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…

This is not true. There are very stringent rules that have to be followed. Claiming a difficulty in Maths or English does not get a child awarded extra time.

@ThisUniqueDreamer You’ve made the assumption that children with SEN will skew exam results. This just isn’t true. SEN children can be extremely intelligent & achieve outstanding exam results, and of course like the general population intelligence will differ. I’m sorry your friend had that experience but it’s not true of all SEN children (our highly academically selective school snapped up my autistic DC).

@WHM0101 No, 30% of private school pupils are not claiming extra time due to difficulties with maths & English. To be awarded extra time the child needs to have a diagnosis/an education plan in place, and it’s the exam board who awards extra time, not the school. You’ve been misinformed about that.

It is, however, true that extra time in exams awarded in private schools is somewhat disproportionate to their overall cohorts.

This reflects, to an extent, the lack of funding for, and difficulties in obtaining, diagnosis and other paperwork (Ed Psych / specialist reports et al) within the state system. Where these can be paid for from private providers, obtaining the required evidence is more straightforward.

Overall, the difficulty with the term ‘SEN’ is that it is, largely, relative to the immediate cohort. I have taught whole classes in schools in very challenging areas where the children would have met the bar for ‘SEN’ in a previous very high achieving school in a very leafy area. Equally, I have had children in the latter school labelled as SEN who were simply somewhat below average academically, and therefore had needs different from and in addition to the majority of the class.

EHCPs should be more standardised- but again, they are, in austerity times, more likely to be granted to the children of clued up parents who can push (and sometimes pay) for required assessments and can work with the school and others to endure paperwork is watertight.

You don't need EHCP to be awarded extra time and it's up to school to decide afaik.

But my post was to highlight that SEN doesn't mean the child has behavioural difficulties, it could in fact mean anything (and the previous post confirms it) and some SEN kids may be more welcomed then others in private sector.

Unfortunately this is now considered tax evasion, as Labour outlawed payment in advance.

Same!
My son went to a state school and obtained 3 As at A Level at the local college. He’s now at a Russell Group uni.

@sageGreen81

https://www.vwv.co.uk/news-and-events/blog/school-law-brief/vat-on-school-fees-fees-in-advance#:~:text=From%2029%20July%202024%2C%20any,terms%20after%201%20January%202025.

No it's not, if fees were paid up front before July 24 then they are exempt.
Many wealthy parents were able to do that so will never, ever pay any VAT.

That's why this policy disproportionately impacts less wealthy parents because they didn't have enough money to pay up front.

Apologies - should have read more! Good to know.

Overall, the difficulty with the term ‘SEN’ is that it is, largely, relative to the immediate cohort.

Schools shouldn’t be defining SEN based on the cohort they have. The legal definition of SEN is set out in section 20 of the Children and Families Act 2014.

It’s slightly more complicated than that. It depends on how the prepayment scheme is set up. But yes, many who prepaid will be exempt from the VAT.

They aren’t buying a better life, they are buying the same education that is available to non disabled children in the state system. They are forced to go private so their children can receive an education. Those who can afford it go private, those who can do it will home school. Yes, unfortunately this leaves parents like you in the awful situation of knowing your child is not getting the education they need to be anywhere near a level playing field with non disabled children.

It is a totally unacceptable situation that SEN children are being failed by the state, I wish governments and local authorities would provide appropriate SEN provision, but I don’t think the answer is for parents of disabled children to fight amongst themselves about it. Most parents who go private have already fought with the system to try and get what they need. It is rarely their first choice. We need to all band together and fight the system together.

Not so sure about this.

My daughter has “separate accommodations” for exams. She is now considering going into the main exam accommodation because the separate accommodations have so many children in them. Her friend is getting accommodations because her handwriting has been considered poor. This is a student with no SEN whatsoever, got As in her prelims without accommodations, but one teacher decided her handwriting was poor (it isn’t, it’s just really fancy cursive) so for the final exams she is being given extra time.

For GCSEs, candidates don’t get extra time for poor handwriting alone. Schools don’t just decide to give extra time. They have to apply for it. You can see JCQ’s rules here

I work for an exam board and can assure you that the rules for getting reasonable adjustments in exams are strict and narrow

The school has to apply and provide evidence. This applies to all schools. You also can’t get it for handwriting alone.

I’m not worried that we can’t afford it, but I am worried for the school’s future. I’m also very worried about the general economy and my children’s economic future. If we didn’t have children I would genuinely be looking to move abroad.

I went to an ‘outstanding’ state school and then a RG uni. The school was not outstanding, it was passable at best with lots of issues. I cannot begin to compare the different between my children’s education and mine.

