11 Plus Exams Forum

Being a saturday and a little bored I just decided to look at some of the schools popular on this site and those that top the league tables and I am truely shocked that quite a few good ones cost under or just over £4000 a term like habs, st pauls, north london collegiate and city for girls. Some of these are in london and I expected them to cost much more.

So why are schools in my neck of woods really expensive? even the rubbish ones are over £5000 a term. It really make a big difference when you add that up per year especially when you're counting all pennies ...

Just a few I have looked at in my area and the termly day fees
Sevenoaks - £5 500
Kings School Rochester - £5 140
Kings School Canterbury- £6 900
Walthampstow - £4740 ( the cheapest)
Tonbridge - £7179
Sutton Valance £5390

I should have played the lotto today

Some or all of these are part-boarding and that always seems to send fees up for day pupils as well. Whether that is because the day pupils get to benefir from the boarding facilities as well or whether boarding schools want to discourage day pupils I don't know but other people on this forum will.
Fees apart, there are also other issues connected to being a day pupil at a boarding school which others may be able to advise on.

Many private schools seem to spend money in a way that other organisations don't. Paid sabbatical for heads (Hampton), allowing heads to spend their time writing books (Brighton Collage), general over the top spending (St Paul's). Like him or loathe him Chris Woodhead's lower cost independent schools show it does have to be so expensive with year after inflation busting fee increases. I say schools should have a fee freeze.

ealingmum wrote:Many private schools seem to spend money in a way that other organisations don't. Paid sabbatical for heads (Hampton), allowing heads to spend their time writing books (Brighton Collage), general over the top spending (St Paul's). Like him or loathe him Chris Woodhead's lower cost independent schools show it does have to be so expensive with year after inflation busting fee increases. I say schools should have a fee freeze.

agreed .... always amazed by the notepaper.....

And the cartel fee fixing

And the man sitting in reception on a saturday

And the uni-purpose sports hall

A large number of the schools within the M25 are supported by livery companies and as such have huge endowments: Habs, CLGS, MT etc. Those that have relocated (St P's) also do not have the same listed building upkeep whereas the schools set in ancient buildings have a whacking bill each year. Class sizes in London tend to be much larger. To opt for an inde school outside of London there have to be some really large selling points as often the state schools are good, so having very small class sizes is often a major draw. Many London schools (not all) start off with about 24 in the class whereas outside of London it is usually between 14-16 going down to around 5-8 at A'level (and sometimes 1or 2) in many schools.

sherry_d wrote:quite a few good ones cost under or just over £4000 a term like habs, st pauls, north london collegiate and city for girls.

I'm not sure what figures you looked at but St Paul's IS expensive -

Girls: £5055 per term (and you have to buy your own text books)

Boys: £5796 per term.

I do agree that some non-London schools seem surprisingly expensive - a friend's son is at a school in Surrey where day fees are £6200 a term (though you are also paying for the privilege of them going to school 3 Saturday mornings a month)!

As well as Saturdays the day is always much longer. I know the day boys at Winchester finish at 9:30pm but I believe the average to be around about 7-8pm and rarely before 6pm and this does not include extr curric activities. Even at the prep schools they tend to finish slightly after 6pm from Yr4 with the option of staying until 7:30pm.

I did once visit Tonbridge school, one of the most expensive schools in this country. Its like a university campus. The facilities are outstanding in every way.
The sports pitch is a bit like Lords!