schools have to pay the examination boards to enter pupils. State schools are funded by the government from taxation so the cost of exams is covered by that.Independent schools will also need to pay those costs from their income which is largely derived from parental fees. Some schools choose to bill the parents directly for their own children's exams, others will absorb the overall costs into their termly fees and spread it out. But whatever business model the school uses the outcome is the same. Exam entries incur fees and the parents have to pay them, whether it's £600 as a lump sum, £100 added to 6 terms in years 10 and 11 or a smaller increase in fees spread across more years. Independent schools are businesses that have to balance the books. The money for exam fees has to come from somewhere and where else would that be other than from their customers? That's basically how private business works isn't it? I'm not sure why anyone would be surprised that if you choose to pay for your child's education then the fees need to cover all associated costs.

@MrsHGWells
No one has to send their child to an independent school. Every child is entitled to a taxpayer funded education. The 93% of children in the state sector don’t have parents freeloading, just taking up what all children are entitled to.
Both our DC went to independent secondary schools (our choice) and the exam costs were included in the fees.

The main role of the school in Years 10 and 11 is teaching the students and preparing them for exams, not the exams themselves, which only happen in 2 months out of those 2 years. The school has to pay for all those exam entries so, one way or another, they are going to need to pass that cost on to parents- either as part of the fees or as a separate charge. They charge for everything else, so why wouldn't they charge for that?

Well, there's nothing to stop you moving your child to the state sector if you think "the grass is greener" over there.

Obviously preparing for/doing gcse course and taking actual exams fall under the umbrella of same same thing. Sports is an extra, exams aren't unless the schools are just thinking 'what can we get away with charging more for'.

But the school has to pay money to the exam boards, it’s cash out the door in just the same way as LAMDA exams etc. Either it’s added to the fees (year 10,11 higher) or charged separately. The net result is the same that parents pay.

And in the case of day pupils at boarding schools, "occasional boarding" schemes that let mummy and daddy go out for the evening or travel overnight for work without having to find childcare.

LAMDA/Music etc is a form of extra curricular so that's different entirely. The fees they charge are more than sufficient to cover exams if the school is worth going to.

They really don't tho.

I was a secondary school teacher. I prepared students for exams – we covered the curriculum, we practised past papers, we worked on exam technique, we ran support classes after school. All good. I was paid for this.

Taking the actual exams? that was separate. Paid for separately. All schools pay teachers; they also pay exam fees. Not to the teachers tho! Teachers don't set the exams, and if they mark them it is a separate contract with the exam board.

I agree with @TeenToTwenties btw that I cannot see how your specific poor experience of small classes in a private school negates the wider point that many parents pay for private school in order to get their child taught in a smaller class. But anyway.

It’s no different.

Public examinations, of all types, are clearly excluded from the fees. If they were to be included the fees would rise. The net effect is the same.

You seem to have had a bad experience at a poor prep school which appears to be informing most of your posts.

But why wouldn't they charge for them? They have to pay for them. If they haven't included the cost of them in the fees, then they will be an extra cost. Maybe it makes sense not to include them in the fees on the grounds that not every child necessarily takes the same number of exams?

Most academic private schools would not let your child continue with a place if a minimum number of probs 10 were taken

Maybe it is to cover hire of a venue or external invigilators aswell?

my kids are in state so I’m not sure but surely the school should have made you aware? Is this info on the website or has it just been dropped on you?

Yes but there are plenty of private schools which aren't that academic. One of the ones I worked at seemed to be primarily interested in prowess on the rugby pitch. The students were... not the most academically engaged I've taught.

But even if every child does 10 the costs will vary by subject and exam board. They won’t all take the same 10. Upthread someone mentioned that iGCSEs are also more expensive than GCSEs

you could have chosen to send your child to a state school where s/he would quite probably have received an excellent education and you wouldn’t have been asked to pay the GCSE entrance fees

<snort> your DD went to a selective state school IIRC.

They aren’t widely available. An excellent state education at any of the schools local to us is a contradiction in terms. Bullying is rife, they can’t recruit or retain staff and the disruption in lessons is terrible. And they are all ‘good.’

Just the sort of school we don't need as a nation

Wonder why that is? Igcse should be phased out