School Fees: What is the true cost?

[WednesdaysChild]

So, if it's not too intrusive, could anybody tell me what the true cost of putting your child through a private education?

e.g. Fees £3k per term
Equipment?
Donations?
Trips? etc.

Do they offer a discount for a second child? (possibly a daft question but....)

DH seems to have concluded that using the money to move house to a nicer place with better state school makes more sense to him. Thanks for all your help.

£3000 per term seems amazingly cheap for secondary school. Where in the country are you? We are in the Home Counties and fees vary between £4000 and £5000 a term minimum. Boarding adds about £10,000 pa to the yearly fees, again where we live.

The ones I know with SEN at ds's school pay extra and don't get LEA funding. Same for a friend in another LEA area but of course I don't know about countrywide.

By the time we've paid for extras it seems to be approaching £4000 each term per child.

My DD is going into Yr5, we have just removed her from a school where basic fees are £4k per term (not for financial reasons, although new school is £1k per term cheaper). SEN assistance is £62 per hour.

Remember to factor in the 4-5% per yr fee increase (or is that just her old school) and the fact that yr 4 costs more that yr 3 etc (I've no idea why, same lenght of day, same subjects, teachers etc) so even without fees increase it may get more expensive every year.

Also remember the multitudes of 'learning days' where the planetarium/puppet show/drumming workshop pops in for the day and £20 gets added to you bill.

At DD's new school even a secondhand blazer is £40-50. There were no dresses her size in the secondhand shop and I had to pay £41.50 for a new one.

I get 5% discount off my second child.

What?! SEN assistance is £62 PER HOUR??!! What on earth does that entail? How many hours do you pay for a week?

Do you feel the school is trying to discriminate against SEN children by imposing this huge supplement? Doesn't that upset you?

Current fees at secondary for dd's school are £2747 per term though they are due to go up in September.

wow that is cheap ios

ds's primary school fees are that IS, they go up in year 7.

£62 an hour is really excessive trick! Surly you should be able to get some financial help from the LEA or someone with this? It seems unfair that you have to pay for this.

has your dc got a statement? Ds is at a mainstream private secondary with full time LSA support paid for by our LEA - we pay fees of around 4.5K a term, but ds has an academic/sports scholarship so our bill is less (phew)

I suspect it's easier transferring a statement from state school to private than getting a statement while already at a private school. However ds' funding was upped considerably for transition and then upped considerably more once he was there as our LEA has a policy of not messing about with a placement if it's basically successful

It was MarmadukeScarlet writing about the £62 for sen support. I was just the gobsmacked response! Would be really interested to know more. Where is MarmadukeScarlet when you need her?!

Sorry, was busy in RL!

My DD has dyspraxia, she had 45mins per week of 1to1 with the SENCO. Her (ex) school have a habit of employing parents who are not qualified for the job, the SENCO had not heard of some basic tools/games to assist DD and disn't seem to be able to write and iep etc- so I'm guessing this was the case for her.

DD was identified in preprep with some ishoos and offered a place in 'gym for learning' club (mind gym- lots of physical excercises to help children cross the midline, improve concentration etc). But lo, as soon as she went up to the prep they conveniently forgot she had problems. The DC have to (from y3) get themselves from classroom to classrom, up and down many stairs in a complex jacobean mansion with the correct books/pencil cases etc - obviously a bit of a challenge for her. I took her to Ed Psych recommended by the school who said 'dyspraxia like condidtion, btw did I tell you I can't formally DX her!!' (despite the vast fee.)

Anyway it is a long and boring story which culminates in DD being very unhappy and now is being moved to a school where differences are embraced!

My DS is there he will be starting reception, having done 2 yrs part time at preschool (at the school where DD will be going), he has severe special needs (CP, Significant Language Impairment etc) they love him and he loves it.

I have just won, without going to tribunal, 30 hours a week LSA support for him from my LEA (who have a blanket policy of not supporting DC in independent education) and got my SALT in Part 3. It was a bloody hard graft, but worth it.

trickerg in answer to your Q. Yes it does upset me very much, not the wider issue of discrimination, but this particular school has a bad attitude to 'differences'.

My DS did 2 terms in the nursery, where it became clear that he was not welcome there at all. They have not tackled the low level (and not so low level) bullying that has been going on, in fact their (sporting) elitist attitude fosters the derision shown towards non-sporty children. Any child who is in the elite sports squad seems to be able to (mis) behave with impunity, whereas hard working, above average (but quite bright in my DDs case with an IQ measured at aged 7 of over 141), well behaved, gentle souls like my DD are treated as unimportant fodder for the quiches.

The school seems to have become a parody of itself over the last year, a new headmistress has been in the girls school part for 2 terms - 4 families have pulled out in the last week of term (including us) due to being fed up with the schools crappy attitude (the head was so rude about my DD, she was lucky to have been on the other end of the phone).

So yes generally I am VERY upset!!

Fees in secondary are around 11k a year for day school. No discounts for siblings here. Lunches are included but not music tuition or trips away, both of which seem quite expensive. Uniform is very expensive - school coats cost around £90, blazers around £60. Lots and lots of sports kit and kitbags etc.

There is an unwritten rule that all school fees have to increase ahead of inflation.

agree the exam fee quoted above must have been for circa 10 subjects. Have kids at two independent senior schools - one about 3000/term doesn't include lunch but does include textbooks, exam fees, SEN assistance (though as selective basically dyslexic provision only) curriculum trips within this country, no sibling discounts. Uniform not partic expensive.
Second one is 3300/term, lunch included, exam fees not, textbooks are provided, uniform reasonable, SEN support charged as an extra. There are others in the area cheaper or more expensive - one with low baseline fees but more additions to the bill than hot dinners.

School fees around £11k here. Per child. Uniform and trips around another £1.5k. I budget for around £13k each.

Message withdrawn

works out at £12000 per year, including transport and extra help for dyslexia.

just started in year 7, may opt back into state in year 9.

uniform very reasonable- blazer £35, jumper £20, rest of it from marks.

have made very clear to DD that she will not be going on duke of edinburgh expedition to NEW ZEALAND!!! refuse to pay for somewhere i cannot afford to go to!

decision based on crap reaction from local middle school to diagnosis of dyslexia, it was clear i would spend 2 years arguing for resources, followed by her moving to upper school.

Helpful advice here on not just the cost of private schools, but the 'extras' too, which can add an extra 25 per cent
www.tom-brown.com