private school- how much does it really cost?

[TerrifiedMothertobe]

We are very dissolutioned with our local schools, which is a real disappointment.

We are now seriously looking at the possibility of private school, we can definitely afford to send one, but we have two children.

So I'm trying to work out how much all the hidden costs, like uniform, clubs, trips are on top off fees to see whether we can stretch to two.

I won't send them unless we can do the same for both. So fees are about 15k a year, should I estimate 20k all in? Which if that is the case simply cannot afford it.

Help!

They all differ slightly.
R to year 2- usually cheaper.
And I've just paid normal school uniform expenses up to now.
Juniors, I'll have to pay for a games kit. And then things like cricket whites.
Our trips are all- inclusive too, except for the big ones, that's further up the school though.

OP it is very individual. DCs prep school fees included everything. Lunches, snacks, tea, trips, clubs, learning support all included.

DDs secondary is much more spendy. The bill always includes untold extras. And there are so many bits of kit she needs. Winter and summer uniform, lax kit, netball kit, tennis kit... It's endless.

I would call the bursar and ask what the average bill looks like. They won't mind in the least

Could you let your children start their education in the state sector, do some enrichment yourself and move to the private sector at 7+ or 11+? Meanwhile you save up.

I think it varies hugely tbh. Ds's school has a very sensible uniform, and you can buy a lot from the second hand sales.
Trips are low cost, so in y4 we've just paid £10 for the campout, and I think the summer trip is less than £100 for 4 nights. No big overseas trips at all, though they do offer a ski trip every year (in holidays) and every other year a trip to South africa to visit their twin school (again in holidays).
Our fees include before and after school care, all food, and the vast majority of clubs.

The school should publish on its website (or readily tell you) what is included in the fees. Stationery, books, exam fees are all things to look out for. And lunch (if compulsory and not included that's probably £300 a term). They may or may not include day trips, but will normally not include residential ones, so find out how many are compulsory. Also which co-curricular activities are charged for, and if there are late room charges.

Uniform varies enormously (and a good second hand sale brings it down a lot), and look to see if there is winter/summer/elaborate games kit/compulsory overpriced coat to buy.

Remember terms are shorter, so factor in extra weeks of childcare.

And also school fees inflation, which usually outstrips other indices, allow 5-10% a year.

Very variable. My daughter's school is £4200 per term (in reception). I got almost all her uniform at the second hand sale and paid £150, new would have been nearly £500. Trips and so on get more expensive as you go up the school. I think £5k above fees is probably a bit high but you need to factor in a 5-10% increase in fees per year.

I went to public school on scholarship and had all my uniform 2nd hand to start with. Look at JL website for a very rough estimate of new uniform prices. But they will only need 2-3 suits/blazers to see them through secondary.

Clubs were included. Music lessons, extra tennis and speech and drama were extra, maybe estimate twice as much as they'd cost if you organised them yourself? Trips were extra but tbh these were mainly theatre trips and we take DC to the theatre anyway. I personally think £5k extra per child is way overestimating, especially as a lot of those costs would be incurred still (albeit sometimes at a lower level) if they stay in state school.

Quintessentially's idea was what we'd do if forced down the private route. Save up now and keep them in state school, then private school from 11 onwards. IMO it's much easier to move from state to private than back the other way (my friend went from public school to state 6th form and lasted 4 days).

Clubs aren't always included - varies from school to school and club to club. Some include ones they do internally but charge if they get outside staff in.

Also knock on costs - for example our school isn't local, so I need a nanny not a childminder and she needs to drive so costs of a second car or paying mileage. longer holidays as mentioned.

I'm a PG at a private school (I sit on the finance committee)

In addition to the basic fees you need to budget for:

Uniform

Books (our school includes text books in the fees but many charge extra)

Sports kits (our school has one kit for all sports)

Does the school charge a "technology fee" ? - this usually means a laptop or ipad. (my friend who has dc in another school was mightly pissed off when school announced that all students had to have a certain macbook pro model, as part of their basic supplies. They already both had perfectly good laptops, but she had to go and fork out for new mac book pros. (and this is one of my soapboxes - as all they kids have one, they just don't respect them. They get left on floors, buses, kicked around in school bags etc)

External exam fees

Does the school have a projection for fees increases over the next few years (they will def have one, just depends if it is for parents eyes or not!)

