The true cost of the rise in private school fees?

So the middle classes are being priced out of private schools, with the cost of sending a child to such a school rising by more than 40 percent in five years. This means that lots of children who would have been educated privately in the past will no longer be sent there. Naturally, the rich will still pay. Otherwise pupil numbers at independent schools wouldn't still be rising.

What parents want, whatever "class" they belong to, is the best possible education for their children. It's definitely a problem that for many, going private would be a favoured option if possible (a survey earlier this year suggested that 57 percent of parents would educate their children privately if they could afford it). That has to be a sad reflection on state schools. But what else does it mean?

I think it's had another impact too. If parents feel they cannot afford the very best (and at over £11,000 a year in London, over £8,000 a year in the North, for one child, most of us can't) they look for the next best alternative. This is where the intense competition for the best state schools, and also the huge rise in demand for faith schools, come in. Faith schools, by their very nature, mean that children are segregated from others of different faiths (and often different backgrounds). The government is still trying to find the answer to the question of how to get the best education to as many children as possible. In the meantime, they have presided over a system which is splintering off into many different strands. Can this be good for society?

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Comments

[Pat]

"How is this a good argument for grammar schools? Why should my taxes go towards saving middle class toffs from having to fork out for school fees? "

I went to a comprehensive and hated it, I had to spend all my time pretending not to be clever. I got to university with a huge disadvantage in terms of world knowledge and I lacked funadmental skills in my degree subject due to poor teaching in school. I grew up on a council estate that was a huge improvement on the slum and homelessness that preceded it so hardly a "middle class toff".

I would much rather my children went to a grammar school and mixed with a wider range of people than at a private school. My eldest is in one of the last grammars in our area and has been transformed from a child that didn't want to go to school into a happy confident child who loves school and feels like he could achieve anything he sets his mind to. My youngest is at a predominantly middle class state primary where he is being bullied for being clever and not into football. In English he is being given books to read that he read 4 or 5 years ago and is bored. We are very supportive of the school and do what we can to contributive in both time and money but I have had enough. I do not want them to go through what I did. If he doesn't get into the grammar I will pay for him to go to a private secondary school with an academic focus.

[Jon L]

I noticed some comments from an unsigned entry..

"Why should my taxes go towards saving middle class toffs from having to fork out for school fees?"

I grew up in "Sin City" in Telford, went to the then v good comprehensive. I have 2 kids, both passed the grammar school tests, only one got in because they didnt have enough places.The other is in a private school.
YOUR taxes? I get no rebate from the gov for the place we are not using (£5k/y) and pay £5k taxes on the other £8k for the private place, basically I am finding TWO OTHER STATE PLACES! I am paying a large price for the breach of contract with NULab that says that there will be "free" education for all.

"..can get a good job by having the right school name on their CV"

Nothing to do with the "right school" but a lot to do with the right attitude.

"All they will do is allow middle class parents to ensure their kids don't have to mix with working class oiks,.."

"middle class"..see "sin city" above.
Both of mine have interests outside of football and smoking behind the bike sheds so would be constantly fighting a reargard action just to survive.
Great for "character building" possibly but my son in particular has ,I fear, the ability to be a very effective criminal if left in the right peer group.
As it is his peer group is very positive and has no criminal aspirations.

I am surprised I have gone private, but like a number of people above I have tried to enhance the local state school but have found it is actually cheaper in time terms to simply pay fees.

Rough rule of thumb on how good a school is:
The smaller the security gates the better the school.

[vavak]

PS - we are on our way back to the private sector!

[vavak]

Anne, you are are right. Local state is a waste of time for any help offered.

I moved my daughter in to the local State Primary from the Prep school. I thought I could contribute to the school significantly. (I was - before kids, a 6 figure earner with a top degree ) and felt I could contribute to the school... instead of working and sending the children to Private school .

We donated amost 50% of a years school fees and bought new computers. the school only has 50 pupils.. however aside from accepting our cash the PTA and the Head teacher in the school froze me out. Many of them before even finding out my name! Any offer to help was taken as an implied critisism.

I had hoped to make friends and really contribute ( other than by my wallet!) even asked about teaching for free & making meals and a host of other things - I Speak fluent French and can teach Music and Cooking .. but these people didn't want any extras.

Private school mums are often accused of being snooty and unpleasant .. is there a word for nasty and ignorant state school people who pre judge anyone from an educated backgroud ?

[Anne]

My daughter attends an independent prep. school.

I thank my lucky stars every day that a family member has volunteered to pay the fees. He had a taster of what was to come at the local state primary school when he picked up my daughter from the nursery class. I'm still not quite sure what happened, only that he has never been so offended in his life.

As far as he is concerned, paying the school fees is money well spent and I agree with him. The local state school is simply dire, and yes, I do feel sorry for the children left behind but I want primarily what's best for my own child.

Please don't tell me that I should have tried to improve the local state school by joining its committee. I did and I tried. It was a lost cause. The school was simply not interested in raising standards - it involved too much work and effort. I have never met such a bunch of procrastinators. It was really that bad.

