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MTS hidden extras!

Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 3:22 pm
by Gottodothis3times
Hello, we are considering independent education for our son and are interested in MTS. Can anyone who has sons there give me a guide to the extra costs we might need to budget for please? I know about music lessons, coach fares and the extras shown on the fees page like Duke of Edinburgh. However I can't find anything about the uniform so have no idea how extensive and expensive that might be. Also do you have to pay for textbooks or public exam entry? How often are there compulsory trips? What about optional trips like foreign language exchanges or music tours? He wouldn't be interested in sport tours. Thank you!

Re: MTS hidden extras!

Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 4:44 pm
by Choco
Speaking generally, rather than for MTS but....

Independent schools do charge for exam entry. For a sweep of GCSEs it can be over £500 at the current time. You'll only usually pay for these in 5th and U6th. They don't usually charge for the loan of textbooks but might charge if you don't return them and might charge for books like English texts for GCSE upwards so students can annotate and keep them. Revision guides are often charged for if not produced in-house,mas they are kept.

Trips are numerous but most will be optional. They are often expensive....so a 3 day visit to France or Spain could be £500+ depending on if flying or not. Trips to places like New York or Dubai and ski trips will be well over £1k and closer to £2k in some cases. Day trips such as a theme park or a day trip to the Battle Fields are often £50+.

Uniforms often cost £600+ to buy new but most schools have a good thrift shop which sells 2nd hand decent stuff for a fraction of the price .....and which are very well used, even if only for spare items of Games kit - it's often the Games kit which stacks up in price.

Lunches on a canteen basis can be pricey if children buys snacks at break, before and after school and at lunch too. Many parents limit children to a main meal and a pudding a couple of days a week and tell them to drink water not the bottled drinks.

Basically there are extra costs but most of them can be controlled or are one-offs such as uniform (in terms of only needing a full uniform from scratch once). If things are extremely tight with your budget though, I'd avoid independent school, as although many people avoid the very expensive trips abroad which are long haul, there are regular £50+s Being added to the bill.

Re: MTS hidden extras!

Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 8:08 pm
by Gottodothis3times
Thank you this is really helpful.

Re: MTS hidden extras!

Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 8:50 pm
by Moon unit
At a private school open day we were told that most parents spent the equivalent of one extra year of fees spread over the seven years.
Lots of costs can be controlled as mentioned above.
Some things like Geography field trips can’t and are compulsory.
Some schools have much more wealthy pupils than others which can I think also make a difference if the fees are a real stretch.

Re: MTS hidden extras!

Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2019 6:58 am
by kenyancowgirl
My brother in law has put three children through private school - he budgets for a four term year (ie the three terms you have to pay for and one extra) for each child, to cover extra costs. This might seem excessive but it has allowed any of my nephews to access whatever trips are on offer (that they want to do) covers the not insignificant uniform and kit costs (and Choco is right that games kit mounts up - with most private schools offering at least 3 distinct compulsory sports, one a term, and full different kit!), as well as any etra clubs, lunches, exam and text book costs. Most private schools expect you to eat with them (they do offer sandwiches etc) but packed lunches are not so much a "thing".

Remember that there are costs associated with a state secondary too - lunches have to be paid for (or packed lunches), books are provided except for the odd English text and some A level books it is better to have your own. Trips also, but there is less expectation to go on optional ones, but no exam fees except for resits.

Re: MTS hidden extras!

Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2019 9:16 am
by Gottodothis3times
Thank you for all the responses- really helpful and providing sobering thoughts!