Your child's education: a private matter?

With the number of children attending private schools in the UK at record levels, what exactly is it that persuades so many parents to make such a significant investment in their children’s education?

Barnaby Lenon, Chairman of the Independent Schools Council, believes that success in several key areas presents a persuasive argument for many parents.

“The quality of what we are achieving in independent schools in terms of exam results, university entry, extracurricular activities and, perhaps surprisingly, soft skills is significantly better than in state schools.”

The Department of Education’s annual league tables published in February 2016 would appear to support his claim, at least in terms of average grades achieved at A-level: 85 of the top 100 schools listed were independent.

Lenon suggests the relatively low number of grammar schools in the list is surprising: “These are, after all, schools which have literally thousands of applicants, all of whom are academically tested.  A lot of the independent schools which do very well academically are not academically selecting pupils.”

But academic achievement isn’t the only reason parents choose private education: in a survey last year other top reasons cited included:

Family – 18 per cent said they chose an independent school because they or a family member were alumni. 

Connections – 24.8 per cent saw the social and professional connections attending a private school would give their children as a key motivator.

Smaller class sizes – 34 per cent of parents surveyed were attracted by the promise of smaller class sizes. 

The price of success

In the same survey 37.2 per cent of respondents considered education an investment priority. This is probably just as well, as private education is costly.

Lenon attributes an increase in demand to the stabilising of fees, which rose by an average of 3.5 per cent in 2014/15, the lowest rise since 1994, and are expected to remain that way through the remainder of 2016.

However, the rise in fees over the past twenty years means that even for quite wealthy families, the cost of putting two or more children through private education can be a challenge. A recent study found that privately educating your child in the UK costs an average of £15,500 per year in day school fees more than £30,000 per year in boarding school fees, so it’s not a decision to be taken lightly.

The importance of planning early

Increasing demand, fuelled by the ever growing number of overseas students, brings with it pressure on available places. Parents seeking to have their children privately educated would therefore be wise to apply early. As Lenon affirms, leaving the application to the senior school of your choice until your child is 10 or 11 years old could result in disappointment.

“It’s not as bad as it was 20 years ago, when you had to apply at birth, but if you apply a year before you’d like your child to attend you could very well be too late.”

The right professional advice could  enable you to invest and plan ahead so the funds are there when you need it.