Just wondering... how do you think the financial turmoil will affect private school applications this year?

[PrincessPeaHead]

It was difficult enough to see who the hell could afford boarding fees of £8800 per term in a boom economy... now? Do you think there will be a big move from boarding to private day options (cheaper) or in fact also a big fall in private day applications as people try for grammars/use the good local comp ?

Just musing really.

In a similar vein to the above post; my DD has just started in Y7 at a large state comprehensive and she says there are several children in her year who have transferred from local prep and private schools. As far as DD knows, they all seem very happy to be at the comp and they certainly don't appear to be miles further ahead academically, if at all (but that's another debate).

I can't think of any other reason, apart from financial, as to why these children are now in State education as we have loads of Independent secondary schools around here.

oops, I was referring to Teslagirl's post

I certainly do think that given the current financial situation we seem to find ourselves in as a nation, certain "luxuries" such as private schooling, will naturally find themselves struggling to fill places come the next school year. Whether or not private schooling is academically superior to state schooling is rather besides the point. We may even find that some private schools will have to reduce their fees, offer more help to struggling parents or even reduce their status to an Aided School.

Could this spell the end for the private educational sector?

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oi cod
did you see that ad
perfect for you

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A lot of people have re mortagged their houses and used the equity for fees.That will have to stop.My plumber has 4 kids all at private not sure how long that will last

Cod's cryptic post was presumably referring to the way teachers in France are posted to schools anywhere in the country regardless of their wishes, at least for their first job.

But I suspect the teachers in Anna's daughter's school will probably have the CAFEP (qualification for teaching only in the private system) so they have never run the risk of being sent to taste reality in a run-down school full of thugs in a grim banlieue somewhere.

I'm sure loads of smaller schools will have difficulty filling their places - can't imagine Eton is worried, though.......

There are dark mutterings at the dc's school gates about paying the fees so there may be an exodus in the offing.

I wouldn't want to be in the queue for grammar school for next year - there will probably be a huge leap in the number of applicants.

teslagirl - Nick his place? You could look at it a different way? A Poncey Prep School kid is giving your DS1 the place. Or perhaps it isn't anyone's place until it is offered, according to the admission criteria laid down by the LEA?

And before I get a barrage of abuse regarding those DC's RIGHT to go to the state school and what a HUGE FAVOUR their parents have done us by sending their DCs private- yes, I recognise all those feelings BUT the EA spend the money they've got on the DCs they have in the state system, whoever's tax payments that cash has come from. They won't be withholding any IN CASE Tybalt and Lucretia suddenly reappear back in the state sector so it WILL take time for capacity to expand to absorb the inevitable increase of pupils priced out of the private sector!

Rhubarb - "We may even find that some private schools will have to reduce their fees, offer more help to struggling parents or even reduce their status to an Aided School." An aided school? Do you mean state aided? And LOL at "reduce their status to"

tough poo tesla
can't have it both ways - despise people for using the private sector and then despise them for using the state - or is it just chippiness?
they pay tax, they can send them where the hell they like

lol at Anna in Sheffield, ha ha ha

It is inevitable that if children who would have gone to private start going to state house prices will be pushed up again as it is well documented that schools with high parental involvement achieve gerat results.

but not if we are in full scale recession noddy

I think you'll find that most people applying for an independent school place will also apply for a state school place as back up. I did for my sons and was offered first choice state school which was turned down once we knew they had been accepted at the independent. At the time of applying for a state school place in November in the year preceding entry, the child has not yet sat the independent school entrance exams (normally February) or attended interviews. The more academic the school, the more likely it is that a state school place has been applied for as back-up.

no thats true pph

Tesla there are ALWAYS private kids that go to state at 11 recession or no. Usually it's a divorce or another financial crisis, sometimes it's disillusionment with the private education and occasionally it's been planned that way all along (some people think the money is better spent at junior rather than senior). Unless you are sure there were significantly more than in previous years I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it - it will be business as usual for the state school to accomodate them.

Can I ask why it is specifically grammar schools that people think will be beseiged by extra applications?

I would have thought that many parents who have the option of Grammar school (by child's ability and there being a grammar in the vicinity) already take advantage of that and save themselves fees? Especially those who do not have pots of ancestral money, but need to budget tightly to afford fees.

Surely non-selective state schools will be under greater pressure as parents need to find places fo children who can't (none in area)or coudln't (lack required ability in highly competitive market) access grammars?

Well around my way in the past people turned down grammar school places in favour of independent secondaries and I am expecting less of that to happen.

Of course there will also be pressure on non-selective schools too.

You'd be suprised Blu - despite being a grammer area the indie schools round here are still bursting with bright kids.
That said, quite a few leavers at 11 went to grammer this time. They all passed the entrance exam as presumably they had the ability and their parents could afford the tutoring.

The grammar school I went to 20-odd years ago certainly had a lot of families where the sibling who didn't pass the 11+ went independent and the one who did came to the grammar school - including my own family, come to think of it. Depends whether you can afford the fees without them hurting or if you're borderline independent-afforders.