Private school fees up 43%

[UnquietDad]

story here

Deliberate, do you think?...

So if only "18 professions" can now afford them, and they don't include teachers, architects or police officers, what are they? Any offers?

If we had a grammar school I possibly would just spend Cod's £500 on private tuition and save the rest.

However we don't, the only two grammar schools are Catholic and private.

Our eldest daughter is starting prep school in September. We can only afford it as we will be claiming the Forces Allowance. Even then it will be difficult, and only just possible as I am starting a new job with more hours.

Our reason is that our catchment state senior school is appalling - not just mediocre, but appalling. There are 3 other senior schools within 5-7 miles but they are massive, not great and massively oversubscribed so she has no chance of getting a place there even if we wanted one.

It makes me cross that in order for DD1 to have a decent education we have to pay - we don't live in this area throught choice and can't move, so our options are limited. All state schools should be good enough so that private education is a true choice and not something that is the only decent option.

Or maybe the schools will reduce their fees if they are losing students????

Resent the implication from your post UqD and others that the parents of children who go to private school are snobs who think all state schools are 'ghastly' and want their kids to avoid the 'rifraf'. I and others have been at pains to explain our reasons for choosing private education.

I have said on this and the other post several times that I am committed to state education (which is why I teach in it as do Hula, Martianbishop and others on here) but partly BECAUSE I teach in state education and dp and I have taught more particulary the schools which the dds would go to if we didn't opt for private so I know what sort of experience our dcs would get I want a different sort of experience for my own dcs since I am able to pay for it.

Once again, I live in an area which is deprived. Schools are divided by faith and ethnicity (whereas the private school my dcs go to is not). The best schools are faith schools and I do not have a faith. Neither do I want to move out to the leafy suburbs and follow the 'white flight'. The schools that peform least well have students with complex and diverse needs and I KNOW from my experience as a teacher that where a teacher has a large class and lots of students with particular needs the students who are ok and not disuptive are likely to be ignored.

My decision has nothing to do with teachers in state schools (I'm one, dp is one, my parents are another 2) for whom I have huge respect and admiration or even the schools themselves. Schools and teachers do the best job they can with the resources they have available to them.

Maybe there are people who choose private education for snobbish or status driven reasons but I haven't met any and seen no evidence on this thread or otehrs on Mumsnet of this.

Yes, amazing how many people who berate the parents who choose private school live in the leafy suburbs, or areas with grammar schools, or have adopted a faith...

And I dislike the attitude that "it's good enough for the kids I teach but not my own."

lol @ brewery heiresses!

journalists?

But I've said repeatedly that I DON'T think it's good enough. I've said on this thread or the other that, of course, EVERY child would benefit from the small class sizes and specialist teaching available to most private schools

and without disciminating about faith etc.

Unfortunately, the govt chooses to spend money on other things. Not my fault. Not the fault of teachers. Not the fault of the schools themsleves.

I do what I can to help kids in state education (I teach them for a start) but I choose for my own kids a school which can offer my kids things that the state schools can't.

i live in a v media-y part of london and the only people i know who send their kids to private school are:
city types (hedge funds)
lawyers
those who got in on scholarships

So UQD your stuff about snobbishness and 'ghastly' schools is actually way off the mark for me. And, in fact, as I've said I don't know anyone for whom it would be relevatn.

er and 5candles, i dont' know anyone who spends £10k/yr on facials, dresses, shoes etc

UQD - didn't you move to get into the right catchment area for a better state school? So the "old" local school wasn't good enough for your kids but it's good enough for the children who have to live there.

Can't see how you can get on your moral high horse with fivecandles, but each to their own.

No,iBundle, I said my mate is about to spend 10 grand on 1 wedding. And I know other people who spend at least 5 grand a year on things that I wouldn't choose to spend my money on (like shoes and facials). I'm not judging them. What I'm saying is people spend their money according to their priorities. My priority in my circumstances with my experience and knowledge of local schools is to spend my money on my kids' education.

Fio and others I'm not for a second critiicsing people who send their kids to state schools. How ridiculous. My dp and I teach in state schools. I would have liked nothing more than to send my kids to a good, local, non faith school. Unfortunately there aren't any near me and I don't want to move house. THe leafy suburbs are not for me.

We moved for a number of different reasons. My children attend their local, catchment, state school and always have done. So less of it.

If your children are getting on fine in a state school - lucky you, you can save your cash to spend on something else. It always amuses me that on MN the people who are most vocally anti independent schools manage to simulataneously hold the conflicting views that;

• state school are fine, only snobbish people go 'private'

- 'private' school pupils have an unfair advantage over state pupils.

UQD regularly expresses both envy and disdain - sometimes both within the same posts, very entertaining!

I'd be interested to see this so-called "envy" and "disdain". Mrs GG, those are not necessarily "conflicting" views, as I've said earlier - read my post of this morning.

Are we square now Fio? Certainly not saying all state schools or any state schools are crap. What I'm saying (repeatedly it would seem) is that schools and teacher do the best they can with the resources they've got. In some schools the students have such complex needs that the resources are nowhere near adequate to meet those needs. By discussing MY circumstances and MY choices I am not implying that anyone else's choices are bad or wrong or anything else. In different circumstances I would have made different choices. If I lived in a nice village somewhere in the south east where the local school was not a faith school my kids would be going hopping and skipping all the way.

A bit overly sensitive perhaps UD ?

5candles is talking sense.... can't seem to see what your gripe is with her ....