And yes, we live in a nice house in a nice village but where the state schools are genuinely dreadful. They’re make the news level of dreadful, low on every measure, staff leaving in droves, children incredibly unhappy and moving if they can (most of the village children have left the village school for this reason)

I think you have to consider what is best for your DC rather than what you think will work best.

DS2 had an EHCP so I could have fought for specialist but they only did 5 GCSE and he was high ability. I could have fought for mainstream indi but he was too affected by his ASD and ADHD for this to work. State school wanted him in lower sets with LSA so that wouldn’t work.

In the end we opted for state funded internet school with additional support from specific subject tutors plus SALT and OT. He then went to 6th form for maths, further maths and physics A levels and is now studying engineering at uni (masters level as he exceeded entrance level).

Neither state nor private could have achieved this. It was due to parental support and EHCP funding.

Saying that your child has SEN but doesn’t meet the criteria for EHCP is not a reason for not applying VAT to private schools. Needing small classes is a reason to go to tribunal for a child with an EHCP. Not a reason why VAT is not applied to those that can afford and choose to go private. Prices can increase.

If your child really cannot cope you will fight to get an EHCP and fight for appropriate placement.

If you want to avoid the battle or have no hope of winning you have to pay whatever is charged.

I’ll ignore sport and music extra curricular as a reason for choosing private.

It is great that your child thrived, but I would hope you have a better appreciation of how difficult it can be to make schooling decisions for a child with send.

i do not want to have to go to tribunal to get my child what they need - that would require forcing them into an environment that is distressing and inappropriate for months / years in order to prove the point that said setting is not appropriate, with a not insignificant possibility that the LA would still insist everything is fine.

that would require forcing them into an environment that is distressing and inappropriate for months / years

That doesn’t have to be the case. Parents don’t have to force their child to attend school if that isn’t appropriate. It is possible to successfully appeal without doing that.

@PocketSand - how much did your DS’ education cost the state on an annual basis, approximately?

The trouble is that we can all agree that all DCs with SEND deserve an education tailored to their needs.
However, the press is full of stories of middle class parents bankrupting councils with their SEND demands. So actually those who were paying themselves were doing the taxpayer a massive favour. How you can say that they should not be paying but should go and bankrupt the councils as well (so that the genuinely poor and elderly and genuinely poor DCs do not get an education) is literally beyond me.
Realistically, whatever your DS got in the past, they are cutting whatever they can AND they are penalising those paying out of their own pockets for private schools with the VAT.

You can always opt out and keep them home - LAs and schools increasingly pressuring parents to do just that. but you can’t get an EHCP without evidence that the standard provision doesn’t meet the child’s needs, so unless there are clear medical issues then yes you need to keep them in school long enough to demonstrate it doesn’t work. It is double difficult when you have a child that presents as fine for some or all of the school day but is very much not fine in significant ways that school doesn’t readily observe. I have also found there to sometimes be a vast gulf between what the LA and I would consider ‘appropriate’.

You need evidence, but that evidence does not have to be in the form of a sending a child to school if that isn’t appropriate (ultimately it isn’t the LA this). Neither do parents have to EHE.

Some DC get EHCPs without stepping foot in a school.

That should say ultimately it isn’t the LA deciding this.

Failure costs more. For DS1 the cost of repeated SALT, OT and EP reports plus LA time plus tribunal must have cost, plus the cost of EOTAS for him being out of school pending tribunal plus the cost of placement at in excess of £80k per year. And then failure of placement, more EOTAS more LA input then 5 tutors at £60 per hour per week for 2 years plus OT and SALT. Small fortune? It would have been so much cheaper to support him in primary before it all went tits up. And in the end it failed. Spending money doesn’t guarantee success.

DS2 was cheap in comparison. More than state school with minimal support. He had an EHCP so it was going to cost more in any case. But way less than specialist. Less than placement in private MS. A fraction of the cost. Internet school with me as unpaid LSA was their cheapest option. And the least damaging option for him. That’s why the LA bit our hands off and were supportive rather than adversarial.

They just got lucky that I had to be at home anyway to support DS1 and was willing to give my all so that DS2 was not failed in the same way. And could let my experience with DS1 never encroach on discussions regarding DS2. No bitterness, no blame. Always calm and friendly. Just a mum advocating for her separate DC. And it seemed to work for DS2. Maybe he’ll crash and burn at uni but at least I’ll know I gave it my best shot.

But I do know it doesn’t have to be this way. Both of my sons deserved better from the state education system to allow them to fulfil their potential and become productive adults despite potentially disabling conditions. I had to opt out (with state support) to allow this potential.

I can fully understand those without state support but private means that opt out. I feel for those without state support or private means that can’t opt out whose DC end up damaged and not in education or training because of systemic failure.

I know you are all doing your best in a crap system and bear no malice against individual parents with SEN DC who don’t meet frankly ridiculous criteria.