[Sean Marshall]

Iread a comment about middle class toffs. Im from a little town called Bacup my mum and Dad were factory workes,. iM A SOCIALIST not new labour but old labour. Iwent to a secodary shchool yet my daughter sat a 11+ is going to the grammar school and where are my principles! Well the schools in Burnley are in the main rubbish and my daughter is very bright basically she will get a better education so it out the window with principles. Iwant a education system open to all with the same resources but this is not going to happen and it could be another 10 years before the schools in Burnley inprove. My daughter is not a social expeiemt and neither am i a middle class toff im just a dad wanting my little girl to succeed so hang me for that if you like ok. Ps to the ones who are sending your children to grammar schools instead of private shcools ha1ha1ha1 ha1 ha sorry no sympathy you bought ypour childs education and your hoping your child will pass the eleven plus if they dont then what!

I believe that parents would opt for state schools if the schools could create a safe and productive environment, my polish catholic, violin playing, football loathingson was bullied out of the state system by age 10 - the school did not support him and denied there was a behvioural problem in the school. If you are in a minority, by creating a majority i.e joining a faith school you can avoid the trauma of being in a standard state school.

[Caroline]

On the issue of whether faith schools are societally divisive: I worry about this too. It is especially bad for the integration of non-Christian minorities and immigrants. You're likely to find a decent CofE or RC school in most parts of London - giving Christian parents the widest locational choice. Most Asian parents need to make sure they're in a good state school catchment, and Jewish families gravitate toward North West London, where all the Jewish schools are.

[Caroline]

The rise in private school fees is, like the rise in house prices, down to England's terribly restrictive planning rules. London's population has risen during the 80s and 90s, and the growth in higher earners (read those employed in the City) has grown more than proportionately. At the same time, private schools have not expanded accordingly. Hence: increased demand for the same number of private school places, so private schools can up fees.

Normally, one would think that new private schools would enter the market. But just try to get a new school through the planning process these days. My own daughter's faith school had to wage a long battle to gain permission to expand to two-form entry. Building a new school must be prohibitive.

[Grammar School Boy]

I feel that going to a Grammar School certainly did give me a good start in life, I say this by making comparisons with friends who opted for a local comprehensive instead, however my Grammar School was grant maintained and parents donations were not far from the costs of private education.

[Lec Neli]

I do not think that this is precisely bizarre proof that Labour is, in fact, an elitist party as mentioned above but I do think though, that this is full proof that, Labour since they came to power downgraded every single day this great country into tax and expensive country to survive. This is simply additional new tax that Labour thrive on untill they get kicked out of Westminster, but as usual is going to be to late for the masses

How is this a good argument for grammar schools? Why should my taxes go towards saving middle class toffs from having to fork out for school fees? I read stories about how the children of middle class, professional parents do well at school no matter what school they go to.

What the grammar school argument is really about is making sure that in the future, these parent's offspring can get a good job by having the right school name on their CV, so the person doing the interviewing knows they're from a middle class background and therefore their kind of people.

Plenty of countries have a school system without dividing the kids by class i.e. grammar and comprehensive. New Zealand is one.

There is a deep rooted problem with the education system in this country, and grammar schools aren't some sort of silver bullet will solve all the woes. All they will do is allow middle class parents to ensure their kids don't have to mix with working class oiks, without having to stick their hands in their pockets and pay for the privilage.

[Jos Costello]

Where I live we have 2 atate primary schools - one is great for special needs children, one is great for highly able children. There are two state middle schools (which will close as Suffolk is going to a 2-tier system) and 1 state secondary, which has Technology specialist status - but there are at least 3 other good state secondaries nearby. And what happened to the research that said children's educational achievements depended more on parental support at home than on the school? I have a friend who works in the private education system (but can't afford to send her own daughter there) and she does not care because she knows that between the local schools and her own input her daughter will achieve her best.
I have no faith in expensive schools with silly uniforms, I'd rather work within the state system, make up the gaps myself and spend the money on other things.
But then I come from Holland where the independent sector barely exists...

[Lara Cooke]

I don't agree that all private schools have put up their fees by such large amounts - here in Aylmerton, Norfolk our local private school still only charges £3000 per year - and class sizes are an average of 12. I would recommend anyone to go down the private schooling route - both as an ex-teacher of state schools and as a parent.

[Digby James]

Unfortuately the gap between private and state education is a country mile wide. In my daughters school there are only eight pupils in her class and in key subjects there is a teacher and an assistant. In the state sector she'd just be another brick in the wall. If you want to give your kids an education, you just have to pay the fees. Beg, steal or borrow, just do it.

The alternative is to expose your kids to the social engineering of the Nu-Labour experiment.

[Caspian Causer]

Bizarre proof that Labour is, in fact, an elitist party, and always has been. The demolition of the grammar schools has deprived intelligent but financially stifled of an education that will push them to succeed.

The fact these fees can rise more and more is only proof of the failure of the comprehensive educational system.

[Hilary Freeman]

Isn't this a very good argument for grammar schools?

[David Smith]

Here in the Highlands we have small towns, each with a single high school serving the town and surrounding villages. Unlike the conurbations, there is no choice of school yet academic standards are good and parents and pupils largely satisfied. England, with its pre-occupation with schooling and social class, might care to examine our model.