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Secondary education

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Original poster

Who can afford private schools in the UK?

999 replies

wjchoihk · 12/02/2013 17:18

Hi. I am not sure if this is an appropriate question to ask here. But I have always wondered how rich you should be to send children to private schools in UK. Fees are anywhere from 3000 up to 10000 per term. Even allowing for wide gaps in income, thinking of 'avearge' UK wage of 26,000 pound, math simply don't add up for a normal life with such high fees. I also know only 7% of children go private though.

How much of private parents live on "inherited" wealth and how much on simply superior current earnings? I have my kids at SW London privates but I wouldn't be able to afford this without current int'l expat package. Some parents at my kids' schools LOOK and ARE very very rich but most of them LOOK quite down to earth. But I can't ask....

OP posts:
Marni23 · 12/02/2013 21:53

Seeker has spoken. Dispense with the contraception.

pugsandseals · 12/02/2013 21:55
Grin
Arisbottle · 12/02/2013 21:57

We have five children so if they all went private we would have to live off my salary alone, which we could do but life would be a lot less fun . I may also have had to have stayed in a previous higher paid career, again I could have done this but I love my present job . My other option would be to teach in a private school and get a few discount ( most of my children do or will attend my school anyway ) But again I love my job and don't want to teach in a private school .

I think being able to have a large family has given us more than any private education . We hope to squeeze out another one or even two .

I think my children also have a rich quality of life because we do not pay school fees. They have lots of hobbies from fencing to sailing and we have horses.

I also like my children to almost exclusively be educated at their local school. We feel like we are part of the community.

It is also important that all schools have a range of children . I know we have used business contacts to add to the work experience placements . Because there are quite a few high earning families our PTA pot is healthy and the children benefit .

Lots in the press today about lack if social mobility in this country because of schools that only serve areas of deprivation .

BooksandaCuppa · 12/02/2013 21:57

I wonder why you never see people being interrogated as to how they can afford to home educate (eg one parent is at home not earning) in the same way as when people say they're just using one of the wages, even a very modest, just above m w one to say for schooling (again, playing the only child card)?

seeker · 12/02/2013 21:59

And yes I see your point,obviously , bookandacuppa.

I agree, marnie-I didn't bring it up first!

seeker · 12/02/2013 22:04

Jesus, pugs- you really properly do think better not born than educated! That's....Shock

lopsided · 12/02/2013 22:06

To be fair Books I often wonder how HE is afforded. We are a 2 income family who cannot afford private education.

Arisbottle · 12/02/2013 22:07

I cannot imagine limiting my family just so they could go to a private school.

If you are so terrified of the local state option why not move ? Do you have so little faith in your parenting or their abilities that you cannot risk then mixing with 93% of the population ?

pugsandseals · 12/02/2013 22:16

In my particular circumstance, we chose to move 100 miles so that dd would never have to go to the school I went to. It just so happens that the place we moved to had better private provision than state. I would also go as far as to say that the demographic is far wider at the private school than the very backward looking state schools in our borough! We have made sacrifices to give her a better chance in life, I don't see what is wrong with that?
She is very happy as an only & appreciates the opportunities she is given. Her happiness is more important to me than my own & I have no regrets.

BooksandaCuppa · 12/02/2013 22:18

Isn't it closer, though, to 'better another one not conceived than existing one state educated'? I believe I see the slimmest of slim distinctions between those two statements...

TheOriginalSteamingNit · 12/02/2013 22:23

I think her sister is one of the best things both my dd have. (hellishly tricky grammar there). I would have been very sad if for any reason I couldn't have had both, as indeed many people are, so to choose not to in order to keep dd1 out of state school makes no kind of sense to me.

difficultpickle · 12/02/2013 22:24

Ds is an only and in year 4 at a boarding school. I pay less in fees than I did when he was with a CM before he started school. He has a scholarship which helps and will need a similarly large scholarship for senior school. His opportunities are greater than they would have been had he gone to our local (failing at the time I would have applied) state school. I had a good state education but that is no longer available unless you want to tutor and compete with league tables. I want ds to enjoy learning, not having to think about SATs, league tables and covering only the national curriculum.

seeker · 12/02/2013 22:27

"In my particular circumstance, we chose to move 100 miles so that dd would never have to go to the school I went to"

Hmm Surely 10 would have done?

Arisbottle · 12/02/2013 22:29

Precisely because we are not throwing away 100k a year on school fees our children have a rich and varied life .

They are not stressed by SATS and seem to study a wide and varied curriculum .

HesterBurnitall · 12/02/2013 22:31

Whatever, knows. It takes nothing away from my achievements for me to acknowledge that not everybody has access to the same opportunities in life.

Pugs, outside the bubble that half the national average income is often required for everyday living. Needing to earn it only in order to pay school fees is a privileged position to start with.

seeker · 12/02/2013 22:31

"Isn't it closer, though, to 'better another one not conceived than existing one state educated'? I believe I see the slimmest of slim distinctions between those two statements..."
I don't. It's still saying "I am not going to have a child because state education is such a ghastly prospect I could not, under any circumstances use it. I would rather not have a child than have a state educated child"

pugsandseals · 12/02/2013 22:31

Not if we wanted to downsize enough to keep the same mortgage Seeker! To move 10 miles away would have cost an extra £150k - I see £100k on school fees to be far more preferable than playing postcode lotteries!!!

pugsandseals · 12/02/2013 22:35

House prices to get into the better state schools are so high, surely private fees are in some ways the cheaper option for many?

TheOriginalSteamingNit · 12/02/2013 22:37

Ihad a good state education but that is no longer available unless you want to tutor and compete with league tables.

Factually untrue.

TheOriginalSteamingNit · 12/02/2013 22:39

Pugs, that is just not true. There are schools with extremely dedicated staff in catchments with cheap housing, and there are oftsed outstanding schools with social housing and traveller sites in the catchment areas.

Unless you mean something else by 'better schools'?

pugsandseals · 12/02/2013 22:42

Good god, I just looked on rightmove to compare house prices of 10 miles 'good catchment' from my birth town with our current house 100 miles away. A house the same size as ours would cost £300k MORE than ours!!! [faints]
I'll pay the school fees thanks & thank my lucky stars we had the forethought to move away

pugsandseals · 12/02/2013 22:44

Not where I was born ORIGINAL! My secondary has been in special measures for over 10 years now

BooksandaCuppa · 12/02/2013 22:46

It's not my point, argument or reason, seeker, I just see a slightly greyer argument than you do.

To say 'I think I'd really prefer my (one) child to go to this private school than that state school and therefore I won't have anymore children' is no more ghastly than any other financial reason.

I know you believe people choosing private schooling are making an implicit judgement on (all or some) of state schooling (and I almost wholly agree with you) but you seem to be making an explicit judgement on the quality of life of an only child, which is quite hurtful to those who had no choice in the size of their family (and those who knowingly and happily chose to have an only) regardless of how they're educated.

difficultpickle · 12/02/2013 22:55

Original not sure how you can comment when you don't know where I live or the choice of schools available. It is factually true where I live. Of course there may be a few children who aren't tutored and magically understand the 11+ questions well enough to pass having never seen them before the exam but I would be surprised. In my day, nearly 40 years ago, we did three practice papers in class and that was it. No tutoring done at all either by paid tutors or parents. It was possible to go from a poor area to grammar and be successful. That doesn't happen now.

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