Private school fees (merged)

Coupon-mad

stellabgh wrote: »

I have only made a handful of posts (most on this thread), I don't know this site very well. I thought this whole forum was about moneysaving and this looked like the only place to put something about schools.

I absolutely did not intend to offend. Besides, the only people who could be offended by my original post are those with a chip on their shoulder. This will be my last post here, I'm very disappointed with the attitude of some people. This forum has obviously been taken over by people who want to drag everyone down to their level.

And with that sentence you have just confirmed what I said in my previous post on this subject.

This whole thread did appear to be continuing to crow gleefully about how much everyone else who posted can afford to [strike]waste[/strike] spend on private school education. When I posted my thoughts and borntobefree felt the same, we were told we didn't have to read the thread if we didn't want to. :mad:

Whatever happened to 'be nice to all moneysavers' has it changed to 'only read this thread if you can afford public school fees and won't try to lower the tone with talk of state schools'?

At no point have I seen a post from the OP which explains what was wrong with the local state schools. Presumably he/she visited them all in order to form a worthwhile opinion?

Lunar_Eclipse

I'm not sure why this thread has become so heated. Stella - I have found the forum to be very friendly and supportive and I think perhaps you have taken a couple of things more personally than they were intended?

Stella was asking for advice. I have children in the state sector and haven't been remotely offended by posts from others supporting the private system.

I can see some very pointed responses to those who choose (and often make massive sacrifices) to send their children privately.

Anyone with half a brain knows that not all private schools offer a good (let alone brilliant) education and that not all state schools are poor. It's great for those that have the choice IMO.

At the end of the day we all spend our hard earned money, however large or small, on the things that are a priority to us as individuals/families.

Dick_here

IMHO there are no such things as 'bad' state schools. Not in terms of the efforts that the teachers make when compared to 'good' state schools anyway, the teachers all work damn hard. There are bad parents though, and their chav approach leads to a school being populated with their yobbish little offspring. We should all feel sorry for the 'bad' schools, I know I do. Would you like to work at one of them, being sworn at, or worse, by those brats each day ?

benood

borntobefree wrote: »

Why did you post on here? You should have posted on the savings board if you wanted savings advice. I think you did set out to offend.

I think you are being rude and unreasonable and appear to want to close down the discussion - if you think that the best way to improve education in this country would be to close all private schools you might be right, but until then, along with house prices, school fees will be a topic for much chat hereabouts.

There's more potential to save money on school fees than just about anything else, cause they're so :eek: expensive.

borntobefree

This is an open forum and we are all entitled to our opinion. Once you start a thread you don't own it, they have a life of their own. The op wouldn't even discuss the fact that her basic premise is flawed "that private education is better than state education - and is therefore worth the money". I dispute this. What little support she gave to support her opinion (prejudice?) was based on her experiences as a child. She probably has never been near ANY school for decades since her child is JUST 2. I don't want to close down discussion, but you can't claim that all state schools are rubbish and all private schools are great and just expect people to agree. And as for the "people with a chip on their shoulder" :mad: comment don't get me started. I think we all understand were the op is coming from perfectly and under the circumstances I think many of us have been quite restrained and polite.

BACKFRMTHEEDGE

If the ops own private education was so great and "worth the money", why is she not in the position to easily afford the fees for one little girl's private primary school? Ummm let me think, would that be because her own education wasn't actually worth the money:rolleyes:

Rikki

My son went to private school and as a single parent a lot of sacrifices were made.

If I was looking to save to pay now I would take maximum ISA cash allowance and put as much into the share side I could manage. Even better if there is two of you.
I would pay the fees for as long as you can without touching your savings plan.

setmefree2

Rikki wrote: »

My son went to private school and as a single parent a lot of sacrifices were made.

If I was looking to save to pay now I would take maximum ISA cash allowance and put as much into the share side I could manage. Even better if there is two of you.
I would pay the fees for as long as you can without touching your savings plan.

I'm not trying to be funny but do you think it was worth it - as in value for money? Why did you have so little faith in your state school?

Lillibet_2

OMG!!!! I am totally horrified at the level of rudeness this thread has brought out in Money Savers who should know better! On behalf of the money savers who are embarassed by the applaing behaviour of money savers who should really know better, I would like to apologise to the OP & assure them that we are not all impolite.
Please can we remember Martin's fundemental rule : BE NICE TO ALL MONEY SAVERS. We are not here to judge, just offer any advice or support we can. The OP wants to send her child to private school and there is nothing wrong with considering the financial implications, indeed it is the best thign to do, & there is nothing wrong with being financially savvy about it, just as there is nothing wrong with being financially savvy about our shopping & knowing the Asda have better special offers than Tescos sometimes. The same sense applies.
The origianl request was how best to fund private schooing with a thought to money saving & minimising the long term impact on the pocket. Please can we respond to this or ignore the thread if you do not have anything function to add, it is not discussion time!

For my part, my sugessions are :

Start keeping an eye on freecycle NOW for any offers of the schools uniform/euipment which come up, and stock pile whatever may be useful. Don't forget the freecycle ethic & re-freecycle anything you don't eventually use!
Maybe invest in some toddler language courses (BBC's Muzzi? or something like that) to give a bit of a head start.
Do activites which boost confidence : dancing, swimming etc. It will hopefully all make for a more rounded child who embraces the extra opportunities which a private school may be able to offer them.
Whilst not a savings expert (I wish!) I would think either over-paying your mortgage now or else investing in a ISA, whichever has the highest interest rate, would be your best option. Alternatively, if you think you can fund the earlier, and thus cheaper, years fees out of income, save now in shares, which typically produce the best retun over a 10 year plus period,. for later on when you may need to make up the shortfall.
Investigate scholarships & grants which may be available.

I hope this helps, and I hope the OP can forgive the out of order comments.
Good luck.

Rikki

setmefree2 wrote: »

I'm not trying to be funny but do you think it was worth it - as in value for money? Why did you have so little faith in your state school?

Yes is very good value for money.
Its just not about paying for for education to pass exams. It about an all round education and taking advantage of every opportunity given to you.

When you take into consideration all the extra activities he took part in and was covered by the costs is very good value.
The costs I would have incurred paying for each activity individually each week plus the cost to take him and pick him up each time.


It wasn't lack of faith in state school. The original planning was because of travelling with work and I wanted stability for the children when they needed it. Although the states school where I am now are not the best.