Page 12 | School fee hike - freaking out slightly

wingingthings · 2023-03-20T20:49:59+00:00

I'm under no illusion that we haven’t been very lucky to be able to send our 2 children privately. However, we've done this without foreign holidays, new cars and making sacrifices- we shop at Aldi etc. Choices we've made happily and it's been fine. We also worked on the basis of 5% inflation each year. We just got the fees increase letter of 12.5%. I'm freaking out as this pushes us very close and will still have another 5 years to go. Curious as to others experiences this year??

Dodgeitornot · 20/04/2023 19:11

@rumbusiness Lol. Please work on your inference skills and stop taking what I say out of context. You know exactly that's not what I mean. I asked where the bursaries for the other refugees are and the poor kids from the other side of the borough.

Teentimesthree · 20/04/2023 22:08

Does know what the fees for Winchester College 23/24 will be yet?

Postapocalypticcowgirl · 21/04/2023 07:21

Sewingdufus · 20/04/2023 17:28

20% fee increase from September this year. Such a steep increase probably identifies the school.

That's a pretty massive fee hike - have they given reasons why? I'd be concerned the school is in financial trouble.

Marisquita · 21/04/2023 07:40

@Sewingdufus 20% is insane!

QuiteAJourney · 21/04/2023 08:25

Marisquita · 21/04/2023 07:40

@Sewingdufus 20% is insane!

Agree! Which school is that? (Just wondering if one that had low rates and is "catching up"... as the increase is to misaligned with all the others)

QuiteAJourney · 21/04/2023 08:26

QuiteAJourney · 21/04/2023 08:25

Agree! Which school is that? (Just wondering if one that had low rates and is "catching up"... as the increase is to misaligned with all the others)

Show quote history

Meant "increase is so misaligned ..."

Gloaming23 · 21/04/2023 08:37

Gosh 20% is massive! I do wonder sometimes if it is self perpetuating - our school made much of the fact they had checked other local school fees and felt they needed to raise them! Having looked at their accounts last night, they have a very healthy reserve and quite a lot of surplus income over expenditure. I’m not so convinced that our full raise was needed.

Intergalacticcatharsis · 21/04/2023 10:13

Yes, it is an arms race. Previously over facilities, now fees. I really think that parents need to start voting with their feet.

All these successful rich educated people just paying up blindly because it is their DC? All these business people just trusting the school that they are running an efficient business?
The way we do it in state schools is to volunteer, get involved, lobby locally for new schools. Speak to the heads etc., question the governors. I am really surprised sometimes how compliant some private school parents are.

Marisquita · 21/04/2023 10:23

Gloaming23 · 21/04/2023 08:37

Gosh 20% is massive! I do wonder sometimes if it is self perpetuating - our school made much of the fact they had checked other local school fees and felt they needed to raise them! Having looked at their accounts last night, they have a very healthy reserve and quite a lot of surplus income over expenditure. I’m not so convinced that our full raise was needed.

I wouldn’t be at all happy with that explanation! Ours are clear (both in the governors’ reports and in comms with parents) that they are doing all they can to minimise fee increases, while ensuring that staff are fairly rewarded - both by way of salary and staying in the TPS etc. With a rise of 7% this year I think they have done well in current circumstances.

Dodgeitornot · 21/04/2023 10:40

@Intergalacticcatharsis Yes, very compliant parents and compliant kids make for easy teaching though. They have the time and finances to filter intakes to choose those. Our friends have been waiting months for a meeting with the senco at their nearly 30k a year day school. They keep defending the school. Moved their kid from state for far less than that.

Intergalacticcatharsis · 21/04/2023 11:32

We are still in the baby boom phase for Year 7 places so the top London private schools are very comfortable in the current space. It could all change for them drastically though in the next few years…

I really think part of the reason people move out of London is down to the huge secondary schools and people’s fear of crime in them. There are some amazing state secondary schools in London too, but getting in is tricky. We have already started seeing lots of back door selection via music places in comps and lotteries etc and I think the top comps are going to be vying for the pupils of parents who may so far have chosen private but will be rethinking in the future.

So I think the next 10 years are going to be very interesting. If I were a head in a private school I would not be squeezing my educationally motivated middle class parents too much, quite the opposite.

Postapocalypticcowgirl · 22/04/2023 13:27

Gloaming23 · 21/04/2023 08:37

Gosh 20% is massive! I do wonder sometimes if it is self perpetuating - our school made much of the fact they had checked other local school fees and felt they needed to raise them! Having looked at their accounts last night, they have a very healthy reserve and quite a lot of surplus income over expenditure. I’m not so convinced that our full raise was needed.

What do you consider a very healthy reserve? I think a lot of people underestimate how much it costs to run a school, and the outlay of things like replacing IT, building maintenance, updating sports facilities and so on. Plus any pay rise across staff (e.g. to match state sector pay rises) can eat into this quickly.

That said, I do think raising their fees just because other schools are raising them is bizarre!

Postapocalypticcowgirl · 22/04/2023 13:33

Intergalacticcatharsis · 21/04/2023 11:32

We are still in the baby boom phase for Year 7 places so the top London private schools are very comfortable in the current space. It could all change for them drastically though in the next few years…

I really think part of the reason people move out of London is down to the huge secondary schools and people’s fear of crime in them. There are some amazing state secondary schools in London too, but getting in is tricky. We have already started seeing lots of back door selection via music places in comps and lotteries etc and I think the top comps are going to be vying for the pupils of parents who may so far have chosen private but will be rethinking in the future.

So I think the next 10 years are going to be very interesting. If I were a head in a private school I would not be squeezing my educationally motivated middle class parents too much, quite the opposite.

I think most heads have no choice. Their biggest ongoing costs will likely have increased this year and will likely increase again next year. They may also be facing capital expenditure in the next few years, and the costs of things like building work have gone up a lot too.

Gloaming23 · 22/04/2023 14:24

reserve wise it seems to be split into restricted and non restricted - but def high numbers. And a surplus of income v expenditure of in excess of 4 million for the year. Which seems a fairly healthy amount to have spare.

Gloaming23 · 22/04/2023 14:25

Heads can only raise the fees though if people can afford to pay them. Too high and the school won’t have enough people paying the higher amounts to cover their costs- so an own goal