School fees ?

[nickname7890]

Anyone have 3 kids at private school?! How
Much do you need to earn these days??

Don't schools give discounts for siblings. They used to. A lot of grandparents help out.

Discounts at prep for the third child usually are 5%, which whilst nice, isn’t much to make a significant dent in fees.

thank you @bumpetybumpbump thats so helpful to know

@Viviennemary yes i wish re grandparents, but im one of 3... so unlikely they can start down that route!

@SpaceRaiders hmm 5% isnt much is it!

How much are a few private secondary schools near you? You could do some rough calculations , although be aware school fees increase at a faster rate than other other things.

@PeachPiePip

You’d have to earn £100k gross to take home just below £67k net. That’s probably just enough to pay day school fees for 3 children. It would cover some extras, but not the expensive ski trips etc. Also, if you’re in central London and looking at senior school, it might be a stretch to cover the fees. Just looking at my old school and the fees have trebled since I left! You need to factor in fee inflation, too.

I wouldn’t start private schooling unless you’re sure you can cover the fees through till year 13. One of my best friends is stuck with a broken tumble drier that she can’t afford to replace, as they’ve gone down the private school route and they really can’t afford it.

I don’t think that 100k a year gross would be sufficient for three kids. My cousin spends nearly 50k for three kids ( one secondary, two primary) .

My dd school is 32+K per annum, but 90 odd% receive gov funding.
Some schools offer bursaries or discounts for additional siblings.
They are all different, so you need to check individual schools.

Also check with the school regarding extras. Other than music lessons there were no ""extras" at my DS's schools other than uniform. I would also say that most people (especially the most wealthy) had no problem with buying this in the second hand shop too.

My friend has three kids at a small private primary. They earn combined £70000 so not mega wealthy . They do prioritise education over other things though and I think have borrowed money for the fees.
She says there are a real mixture of professions at the school not many really high earners .

About £12k per child here plus lunch (but many take packed lunches. Music lessons extra but you pay at state school too

Can't imagine how tight money must be to send three children to private school on £70k. They must be counting every penny unless they are getting help.

It's a small primary so fees are about £6500 per kid per year. To me that would be twice my mortgage !! (They are mortgage free so that helps )

@m0therofdragons

Round here it’s about £25k per dc per year for secondary (including extras) but can be more. It’s usually on the website. You can normally negotiate a discount for siblings.

My child is at private secondary, the extra are nowhere near this. The ‘extras’ thing is bigged up on MN and is never that bad. After the first year outlay, extra uniform is about £100 a year (school shoes mainly). Trips are optional, and compulsory ones never cost much (say £60 per year). Fees go up by about 3% a year. the main expense is lunches which are about £700 a year but this should be made clear alongside the fees. Music/drama lessons are extra if you want them (we didn’t). To suggest £9k of extras is an insane guess.

@MatildaStoker

Ive had a quick google and the most expensive private school near me charges fees of £16k per year. That doesn’t include extras, but I’d be surprised if the extras pushed it up to £25k per year.

Just goes to show the regional variations!
So a smaller income needed around here to get a DC through private school compared to where m0therofdragons lives 🤷‍♀️

^^ sorry, meant this quote

I live in a non posh South East area and the two nearest private schools charge between £8000 and £8200 per term (not boarding) . I have no ideas how much the extras are or what is included with that fee.

That’s for secondary school.

We found some really helpful stuff on talkeducation.com - somewhere they've got an interview with a financial person about how to build a school fee fund. They also have a section on bursaries, which shows how to get help off the schools themselves. Doesn't change the answer (it costs a lot) but it might make it easier to achieve.

I work pt and my earning pay for 2 dcs school fees (although one finishes soon). We don’t need to take what DH earns into account.
We are in Yorkshire though so not as expensive as other places

Round here, the popular HMC senior day schools are over £20k in fees now. The more popular Preps are about £16k and the small ones (often struggling) can be around £10k.

The income level needed is partly determined by outgoings of course. Those who have no mortgage and live a fairly simple life, can do it on incomes significantly below those with hefty mortgages and other outgoings.

3 kids without any scholarships or bursaries will always require a very high income, but when people just have 1 child are are mortgage free and live simply, some people will manage independent education on household incomes of less than £80k or even £70k especially if that’s earned between 2 adults with neither paying higher rate tax.

There are a number of people with far lower household incomes managing private education, that many with household incomes of well over £50k more incomes can’t afford. When all the income comes from one person, lots goes on tax, plus some of those people have huge mortgages too. Big incomes often go with big houses and big borrowings ...it isn’t all available for school fees.

I can't imagine you'd find a decent independent in London for secondary at less than £5K per term. Often, lunches are extra as are music lessons. There are educational visits and field trips and after school activities that need to be paid for - it's all part of the 'experience '. Trips and uniform extra although the second hand uniform sales are good. So the fees don't stop at the headline amount. There will be a fee inflation most years too of up to 5%. On top of that, clubs etc for the longer school holidays.

Entry to many of the good London day schools is very competitive so you may need to pay for extra tutoring beforehand. If you have no mortgage costs then an income of £7-£8k a month should cover things but would be tight. Personally, I'd look to move to somewhere like Bromley where some of the state schools are very good or move out of London altogether to a comprehensive area.

@Thirtyrock39

My friend has three kids at a small private primary. They earn combined £70000 so not mega wealthy . They do prioritise education over other things though and I think have borrowed money for the fees. She says there are a real mixture of professions at the school not many really high earners .

This is incredibly stupid. I also value education which is why I live in an area with good school, tutored my child for 11+ and got a place at a (free) grammar school. I could afford to send my youngest to a private primary but can't think of a reason I would want to.

The situation you describe almost inevitably means the children are not exposed to other things - music, theatre, farm trips, holidays so their parents can say they go to a private school? They will absolutely not be able to afford this at secondary so I'm not sure I even see the point.

Why are you stressing about the state schools? Your children are still very young and the state schools could massively improve by the time they are ready to start. Also why not look at schools outside of catchment. I don't know anyone that goes to catchment school in my area, most go to out of catchment schools as it suits the parents commute to work.

Also, you indicate that this stems from one child having learning difficulties. Would it not be far cheaper to hire a tutor to do at home private lessons after school or during school holidays with this child

I think moving to a better catchment area would be your best option

I pay £925 a month plus uniform/trips etc. That includes hot lunch. Junior school. I earn just over £40k and my partner earns just over £50k.
That's one child. You get 10% discount for second child, 15% discount for third or more.

@1000glitterydicks that’s really cheap for private!! Where abouts is that school if you don’t mind me asking?