Prep school hidden costs.

[ComingtoEngland100]

Hi All,

Can someone advise on hidden costs for private primary school?

I understand if I accept a place I have to pay a big deposit that I don't get back until they leave? Some websites don't even mention this.

Do term fees always cover lunch and non-residential trips, or do some school charge separate?

I'm also confused with after school clubs, some seem to charge for activities , some don't .

Can I always pay monthly during the term for a terms fees, or will school insist terms payment upfront for the term?

Lastly coaches, some preps seem to have them, others not, is there age restriction on these? I can't imagine my DC in Reception on a 20 minute coach without falling asleep and being hard to wake up.

Any help would be appreciated!

Honestly, they entirely vary from school to school. What is correct for one school may be completely different at another. Best to ask the schools directly- but yes, most will have SOME sort of 'hidden' costs, just as state schools do!

Fees usually need to be paid in advance for the whole term.
Yes, there is often an age restriction on coach travel- and it costs extra.
Clubs- as you say. You pay for some (usually where they get outside teachers/coaches in), but at DCs school it’s easy to choose free clubs. Often wrap around care is included- we get from 8am-5.30 or included and there is a charge if you want to stay til 6.
Some schools charge extra for lunches, some include it. But they always seem to be compulsory, I’ve never heard of a private school that allows children without allergies to take packed lunches.
All trips- residential or not, are extra.
Uniform is usually branded and there is a lot of it. DCs last school cost £1200 per child and included 5 compulsory coats and socks that cost £9/pair.
Most children play an instrument or do LAMDA- entirely optional but an additional £200/term.
Birthday parties……obviously entirely your choice but both the parties and the cost of gifts is a whole different hall game to the state system.
Bear in mind as they get older -into senior school- the extras get more- so the £400 Uk residential trip becomes the £1500 ski trip
Hope that helps.

@surreygirl1987

Honestly, they entirely vary from school to school. What is correct for one school may be completely different at another. Best to ask the schools directly- but yes, most will have SOME sort of 'hidden' costs, just as state schools do!

Thanks Surreygirl

The trouble is when you want your DC in the school, I don't want to harass the school with questions and come across as a pushy and annoying, but these are important questions, which are often missing on their websites.

It varies. Some include lunch, some don't. Some include school trips, others not, Some include books, art materials and exam fees, others may not. Some offer swimming, music, sports coaching, drama and dance in school time but after school or individual lessons are extra. Some include extra curricular clubs, wrap around care and transport to matches or events but others charge extra. Fees are usually due in full on first day of each term in advance unless other arrangements are made and a full term's notice of withdrawal before the start of term or a term's fee are due in lieu.

@Disfordragon

Fees usually need to be paid in advance for the whole term. Yes, there is often an age restriction on coach travel- and it costs extra. Clubs- as you say. You pay for some (usually where they get outside teachers/coaches in), but at DCs school it’s easy to choose free clubs. Often wrap around care is included- we get from 8am-5.30 or included and there is a charge if you want to stay til 6. Some schools charge extra for lunches, some include it. But they always seem to be compulsory, I’ve never heard of a private school that allows children without allergies to take packed lunches. All trips- residential or not, are extra. Uniform is usually branded and there is a lot of it. DCs last school cost £1200 per child and included 5 compulsory coats and socks that cost £9/pair. Most children play an instrument or do LAMDA- entirely optional but an additional £200/term. Birthday parties……obviously entirely your choice but both the parties and the cost of gifts is a whole different hall game to the state system. Bear in mind as they get older -into senior school- the extras get more- so the £400 Uk residential trip becomes the £1500 ski trip Hope that helps.

Uniform is usually branded and there is a lot of it. DCs last school cost £1200 per child and included 5 compulsory coats and socks that cost £9/pair.

Wow. Your whole post is really useful. Super useful.

I know it is not very British to talk about money, but we are not on unlimited funds to send our DC to prep, so this really helps us plan and ensure we keep out of trouble!!

