Private school fees

[Jean Walker]

Could anyone lead me to where I could find some examples of UK private school fees. Probably not Eton or Harrow, but your regular "posh" county private school??

Want to do some reasonable comparisons with here in Oz.

[John Simkin]

You should be able to find out from here:

http://www.ukprivateschools.com/

According to a recent article published on the web the average cost is £7,500 a year. This is three times what is spent on the child receiving a state education.

[Rowena Hopkins]

I read with interest about the concept of redefining 'charity' to include the likes of Amnesty International but to the exclusion of Private Schools. I was nothing short of amazed that Private Schools were ever considered charitable in the first place!

When I discussed this with a friend who teaches at a Private school her response was that they cater to a large number of students that the government would otherwise have to cater too AND they let the locals use the school pool etc during the holidays. Wow, what amazing acts of charity.

Perhaps if these school lose their charitable status the tax breaks they recieved could be spent on building pools and even upgrading government schools that everyone could use. Now theres a thought!

Rowena

[Derek McMillan]

The largest of our local private schools is a Steiner School and they argue that their experimental educational techniques simply could not be used in the state sector.

However if I worked there and progressively educated the children of other people....I could not afford to send my children there. The irony of this was quite lost on them

The charitable status of the private schools amounts to a state subsidy.....but try telling that to the parents as they grow incandescent with rage about trade unions holding the country to ransom or about scroungers on the dole......

They remain a rather good way to jump the queue into Oxford or Cambridge as well.

[Guest]

I am intrigued also at what people will actually pay for including;

shorter terms, fewer hours in the classroom, more time and money on music, art and sport, less government interference in what to teach and how to teach it.

If these featuress work perhaps they should be tried in the state sector

[Jean Walker]

It might cheer you up a bit to know that here in Oz private schools charge about 3000/4000 pounds a year fees and then on top of that they get huge federal funding, some state funding and also run as a business with investments, donations, grants etc. The result is that some of the top private schools have over 40% more spending power per pupil than govt schools and they have no accountability whatsoever to deliver a state/national curriculum. In other words they are actually government schools which are allowed to charge fees to top up their funds. The argument given by parents of those who attend private schools is that they pay their taxes so should get them back regardless of where they send their child. They also claim (as does the federal govt) that if all kids went to state schools it would cost them even more. What they won't admit is that the problem is that we spend only 4.3 GDP on education compared with 7 or 8 % in places such as Scandinavia.

[John Simkin]

If they gain power the Conservative Party have claimed that they will encourage parents to take £5,500 out of state coffers to pay for private education. The plan forbids its use on any school with fees higher than this. It is difficult to see how this will work. With private schools costing up to £9,000 a year and new ones needed capital to set up, few new schools would emerge to take up the offer.