Wrap around care charges

Extra sports coaching and Music lessons if you want them

School trips (we include the annual school residential in the fees, but there are some extra special trips which are charged extra

Some private schools offer payment plans and sibling discounts, as well as bursaries. Worth asking while you are budgeting.

When doing your initial budget, think of other start up costs- registration fees, deposits, assessments etc

DS in yr6 at independent. It's 9k fees and we paid about 20 extras. Books etc are incl. Uniform was 300 to kit out last year but only bought more sports socks this year. Get shirts from M&S. He does football, rugby, cricket & maths clubs at school all of which are free. School sports matches incl coach are free. After school care until 5-30pm free (charge after that). We paid 350 for a 5 night trip to France but that was entirely optional, in the school hols & about 2/3rds of his year went. Current fees for senior school are 10k pa.

It really does vary and nobody can give a definitive answer.
In my area most of the prep schools charge around £7k per annum in fees but some charge separately for lunches and trips whilst others include it in the fees. After school care and breakfast clubs are also included in the fees of some schools but not in others. Some of the schools provide extra curricular clubs without additional charges whilst others charge for each club. They all (the ones local to me) include stationery and consumables in the fees and at prep level there are no external exam fees. They all charge extra for lamda and music tuition. Some add insurance fees into the bill.
So one prep school might charge £7k per year and it includes almost everything. Whilst another one will be £7k plus £500 for trips plus £500 for lunches, plus £400 for extra curricular and if you need after school care that can vary massively.
You really need to contact the bursar of the school you are interested in and ask for a comprehensive breakdown of fees and charges.

In my area most of the prep schools charge around £7k per annum in fees

7K is very low if you are in the South East.

I am in the North and £7k is average for prep around here and £11k is average for senior (day pupils obviously).

fair enough - depends where the OP is based.
(dreams of £7k PA school fees with ) !

I guess OP is based I the south as she mentioned £15k pa fees, but I was just trying to give an example of what extras on top of fees might look like.
£7k pa is low in comparison to the SE but then state primaries up North only get around £4k pa per pupil so it's all relative.

It depends on where you are. Ds's first prep was 1400 a term but I had to pay for after school care, clubs, tickets to see him in the school play (£10 a pop) on top of the usual trips, photo's etc.The uniform was from a specialist shop and was a ridiculous price. Everything was a money making mission for them, lunch was provided but there was no choice in what it was. If he didn't like what they were serving he went hungry (I complained and ended up taking food to school for him). His next prep was church affiliated and £800 a term. It had naff all sports facilities, no lunch, no activities. Lovely school though. His secondary costs a little over 3k a term. All curricular trips, activities, books are included. I pay for his lunches and his music lessons. His school uniform can be bought from anywhere apart from the PE kit, which is school issue. He can stay at school until 6pm and it opens at 8am so no need for childcare.

The exam fees hit us unexpectedly, so it's good that you have had warning - especially when DS chose to do some entirely unnecessary resits without letting us know...

Grandparents took over music lesson fees as birthday/xmas presents. As it was preferable to things they had been choosing as gifts, no pouting or lip-trembles were involved. 2nd hand uniform shops, get there early. Also scour eBay. Go to the supplier, have a look to see what the school really need you to buy, then go and buy cheaper trousers/shirts elsewhere. It's a bit harder with girls stuff but not impossible. They usually have some weird impossible to track down tartan skirt. However their incredibly expensive socks and tights are often to be found elsewhere. I did buy new blazers for them though, it drew attention away from the fading elsewhere!

Be aware that if they choose to join the aqua-diving after-school club, they may be expected to join the summer trip to the Red sea... in which case, bang goes the holiday for the rest of the family. Research is key, but they WON'T be the 'only one not going', whatever they say.

Din into them that they cannot waste paper, lose pens or folders, because you will be charged for them. some schools charge for everything, some for only replacements. If they lose a text book, you will also pay for that, one year I bought a cheap eBay replacement for every book my scatty DS was given. It was the only year when he didn't lose a single one.

However, you won't be paying out for packed lunches, most clubs are free unless it's riding or something off-site, and DS joined CCF which meant that he got a week's activity holiday every year for around £85. I would say that Geography is probably the most expensive course to take, as it involves many field trips. And care in the community club can result in £3000 trips to Malawi to dig wells for schools in yr 12, so get them a job. Now, preferably.