@LIZS

It varies. Some include lunch, some don't. Some include school trips, others not, Some include books, art materials and exam fees, others may not. Some offer swimming, music, sports coaching, drama and dance in school time but after school or individual lessons are extra. Some include extra curricular clubs, wrap around care and transport to matches or events but others charge extra. Fees are usually due in full on first day of each term in advance unless other arrangements are made and a full term's notice of withdrawal before the start of term or a term's fee are due in lieu.

Fees are usually due in full on first day of each term in advance unless other arrangements are made and a full term's notice of withdrawal before the start of term or a term's fee are due in lieu

Yes, our friend warned us if we accept somewhere and don't give notice at the start of summer term, you are due to pay terms fee in September even if our DC doesn't attend.

Thanks LIZS

It seems most of you are saying I cannot be shy and have to ask all these things BEFORE acceptance of any offer. And not to assume anything as all preps are working different

The information is normally within the website under Admissions or Fees or online prospectus but the bursar will probably have a guide for those enquiring which can be sent to you if not.

We are in year three prep. For the fees we get 8:15am to 6pm, lunch and tea. 8:30 - 4:10 is teaching. After is either prep or sports practice. Off site match travel
is part of the fee. All stationary is included, as are things like school play costumes.

On top we have recorder lessons (£40 per term), guitar lessons (£10 each), will be signing up to Lamda but I'm not sure how much that is.

All school trips are extra, occasional in school teaching days with external people coming in to teach specialist subjects (last one was engineering) cost more. Probably about £500 annually all in. We haven't got to ski trip stage though.

The school uniform is a killer and it seems to be worse if you have a sporty boy. Cricket, hockey, tennis, rugby all seem to need all sorts of things. The schools are legally not supposed to have only one supplier but they do, so £60 blazers are suddenly reasonable. Ours has switched various items to 'generic' but the sheer amount of it is crazy. Seven pairs of shoes, cricket bats, hockey sticks, gun shields... it goes on and on. There is a lively online second hand store to help cut the costs.

On the upside we pay nothing for wrap around care, swimming or extracurricular sport like football / rugby, as it's included.

Having said that we probably pay more for childcare in the holidays because they're off much more than state kids.

Parties are a good point, although it's starting to calm down a bit now they're getting a bit older.

Forgot the PTA events, they seem to have something termly for the kids at £10 a ticket. And something for the parents at £25-100 a ticket. The parents things are optional but the kids ones really aren't.

I work in a Prep school, we have plenty of prospective parents wanting to understand the costs. Just drop the school a list and ask for details of the extras, they should be able to let you know.

Throw in a mufti day or two per term, raffles, charity contributions, book from an author visit/book fair ...

@ComingtoEngland100 these are completely normal questions. One of the reasons you pay is to have better access to teachers and other staff.

Totally agree that it varies by school. School day for us is 8.20-3.30.

Extras for us are

• approx £450 a term lunches
• school trips, generally two per term ranging form £15 to £30 each (panto at xmas tends to be the £30 one!)
• breakfast club £3 per day if you need 7.30-8.30
• extra-curricular clubs tend to run 3.30-4.30 daily, if run by school teacher then 'free', if an external person then approx £75 per term. DD currently does 2 free and 3 paid
• after school care to 6.30pm inc tea £10 per day
• music lesson £20 per lesson and they are weekly. Most do this

There is a week long residential in y5 / y6, I guess that comes at a cost too but with covid meaning last few years were cancelled I'm not sure how much.

Uniform was a killer when starting school (about £600 for summer uniform and various PE kits). Once you know how it works there is a second hand sale which allows for it to be bought half the price (and good quality as they have so many things to wear they don't have them on more than 5minutes!). We have a summer and winter uniform, netball kit, athletics kit, swim kit, gymnastics kit and hockey kit!

Thanks everyone!

