Can we afford Private School/advice on Private School...

[Elephants25]

The Education topic doesn't seem to be loading (on the app) so I'm posting here.

We live in London.

My salary is £54,000; DP's is £135,000...

I want to keep working, maybe go part-time.

Can we afford it? London schools seem very expensive.

We are looking at a school which has fees of £6,600-£6,900.

Can we afford this?

Does anyone have DC at a Private School and think it's worth it? If so, why? It would just be nice to hear from a regular parent, as DS is still young, so haven't really spoken to many people about it!

That fee is for each term.

£21000 a year; double check what is included; plus holiday childcare?

It's a lot of money but it looks as if you can potentially afford it, depending on your outgoings?

You're going to need a minimum of £2,000 a month free to cover it - have you got that?

In terms of is it worth it? That really depends on the DC and the school I think. We're about an 2 hours out from London, in the countryside, so it may be different, but this is out take:

For our DD and the school we chose, absolutely it's worth it. Why? You get the obvious things - small class sizes, great facilities, and also get flexibility - we can choose to drop her off at 7:30 for breakfast, late club until 6pm if we or DD wants (just decide on the day), lots of clubs and activities.

The most important thing for us was the school ethos, it's warm, hard to describe, but it doesn't try too hard, it's not pressured, the parents are pretty chilled out, the kids get on great. It's just a really friendly place, where we can drop DD off, and she's excited, she gets the opportunity to grow and be curious.

I remember when we were looking - one girl school we looked at had all these model students turned out - 4 A-levels, 2 Languages, 1 Instrument. Like the stepford wives. Another was basically Hogwarts, but it felt wrong, a bit impersonal. The one we chose was the one that just handed us off to two of the older children, who gave us the tour, while talking about their years at the place and their memories with such enthusiasm.

3 years in, I can say it's the best decision we've made.

Thanks, I'll pass this on to my sister

Yes, you should be able to afford it - or your sister! However, school fees tend to go up a lot more than inflation and the terms are shorter. Secondary fees are likely to be more.

If your income can keep pace, then choose wisely. Schools are different. High achieving schools will have children highly achieving: in academic subjects, sports, drama, music but that does not make the children any less "normal". It is "normal" for them. My DD was obviously a "Stepford Wife" and I rather resent that description of a talented young person. This country actually needs people like her and she often took parents on tours because she was so enthusiastic and knowledgable about her school. She was not, and is not, an automoton!

Your sister? this post was about you, also I noticed on another post that you haddnt even realised youd wrote the post, how very odd?

Wish people would just post themselves. There's no restrictions on MN registrations, you know.

My sister shared my account for this... It wasn't about me, she used my account. She was also still logged in and was confused about the new thread.

It was a big mix up, which has now been sorted.

My DS's school is £7,500 a year. We used to have an income of £100,000 (pre redundancy and Pre Brexit which will affect my work) but have some savings. We have a mortgage. We could afford it without worrying about it.

bit worried now mind you - both of us have lost our jobs effectively!

Oh- it is worth every penny. DS is autistic and the smaller class sizes and the greater one to one attention has been brilliant for him.

It entirely depends on your personal circumstances really doesn't it? Small or big mortgage? Potential future earnings? Grandparent help? Credit cards/finance you've got? Holidays you want to maintain every year? No one can give you a straight answer as to wether you can afford it or not on that level of basic information.

Well, how much is your sister's mortgage?

Most fees are around 8k per term but expect to pay more for extra curricular activities another 2k per term , but if the DC is bright he / she may get a scholarship that pays a % of the fees
Well worth going to a decent school if it's affordable

I really don't mean to be rude, but you're husband and you are clearly in professional jobs requiring a decent level of intellect.

Is this not a question that you can put your heads together and answer yourself? Especially as you know SO much more about your finances than random strangers on the Internet

This is very similar to the thread that got pulled last weekend by mumsnet HQ.
? Same poster again