Private schools to go bust in the coming recession

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The mother of all recessions is coming in my view. The world economy is pushing towards a large scale and deep debt crises. This follows the explosion of government deficits, borrowing, and leverage in recent decades and now that debt is growing due to high interests. Governments are in eye watering debt, individuals are in debt and so are private schools.
In the last 5 years private schools have been on spending sprees with new builds and new facilities mostly for marketing appeal rather than need. But it’s all been funded on debt. I work for a building service solution company and the number of private schools in the last 5 years have exploded on our books all funded by debt.

I know of one boarding school now in trouble and they have sold off their build and it will be converted to flats.

Be careful folks out there. Times are not as good as these schools portray.

This doesn’t work. Voters who do have resources just buy accordingly in the better area and do extra activities

Op the sector will be hit further if hit with extra cost too

@Totaly You are completely wrong! Firstly don't assume people living in Housing Association accommodation get the worst schools. They don’t. Often great teaching and inspirational
leadership really does make a difference.

Plus a school can have a much bigger budget because of PP funding for fsm DC. This greatly enhances school budgets and certainly can help those Dc access trips and educational enhancement. This is worth way more than parental contributions. At £1345 per child p/a you don’t need many fsm DC to get quite a lot more money into school to target the learning of these disadvantaged Dc. Quite big money if you do the maths for the most deprived communities and certainly way above parent fundraising.

Only 7-8% use private schools. Tory voters won’t be impacted that much!

You do realise the poor become poorer in a recession. Why would you even create a thread about this? Your attempts to scaremonger won’t wash, those who do send their kids to Private School have access to a lot of financial information about the school.

Schools come and go. It’s not something to worry too much about.

I can’t believe how people think Labour will come in and wave their Labour wand, suddenly sorting out what has been a Tory shit show for so long. This will take more than VAT on schools fees (state schools won’t see this money btw).

This is the part that amuses me the most. The number of people who think that if those sending their children to private, didn’t have the option then they would funnel those thousands into their local state!

No! They will spend it on getting a property closest to the best state school so they get a place and then the rest will go on enrichment for their own DC. Those who fall just outside catchment are the ones who will lose out here

There are countless wealthy posters on MN who proudly proclaim they can afford private but choose not to - Why is their money not seen as up for grabs in the same way?

Labour do not have a magic money tree and will not be able to unravel a decade of underspending by pushing those who do currently pay into the state sector

Private schools shouldn’t exist. No concerns about them disappearing. It is as it should be.

Next!

One of the private schools near me converted to a free school.

It still offers boarding as a payable extra.

I can see that route be used by other schools that are not the big names.

Politicians will never care. If it affects them or very rich people then they’ll put their kids in boarding in Switzerland or they’ll put them in the poshest state schools. All that will happen is more kids will be squeezed into the state schools, classes will increase in size and facilities will be stretched even thinner.

One thing to always remember, politicians don’t give a stuff about us and they’ll always find a way to solve their problems without lowering themselves to fraternise with the little people.

Unless of course they’ll build lots of brand new lovely state schools with great facilities and everyone will be given a great standard of education no matter what your social standing because they’ll be studying closely the Finnish education model (because they care enough to do that, right?). Prince George will sitting next to Jayden and he’ll go round to Chantelle’s for tea, the estate’s a bit rough but he’s got security.

Apart from schools like Winchester, Eton and Oundle, which have existed since 1382, 1440 and 1556 respectively

But most people get to be old.

Most people don’t send their kids to private school. They should all be razed and starter homes built on the huge grounds.

Maybe not razed but converted. Private schools have no value in my eyes. Just carbuncles.

But who cares if they no longer exist? I don’t,

I live in a small town, we had one private school. It closed a few years ago, maybe 5 or 6, it is now a state school.

And those aren’t the ones that will disappear

School will merge. Bigger/ more expensive schools will get bigger. Schools will take on more foreign kids. So I'm not exactly sympathetic. You can't kill private education sadly.

There’s been a ‘huge recession’ coming for decades now, I wouldn’t panic too much.
It’s always just scaremongering like it was in 2008.

Sure, a bit of a credit crisis but nowhere near as the papers etc made it out to be.

Nor me. A 1% increase in state funding (roughly the amount the VAT is going to raise) isn’t going to scratch the surface of the problems. People seem to think that the Labour Party has a magic wand to sort out all the problems overnight. I haven’t heard a single idea from them proposing how to improve things.

People think that private school parents also have a magic wand so if they are forced to use the state system, they’ll improve it. Why are the 93% of existing state school parents incapable of improving it? There’s plenty of “wealthy” state school parents already.

This

My school is very asset rich but cash poor. No payrises as such in the last 2 years, student numbers declining hugely since covid (local parents businesses being decimated by lockdowns) and Brexit (erm, overseas student numbers).

We're in crisis and despite having excellent facilities and beautiful grounds we can't retain staff, engage enough new students and the situation is indeed looking dire.

Plenty of space in state schools where I live. Primaries in particular are struggling with low numbers.
Private schools are businesses. If they can run profitably they will close. Most will probably survive and stay open.

If this happens I will just spend the money i currently spend on private school on private tuition and external enrichment. Like many of the middle class do now already. Or just go on more holidays.

Money isn't the answer to state schools by the way. Some of the best performing get the lowest funding as there percentage of fsm children is low. More engagment with parents is what is needed as regardless of their own educatoonal outcome engaged parents create good outcomes for their own children. Obviously.

As someone who’s used both state and private I can tell you my suggestions of spelling tests, more reading, more comprehensions, more homework we’re all politely turned down at our local state school. I was seen as an interfering busybody.

Exactly. Private school parents aren’t going to be able to change that any more than you. Why people think that private school parents will have a magical effect on the state system is a mystery.

Unfortunately, a lot of the problems are down to attitude as much as funding. For example, how does introducing a spelling test cost money? Doing a 5 minute spelling test on a Monday morning is hardly going to stretch school budgets. I’m sure there’ll be posters along to disagree and explain why a school can’t possibly do spelling or extra reading.

That’s a drop in the ocean of what’s needed. The underfunding is to the tune of £10b or more per year.

Correct. Taxing the “wealthy” even more won’t solve this. It won’t raise enough. An increase in the rate of VAT on goods already subject to VAT or a 1% increase in the basic rate of income tax would raise far more but is not politically popular.

I hope Labour do their due diligence on the health of private schools

They are so blinded by their hatred of private schools that they won’t care. Even if it was to the detriment of local state schools, they’d be happy to see a private school close.