Great advice here which I will take note. Its given me the confidence to ask when I can't find the info ( and noted where to look ).

Thanks again to those I responded to and to the last few posts from the below. I feel much better about all this now.
@Loft653
@Disfordragon
@ltscoldonthesidelines and @Skinterior

Just check as each school will be quite clear whether lunch is included, what clubs are included, may include trips.

I disagree that parties are more costly, if anything I think bigger parties in state schools compared to private. Presumably as the parents aren’t strung out paying fees!!

If you don't have unlimited funds then I'd be more worried about the affordability of fees over a 6-7 year period. They are likely to be going up 4-5% per year so at our prep this would be about £250 PER TERM. Is this prep school you are considering still in the Teachers Pension Scheme? That had a 43% increase in employer contributions a few years ago and is expected to go up a similar amount in a few years (not published yet). That's before the cost of utilities - even before COVID, it would not be unheard of for a medium sized prep spending £75k per annum on utilities so the electricity and heating oil (older preps) increases will hit hard. I don't want to put a dampener on things but it's finding potentially an additional £750 per year that will be the significant impact rather than whether you have to pay for extras or not.

I think I paid about £800 for uniform in reception, and now at year 3 have paid about the same again since with endless sports kit etc

We have to make ‘voluntary’ contributions to the class fund of about £100 a year, which pays for gifts for teachers.

We have at least a couple of fundraising for charity events a term which can be £20 but some give 000.

School trips are chargeable, about £40 each per day trip.

Norm is to have 1-2 different music lessons at £250 each per term.

Secondhand uniform shop is thriving.

Would recommend getting a view on the other parents. All the DC in the classes we have been in do a variety of £££ extra curricular stuff and also go abroad almost all holidays. I wouldn’t want to be the only family not doing this.

Parties at our school are v lavish, and average gifts seem to be about £25-50. Was a bit shock when we joined

@Solasum

Parties at our school are v lavish, and average gifts seem to be about £25-50. Was a bit shock when we joined

Wow really? Can I ask whereabouts you are based? My DCstarts in September.

@justasmalltownmum Central London. Not a super flashy school either. Most families are two working professionals.

I work in an independent
We charge extra for school trips ..even the school mini buss to take us there is an extra charge
We charge extra for one to one lessons or support
Music lessons
Wrap around care for this in year 2 and below is charged for
Insurance .. it this might be in the fees
Uninformed is expensive..Blazers which are dry clean only are £100 each plus all the sports kit etc etc

Ask. You have to ask, they all vary massively. It's not unreasonable to want to have a clear picture of what it costs. Just get a list of questions, email the bursar all at once and find out.

DS's prep school covers nearly everything in the fees. We are rarely asked for extra.

Extras have included:
• Pantomime tickets at Christmas (£20ish)
• 1:1 instrument lessons (entirely optional, lots don't)
• Clubs where they bring in outside teachers - this was sports clubs and the fees seem to have disappeared in the last few years
• Residential trips in years 4, 5 and 6. Everyone goes. Fees are comparable to the state schools residential trips.

We've never paid for lunches (included for all children, they aren't allowed packed lunches). We've never paid for coaches or day trips. Uniform is reasonably expensive but the PTA does a roaring trade in secondhand sales and everyone uses it - secondhand uniform is completely expected.

I have a relative that works in prep admissions and has children there. They said it is totally normal to ask the questions. They have a pdf ready to send out with ‘extras’ on it. They wouldn’t bat an eye lid.
At their school lunches aren’t included but all non residential trips are. A couple of after school clubs cost extra but most are included. Uniform is expensive but most/lots of parents get 2nd hand.
And finally… parties. At their prep they are no different to their friends and cousins parties who are at state school.

I love it because so few extras
Lunch included
All trips included
Never required to do a packed lunch for trips
All after school clubs included
Breakfast club included

My dd just had her party

Average cost of present…. £10
Lots of Amazon vouchers for £10
That’s what I get