But you know what, you do find it, somehow. The price we paid for it was smaller houses than we would have liked, doing work we didn't like sometimes, but it's all been worth it. The last fees were paid last year and I wouldn't have changed a thing. Mine went through all sorts of schools as we moved around a lot, both state and private, but lovely though some state schools were, the private ones won hands down.

The price we paid for it was smaller houses than we would have liked, doing work we didn't like sometimes, but it's all been worth it. The last fees were paid last year and I wouldn't have changed a thing. Mine went through all sorts of schools as we moved around a lot, both state and private, but lovely though some state schools were, the private ones won hands down.

This
Our mortgage fix comes up next year and I'm going to fix for a shorter time than I'd like, as I'm not 100% sure we can long term afford the fees. But I'd rather downsize than move schools.

Extras at prep school level for us are:

Uniform - blazer being the biggest cost at about £70 for a new one, second hand sale everything is half price of new but mixed quality. Boys uniform much cheaper as grey trousers & white shirts can be bought anywhere but girls kilts & summer skirts/blouses are ££. Some uniform & sports kit changes between pre-pre & prep (y3) plus extra items like science overall, rugby & cricket kits.

Trips- one per term at about £18 plus week long residential in Y6 that's about £450 and is optional but not really as everyone goes

Clubs - after school clubs like dancing, fencing, football etc are £60 each per term

Pre & after school care (if not in a club) before 8:30 and after the school day, charges per 5 mins and added to the next terms bill

Music tuition £170 per instrument per term plus cost of instrument, music books, music exam fees & if good cost of attending festivals buses to events etc. every child expected to learn at least 1 instrument plus attend choir at our school

Random costumes for assemblies, history days & the big school production unless you already have Victorian/Egyptian/viking outfits

I think that's most of it. We're definitely at the struggling through end of the spectrum but DS is very happy there and DD who has now left at the end of last term to start Y7 in her first choice school has done very well.

Watch out on the school uniform - all the schools my DC have been to seem to make changes regularly which means second hand is out of the question.

Totally agree with madeofkent's comment. You do find the money somehow & it really is worth it.

My DC started off in state primary but we moved them to private for several reasons. We were very wary of moving to the private school, due to cost, but it was the best thing we did. We have made sacrifices elsewhere ie. drive an old car, camping holidays rather than trips abroad, smallish house. Our DC have flourished beyond belief & absolutely love their school.

Fees at DC's school (£12k per annum) cover pretty much everything, including meals, activities etc. Uniform reasonable at about £250 to fully kit out with mix of new & second hand stuff.

Wow, brilliant responses. Thank you.

We really want to send them, we live in a very affluent area and really thought our local schools would be good, I'm fact the complete opposite is true.

I am sure we can find the money?

Great prep for us when we go to look around.

Our local senior school is 17k a year. I won't worry abou that for now ....!

Also, if you work, most prep schools keep on going until 5 or 6 in the evening, some even later if they are boarding schools, which means that you are not paying for child-minders, or not as much. It usually goes clubs, tea, prep. Tea is usually charged for day pupils, but it's not a lot. Plus if the child has to be there, for a school play or concert, it's generally free as long as the teacher has remembered to tell the catering staff!

Yes, things like ballet and riding and music lessons are charged for, golf, sailing, whatever is in the area, but wouldn't you rather your child were doing that on site somewhere you don't have to spend every evening and half the weekend driving them to, and sitting around waiting for them? Examiners generally come to the school, instead of you having to drive for 30 miles across some awful city and getting lost on the one-way system and being too late...

DS learnt to drive during his last year. Bliss. He was collected at school and the examiner was the one who had to hang around waiting for him because he was having such a lovely time and didn't really want to come home just yet. How many state school kids feel like that? Although be prepared to feel a bit put out if they beg to board!

Prep school here is £6000 per year. Clubs, food, everything on top not included in that. (South east)

Our nearest independent senior school is 21k a year! To be fair, it is a prestigious school and I kind of have idle daydreams of sending my children there but that would be the best part of a quarter of a million pounds to put my two through the senior school. I just couldn't justify it.