Free private school places for poor - Daily Mail

ruthyjo

inkie wrote:

That's right - we were banking on getting the 1 100% fee remission place, but was offered an assisted place - therefore 50% reduction on a sliding scale due to our income. At a push we could have managed it, but then we have another DD who is younger, and also if our income went up even marginally, we would have become liable for full fees. Didn't want to be in a position to pull daugher out in future due to going under trying to pay the fees - and all the extras associated. So, Still out of our reach though! Still, hoping to get daughter into top denominational school - just waiting for the envelope! Most of the money that we will be saving by doing this will be put aside for uni.

Inkie, I feel so sorry for you and for your daughter. I think it is really hard on a year 6 child to have worked so hard and achieved an outstanding success and then have to be told she still can't go to the school she wants and has worked hard for.

I know the bursary you have is from the school, but it might be worth contacting them to see if there is any more that they can do - they might have some discretion to offer you a bit more. Also in my first hand experience a school doesn't necessarily take an award away from you because your increases above their limits so I don't think you should feel under too much pressure over the not ever earning any more thing.

What you do next probably depends on what has happened with an LEA place for you - has this yielded something you would want for your daughter? Hope so.

inkie

Have got our first choice state school - an oversubscribed denominational school, which she and we are fully happy with. I havn't let the private school know yet that she is not going - I was waiting for todau, but will now write a letter saying that we will not be able to afford it etc, they may come back with something, but the school that she has been offered is a place where many parents break their necks to get their children in, and it's a school that she loves. I was chatting with her last night and she said that if she had the choice between the LEA school and the private, she would choose the private as the oppertunities would be better - but was delighted today when I told her she had got into the LEA school.

pippamannequin

Inkie, I do believe that children that are so bright are capabale of doing just as well in a good state school as they are in a Private School. The chances they have to do other things whilst at Private school though seems to far exceed the state system.
I struggled with having to subsidise 90% scholarship for my daughter at the age of 8, I only had to find 10% but we were in debt at the time.
At eleven she was lucky enough to then gain a choice of 5 scholarships and the one she chose was 100%. It also paid for her uniform and one school holiday a year.
She is now at university in her 3rd year.

My 2 sons I knew I could never afford private education for them, even though I knew my middle one was equally as bright.
He is now 14 and the state school he is at has recognised him as 'gifted and talented' officially and he is part of an 'enrichment group'.

It is such a hard decision to make, but i know the education my daughter has had far far exceeds anything my boys have had. Although at the end of the day, I do believe my son will still complete school with very similar results to that of my daughter. I wish your daughter all the very best...:T

devils_advocate

Theres a lot of disinformation coming out of this government about private schools. As the vast majority of them are charities, and therefore non- profit making, where are the profits that the government could tax?

The average parent who send their child to a private school does not have a vast pot of money to pay the fees. Parents are very price sensitive, and if free places are going to have to be offered by the school it could probably be a lot cheaper for the parents to have the school forget about the supposed large tax breaks.

Again, most private schools do not have a large endowment fund which produces cash to fund bursaries and scholarships. These are effectively paid for by the current parents.

And how many free places would the school have to provide? if its 5%, in a primary school of 400 pupils thats 20 places. An average of 2.5 places per year group. That number won't really make an impact. If the increase in the fees necessary to pay for this forces some parents to send their kids to the local state schools, it puts even greater pressure on the better schools in the state sector, and if its true that private school pupils are better able to pass exams, could even reduce the number of grammar school places available to more desreving kids.

How then are the free places in the private sector to be distributed? The schools won't be able to accomodate all the applicants for free places, so someone is going to have to decide Is it to be the schools themselves? If so, is the school not more likely to offer the place to the child of some privately educated, but unemployable dim chinless wonder, rather than the kid of deserving but poor parents?

Finally, staff costs make up about 75% of a private school's costs. The reasons for inflation busting fee increases for all private schools in the last few years is the effect on government imposed increases in teacher's salaries, and the massive hike in teachers pension costs.

So are these new proposals likely to make a difference? If anything, they're going to have an adverse effect on the hard pressed parents in the private sector.

looby-loo_2

There does seem to be a myth about that the parents who pay for private education are all rich. So not true

alba37

k60sav wrote:

Inkie, I do believe that children that are so bright are capabale of doing just as well in a good state school as they are in a Private School. The chances they have to do other things whilst at Private school though seems to far exceed the state system.
I struggled with having to subsidise 90% scholarship for my daughter at the age of 8, I only had to find 10% but we were in debt at the time.
At eleven she was lucky enough to then gain a choice of 5 scholarships and the one she chose was 100%. It also paid for her uniform and one school holiday a year.
She is now at university in her 3rd year.

My 2 sons I knew I could never afford private education for them, even though I knew my middle one was equally as bright.
He is now 14 and the state school he is at has recognised him as 'gifted and talented' officially and he is part of an 'enrichment group'.

It is such a hard decision to make, but i know the education my daughter has had far far exceeds anything my boys have had. Although at the end of the day, I do believe my son will still complete school with very similar results to that of my daughter. I wish your daughter all the very best...:T

Sorry this is OT.. just had to say love your location, K60sav, I am there too!!!

inkie

OT - what does that mean please? Old testament?!

Scarlett1

inkie wrote:

OT - what does that mean please? Old testament?!

lol, its off topic