Will private schools reduce their annual fee increases, to stop children leaving ??

[mummyloveslucy]

Hi, I just wondered how the currunt financial situation will affect private schools annual fee increases?
The nursery my daughter attends is part of a private school and the fees tend to increase by 8% each year, well above inflation.
Do you think they might try to keep the increases smaller to stop children from leaving?

I thought £200 was cheap!! We pay £1500 a term in reception (govt nursery funding helps - the one benefit of having a summer born!). Then it is about £2300 for yr1 and then creeps up to £3000 by the time they get to yr6. Then my ds will either have to be very bright and get a scholarship or reasonably bright and pass his 11+. If he is thick then we will stay private as our local comps aren't up to much. At least the school offers bursaries at secondary level.

Where we are, the primary schools are good but the seconderies are awfull.
That's one of the reasons she will probubly go to the state primary. She can then have music lessons etc.

mummyloveslucy - good luck with conceiving, I have read a number of your threads and you always make me smile!

Your daughter will be fine. After having a taster of Private education imo it is not all it is cracked up to be. That is my opinion though, no-one jump on me. I remember you mentioning that your daughter has had some difficulties (excuse me if I am wrong) so I can see why you worry about her. Is there any way you could afford a little private tuition from Year 1 onwards if she needed the extra help?

enduringsurrey, DD1's private school offered to reduce our fees for 2 years by a third, fantastic offer and we nearly bit their hand off but we had to think of the future and we are now having our third child and there is no way we can afford £25,000 a year on school fees. DH is self-employed and in the current climate, it would be far too much stress for him to have to worry about. We did even consider selling the house but we only bought it last year, spent a hell of a lot renovating it and in this market, had we sold it quickly, we would have lost around £50,000. We would then still have to find somewhere to live so it wouldn't fix anything in the long run. The bills would still be the same.

seems to me that there will be a trickle down. The very rich wil be cimpletely unaffected. The less rich who sent DC to boarding school will be looking @ day schools. Day school parents looking for a cheaper days schools, and cheaper day school parents looking at state grammars and good comps. Which means that catchment areas for the latter will shrink further and those on the other thread who were so gleeful about people being priced out of independents will start squealing - 'its not fair!' when their DC have to travel further, to a sink school.

Batters, I'm pretty sure I know who you are talking about. She wrote a spectacularly nasty article about private schooling a few years back, even lambasting one poor private school kid for being fat? I have noticed she has gone very quiet on the subject for the past year or so, co-inciding with her son starting secondary school.

Thanks pgwithnomber3. Yes you were right, she has a speech disorder.
I think if the school offered me somthing like that, then I would probubly have to take their offer. I still don't know how we'd manage, but I had my heart set on her staying at that school.
If I get pregnant again, there's a good chance I might get Hyperemesis again. This would meen I couldn't work throughout my whole pregnancy.
I've had my hospital appointment, and I'm going back on the clomid. I have my scan tommorrow to see my overies. Which reminds me, I forgot to buy veet. Oh bugger.

I very much doubt if private schools will stop hiking the fees up - they normally rise above inflation don't they.

Agree with MLL that some people go to extraordinary lengths to pay the fees - I personally know of at least two families who have borrowed humungous amounts for fees which I agree is utter madness - they'll be up shit creek when the banks decide to pull the plug on loans and want their money back (which is probably imminent if not already happened).

It's interesting that some of you say that if your child is less academic, you'll stick with private. I guess if you are already in the private sector before the age of 11 you are ok but most schools are selective at 11 and 13 and only take the brighter kids because they are only interested in their league table places. And they are very bad on taking kids with special needs, even if they are bright (not sure how they get round the DDA).

It's interesting that some of you say that if your child is less academic, you'll stick with private. I guess if you are already in the private sector before the age of 11 you are ok but most schools are selective at 11 and 13 and only take the brighter kids because they are only interested in their league table places. And they are very bad on taking kids with special needs, even if they are bright (not sure how they get round the DDA).

I will stick with private if my ds doesn't pass the 11+. Our closest private school is non-selective and whilst it doesn't have the stellar results of the local grammar schools or selective private schools it does very well with the pupils it has. It also handles SN.

Not true at all hellywobs. There is plenty of choice for those with less academic children and many who specialise in (albeit relatively mild SN). By no means all private schools are obsessed with league tables and I know many parents who automatically rule out any school in the top 20 for being too academically focussed for their children.

batters I agree regarding children being average and going unnoticed. DD1's school is doing a course for Year 1 children who are middle of the road with their reading (not falling behind but not at the top of the class), they will be seeing a tutor for half an hour 3 times a week for 12 weeks, just to help them progress. My friend's DD has been chosen to be one of the children to be helped and she is pleased as her daughter would sit and watch the world go by if allowed to do so.

I echo that, my daughter is clasically eager to please and will sit at the back of the classroom nodding vigorously when asked if she understands when in reality she doesn't have a clue. She is now really benefitting from the smaller classes and individual atention.

Earlier today on Radio four a headmaster from a huge comp in Leeds said that he thought one of the main failings of his school ( before he took it over ) was vis a vis the quiet, middling children. The brightest and those with special needs were well catered for, he felt, but the huge swathe of 'ordinary' kids were massively underachieving.
Also chatting was the head of Eton - who saw no likely downturn in numbers through the door.

Oh Batters, enduringsurrey and chocolatedot,

who was at it in 2003 and has now gone quiet

My brian is far too befuddled to remember

Cammelia - Old, very long and very argumentative thread here...