School Fees - how worried are you now

[Lifeiseveryday]

So when the VAT came in, I wasn’t too worried about school fees….maybe I had my head in the sand!
However, for next year, a number of schools near us have hiked both the fees recently, alongside the VAT.
I’m feeling much more nervous now about where the fees are going to end up and the impact this will have on children. School is affordable for us but I am not sure if it is ‘value for money’ anymore.
I know there have been lots of threads on VAT but I am more worried now, than when the policy came out. So as a temperature check, how is everyone else feeling? I have 8 more years of fees…

Very much is. Maybe you are lucky enough to live somewhere with good state schools. Not all of us do so please don't come with "not a lottery" I know the quality of state schools around me!

Tbh yes you are buying them a better change and more suppoŕt in life compared to SEN children in state with parents not able to pay. It's fair but don't fool yourself. You do it for a reason.

Lot of families can'gonever go private because SEN. Not even with a second job. Most parents will never be able to afford it and have to accept that state is less.

Yeah, go to London and let’s see if it’s not a lottery

Sorry op, we are very lucky and don’t have to change our lifestyle even with all the hikes,
but I know what you mean. Because of how expensive it is, the children coming home and telling me that food is awful is making me
very angry.

we decided against private for dc, one is starting secondary next year. It's not just VAT but the way fees have been increasing year on year. 30k a year would make a significant debt on our finances & for us now the benefits don't outweigh the cost at such a high price.

I am also worried about life getting more expensive in general eg higher taxes, higher uni costs, moving state pension age so I feel I need more of a buffer.

I am fortunate to have some very good state options though

Yes. Also for parents never able to go private. It's the issue for around 95% of parents having children im state school not able to afford private education.

State schools tend to be better in areas with resourceful citizens. They are more often poor in the ghetto.

If yu can afford an expensive house in a nice area you most likely will do better in rye school lottery than if are stuck in a rental in a run down area.

@Doingmybestbut I would really agree with that.

We're in an odd position here where there are lots of private schools that are very expensive and very very driven. Then the state schools are trying to be like that too, with loads of trips and music and drama and art. But then the state schools have no money left to employ teachers to just teach maths and science and English competently. They end up sitting the kids in front of videos during those lessons, while proudly announcing that they did 300+ trips in the last year.

We really urgently need a no-frills private school here that just has enough teachers to teach the core subjects calmly and competently. It needs to be screen-free so the kids can go home calm at the end of the day and with enough headspace to be parented by their own family.

Ideally, given the current situation, it would be helpful if such a school could also offer phased return or flexi-schooling and the option to sign up as a private exam candidate. This is so the kids who have fallen out of the school system can have a chance to re-enter.

Yes and many wealthy parents are able to buy their way into the best catchment and then supplement with tutors.
Sutton Trust says top 100 state schools are as socially segregated as the top public schools and those are the type of state schools where politicians (Starmer,etc looking at you!) send their kids.

State schools do vary significantly area to area. I suppose it’s a lottery in the sense that there’s a chance the school near you might be good or bad. It’s not a lottery in the sense you can do some research and move near a good state school. That obviously isn’t simple though as it costs to move, costs to pay a mortgage (which could be significantly higher), needs to be a suitable house for sale, you need to be near work & may want to be near your support network.

I send my DC to state (that we moved to be near) but their Dad wanted private. I’m very glad I stood my ground as these cost increases, along with the cost of living increasing so much, are worrying.

I think often people move into an area which is in the catchment for good schools.
If you can't move, that's a problem.

I'm very worried. The main point of an independent school for our DC is the small class size due to SEN/ND. Our school has been forced to create two large classes rather than three smaller ones. I don't blame them for this, but it is somewhat frustrating given the significant increase in fees. We will find the money for the rest of primary (three years) but won't risk secondary.

