prep school cost

crusty_toenail

jenheiffer wrote: »

They didn't make a very good job of teaching you to spell!:D

I know, they did try but because I'm dyslexic it is hard for me. I did however get extra time on my G.C.S.E exams which was good:)

Golden_Anemone

caz2703 wrote: »

Presuming you don't take advantage of the pre-school options, the cost to educate a child from P1 to GCSE (5th form) is ............
£100,000 in todays money! :eek:
How can you justify this? I thought normal prep schools would be dear but I had no idea there were any schools in Norn Iron who charged this much.

And if the proposal by the Minister to end the subsidy paid to Prep schools goes ahead arguably all prep schools will have to charge an awful lot more than they do currently.

She has to be betting that parents will find this extra money as the alternative is those kids being removed from the preps and placed in standard primary schools at an increased cost to the Department of Education.

36square

I know of one grammar school's prep department where most of the parents paid for private 11-plus tuition. This was despite the fact that the grammar school in question was probably one of the easiest to get into.
I suppose they were just trying to make sure but it didn't say much about their estimation of their children's academic ability.

JosieJoBelfast

http://www.deni.gov.uk/report_on_the__review_of_preparatory_school_funding.pdf

This is details of the funding for the Prep schools in Northern Ireland. Scroll to Page 21.

Rockport is a Private School -as far as I am aware it is completely privately funded. Not a 'prep' school.

A number of my friends have kids attending Fullerton, they are not very wealthy or have highly paid jobs. One works in the Voluntary sector and the other an underpaid civil servant. However they live in an area where the schools are oversubscribed and those that aren't, aren't for a reason. They are either very segregated in terms of religion, the school has more than a few issues and are simply not convenient for them.

What have they sacrificed, a holiday abroad every year. What have they gained, kids from all backgrounds being taught together benefiting from small class sizes, good pupil teacher ratio and kids that want to learn and parents that support the school and teachers in delivering the learning and curriculum.

At the moment I think the DENI contributes about £800 (30%) to the kids education in Prep schools and the rest comes from the parents. It would be lovely if the 'positives' of my friends' kids education could be available to all (although many Primaries can deliver this - but like the provision in the post primary sector) this isn't available to all.

This funding is under review and while Prep education isn't for all - I think this is an equality issue and stops parents having a right to choose if they withdraw it. I choose not to as I was lucky to get a place in a good school, if I hadn't I would have made sacrifices to send my child there.

If this 30% funding is withdrawn - it will create truly Private education, people will remove their kids into local primaries if they can get places, push up class sizes in these schools to the detriment of all, make good teaching staff redundant and thus mean that as these students will now be 100% funded - meaning there will have to be cuts elsewhere in the education budget.

Keeping this funding makes sense not to me (personal thought) - to some there is an idealogical argument against Preps- to me it is about choosing this option as a parent, same as choosing an integrated or irish medium etc or Rockport if you want private.

Just like choosing for your child to sit an AQE or GL test..but that is another thread on this website..this is a case of dismantling what is good in education rather than raising the level of provision in others were it is falling behind what parents want.

suited-aces

I'm still struggling to see the logic of a child who did ok with the advantage of a prep school being accepted before a child who did better without that advantage?

SuperMum2008

Sadly logic seems to come into it less and less...especially with the changes of the last year - but thats a whole other thread!

anotherginger

36square wrote: »

I know of one grammar school's prep department where most of the parents paid for private 11-plus tuition. This was despite the fact that the grammar school in question was probably one of the easiest to get into.
I suppose they were just trying to make sure but it didn't say much about their estimation of their children's academic ability.

one grammar school? i think is most grammar schools!

if parents are going to pay for prep education, then its not much more to pay for a tutor. i had two! a group class and one-on-one.

kltoddie

My daughter is probably going to end up at prep. Where we live, in a town of 20,000 people, there is only 1 nursery school attached to a primary school. The rest are all community association run type nurseries/pre-schools. We have her name down at this nursery for a full time place, of which there are 26, but as we aren't on benefits and she isn't a July/August birthday, her chances of getting a place are non-existant.

So the other alternative is the nursery of the prep school, at about £200/month. I'm annoyed that there aren't enough full time nursery places (attached to a primary school) to serve our town, but I'd like my daughter to have a full time nursery place at a nursery attached to a school, so I'm prepared to pay the £200/month.

I'm currently paying about £600/month for her at daycare, so paying £200/month for prep nursery plus a child minder for after nursery will actually work out significantly cheaper!

And if I bring a packed lunch and a flask to work every day, that's half the fees paid for.

KT

jenheiffer

kltoddie wrote: »

I'm currently paying about £600/month for her at daycare, so paying £200/month for prep nursery plus a child minder for after nursery will actually work out significantly cheaper!And if I bring a packed lunch and a flask to work every day, that's half the fees paid for.KT

Wow! You must have been spending a lot on lunches!:eek:

jenheiffer

suited-aces wrote: »

I'm still struggling to see the logic of a child who did ok with the advantage of a prep school being accepted before a child who did better without that advantage?

It's just the way things are here. Money still talks.:(