school fees

stashmycash

inkie wrote:

It is a huge financial commitment - we have gone down this route for our DD at a selective school, but have found the costs too prohibitive, even though she secured a 50% bursary, due to getting one of the top marks in the competative entrance examination. I expect that as your neighbours child has failed the 11 plus then she will be looking at non-selective schools. Best thing to do is to contact them directly, although most have their assessments for the new starters for next year well completed by now.

Well she thinks she can aford the fees initially 9as she has checked) but is worried about the future.
That's why I suggested she look into charities.

stashmycash

themaccas wrote:

Hi, I'm afraid the fees are only the beginning. We have 2 at private boarding schools and these are average costs each:

Complete set of uniform - £600 (should last 1-2 school years if you are careful as usually they are very good quality)
Music lessons - £110 per term
Horse riding - £145 per term
Trips - e.g Local museum - £10, Ski trip £400, Overseas expedition (Senior school) £2000-£2500
Book fair - £10
Science fair (usually free to LEA) £10

Sometimes they add on dictionaries and calculators, we've been charged for trips to the doctors, snacks, all sorts. Our bills have never been 'just school fees' that they quote at you. Every term we budget in an extra £400 to pay for extras and mine don't have everything I have listed above.

We're lucky in that we receive 90% burseries for them and IMO the standard of education they recieve is worth every penny of the 10% we have to pay.

But surely boarding schools are more expensive than day private scholols ?
Also arn't music lessons and horseriding voluntary?

stashmycash

cheepskate wrote:

If your friend cannot afford the independent school fees , another way to get good education is to go for private tuitoring.

I had this for my eldest in English, and boy WHAT a DIFFERENCE.

My son is very bright but has a auditory processing disorder, he was top at all in primary school , but seemed to go down hill in secondary school.

When we got the private English tutor he was in the beggining of 4th year and he was sitting at a 5 ( gcse's) which is the 2nd lowest mark and would have been foundation level.

Within a month my sons marks went to a 2 (credit level) and he was just 1% off a A in his exam,

He was kept in the foundation class all through the 4th year even though he was then sitting at credit level ( its hopless arguing with this school) and did not do credit level work within the school

The only credit level work my son did was with his tutor for 2 hours per week, and this got the results needed.

In my opinion a one to one tutor can with the right attitude from the child work wonders

Private one to one comes in about £25.00 / £30.00 for the hour

Hope she finds something suitable

Thanks but she needs a good school, her child doesn't need tutoring in a subject because she is bright.

stashmycash

ruthyjo wrote:

Generally you enter your child for the entrance examination for a school (these usually take place in January/February of the year you want to enter in September of) indicating on your application form that you want to be considered for the bursary/scholarship/financial assistance. Children are then ranked on the basis of entrance examination (and possibly interview). If you are amongst the top performers you get one.

For the senior school my son will be starting in September he has a bursary (means assessed) and an academic scholarship (open to all boys). We are left with a balance of approximately forty percent of the fees (£4K) to pay ourselves after these awards. If we earned less the means tested bursary would be more.

He sat the entrance examination for another independent school and actually came top in their exam and was offered a 100% scholarship. We would have had to pay for school dinners only. This scholarship was not means tested and so was open to children with parents in all income brackets. We chose not to take it because it was not the right school for him.

Basically there are as many arrangements for awarding assistance as there are schools as each school can do pretty much what they like. However I know from when I originally moved my sons at junior school level that assistance is not generally offered outside of the normal admissions round as schools use it all up every year during the admissions process. I approached a school mid year and had to wait until the following September for any assistance to kick in. I do think your neighbour might have missed out for a child needing to start in Spetember but it is worth approaching every school she is interested in to clarify their arrangements.

She has enquired and they have places.

themaccas

Hi
Boarding schools are more expensive because on top of the normal day pupil fees there is a boarding supplement. Most private schools offer day and boarding options.

Horse riding and music lessons are optional as are the foreign trips. We get upto 90% bursery because OH is in the forces and have a complete choice on which independent school to use it for. It is non-means tested.

Amanda65

We have two DD's at private secondary school (DS starts in Spetember arrrg!) and I can honestly say that although the uniform is expensive it is much better quality and lasts - my DD's skirts for eg are £37 but DD1 will leave Yr 11 in July on only her second skirt - I was forever buying skirts from Tesco and BHS at primary. My top tip would be buy big - they grow!

Trips etc. seem to be at a similar level to state schools. There are ski trips and foreign tours but these are not compulsory and no more than friends pay within the state sector.

However I would warn that the one thing we were not prepared for was the annual fee increases. Whilst we appreciated that the fees would go up, there has been a 40% increase since my eldest daughter started in the 5 years she has been there. As sadly our income has not gone up at the same rate this has caused considerable juggling of finances!

inkie

If there is any doubt about paying in the future, then I would avoid, as we have done. How would the situation sit if for wehatever reason the child had to come out of the school - you would then be left with finding a place at an LEA school, and none of the decent schools would have places as they would be oversubscribed.

ruthyjo

stashmycash wrote:

Thanks but she needs a good school, her child doesn't need tutoring in a subject because she is bright.

I thought that she had failed her eleven plus?

I would say that the attainment required to get a bursary was higher than the standard required to pass the eleven plus as lots of children are competing for a handful of places rather than a whole school year full.

ruthyjo

stashmycash wrote:

She has enquired and they have places.

Does this include bursaries still available? If not for this September, perhaps she should be asking if she will be eligible for assistance in future years and what the eligibility criteria is - often for means assessed bursaries this will be a net income below a certain level.

Also if she knows that she wants her daughter to go to a certain school that school is the best place to get costs information from. The schools I have looked at for my children have always been prepared to be frank about compulsory and optional further costs.

whatatwit

Whilst the school has places available at the moment, quite possibly all of the bursaries will have been allocated.

If your friend is able to afford the fees at the moment, then it is amazing what lengths you will go to to keep a child at a private school.

When all said and done, a child will thrive at school if they are happy irrespective of it being state or private.

My daughter's school has an agreement with a company to enable parents to pay monthly, there is a charge for this, but for me it makes budgeting easier than trying the fees for the beginning of January term.

Holidays do tend to be longer in the private sector, so if your friend works, extra childcare may need to be organised. 9 weeks in the summer for us.