Of course it is. Depending on where you live you can be surrounded by fabulous state schools or utterly dire ones (or only have one available). That’s the literal definition of a postcode lottery

Whenever I see threads about private schools, people always come out with ‘well there are excellent state schools’ and then in the same breath there will be a thread about how they hate the fact that schools are just exam factories and they want their children to come out with a fuller education than just exams.

state schools can be amazing but the majority just focus on exam results as that is where they add the value and that is where they have to focus the limited budget. The children then go absolutely go on to Russell group universities and have great careers. But the reason why a lot of people still pay private fees is not the academic side of things- it is the arts/ the sports etc that very few state schools will ever be able to provide.

for instance, my DD goes private. The reason we did was sport. She plays an hour before school, lunch and often after school. She also does matches on weekends. Some of her state school friends only play netball until year 8/9 and then the school stopped it as no budget. Many state schools can’t offer extensive music provision. State schools rarely have the budget to be able to focus on a more rounded education than the core syllabus which is very sad but the government is never going to specifically give money to schools for arts and sport. I think it should be mandatory for there to be sports fixtures on Saturdays for all children who wish to participate but it is never going to happen.

there is a reason why many Olympians, particularly rowers and Rugby players went private as there is very little provision in the state sector.

academically I don’t actually believe there is much value added paying for private over state.

Fees go up every year. It's par for the course for Private Schools. I was told to factor 10-15% increases in each year before we started.

We only have one DC, so will continue to manage, however we are scrutinising the value the school delivers as well as all other extra curriculars. I suspect many children may depart in year 3 for through schools, who are offering fee freezes. Additionally, suspect a greater number of kids will accept grammar school places if offered in year 6. All this really means is that the state will be losing out on contributions it would have received from parents who (pay their state contribution via tax) had previously planned to pay privately all the way through. Does anyone have a tally of what this policy has actually made so far?

Yes and many wealthy parents are able to buy their way into the best catchment and then supplement with tutors.

Plenty of private school parents live in nice areas/expensive houses & use tutors.

Indeed

I think private schools.do this because they can basically - they know parents won't want to take their kids out once they have started so they don't have to even try to budget.

I think as a PP.said there is a real gap in the market for a no frills focus on good teaching private school

No because the tax receipt won't have made it through yet and any government claims to the contrary are false.
There is a tally of schools which have closed, kids who have left independent schools to go into state (at cost to state) etc BUT Labour refuse to gather official data or review the policy at any point. So what does that tell you?
Oh and it's costing the taxpayer approx £1 million to defend this in court

@CantStopMoving it's the extracurriculars particularly sports that attracted us

Agree with @twistyizzy - there’s not huge scope for cuts to make schools more affordable (and yet, still attractive over and above state to justify any fee at all).

Staff are a huge part of the costs, with building upkeep and utilities another chunk. The “extras” are a fairly small amount and many are charged for separately anyway (eg piano lessons, LAMDA, trips).

How? 70-75% of costs are staff with rest bills. Most indy schools work on return tight margins and only approx 1 term surplus. That's why they are vulnerable to triple whammy of Labour policy!

Unfortunately, in the last 20 years ago, private day schools seem to have been in an arms race to build flashier facilities to compete against each other where my dc grew up. I viewed schooling 2010 for my eldest and fees ranged from £3800- £7500. The most expensive option was about to move to a huge new campus with pool, theatre etc and put the fees up dramatically and now, just looked, it’s £22k per year for y7-y9. That’s far more than inflation.

families who used to be able to make sacrifices to afford private education can’t now, a friend who has had his dc in since age 3 had to remortgage to afford 6th form (£27k per year)

But most private schools have put their fees up year on year by 10-15% - their staff costs don't have to go up by that amount per year.

State schools have managed with exactly the same costs without their budgets rising by the same amount.

The difference in my view is that state schools know they have to keep to a budget

For those (like me) whose children's sen means mainstream isn't appropriate, take a look at online school. A great alternative and a LOT cheaper than private.

Private schools, by definition, will never be good value. Because there is a free alternative. Everyone can get an education for their child worth X for free.

Private schools used to charge Y and (hopefully!) give you an education worth Y. So your “added value” was Y-X but you were paying Y for it.

Now they charge 1.2Y but you get Y and your added value is still Y-X.

There are two logical reasons to send your child private. Either 1.2Y is small enough to you that you don’t care that it isn’t good value for money or because you believe that X is inadequate and so X is worthless to you. This means that you get Y in added value.

To think people say Algebra isn’t useful! 😂