Private School no longer affordable?

Private schooling no longer affordable for many

Events of the last 5 years – the impact of Covid and the rise in the cost of living – have seen a decline in the number of families able to send their children to private schools. Independent schools saw a drop in enrolments of over 2.7 % in the last academic year, according to the Independent Schools Council, which represents approximately 3000 fewer children starting a private education.

These figures were published before the Labour government’s decision to add 20% VAT on to private school fees – a figure which could add £50000 to the average cost of a private education for a student from Reception through to Year 13. An ISC survey found that 20% of parents ‘would definitely’ withdraw their children from private schools if VAT was added and the Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that 40000 children will move from private to state schools as a result of this – a figure which some experts think is a modest prediction.

Increased burden on state schools

This is likely to mean a huge influx of students needing to access state education – a system which is already strained and underfunded. Students who are used to enjoying the many benefits of a private education will be going into a school where class size is already regularly over 30, lessons are often delivered by non-specialists (as well as non-teachers), and buildings are increasingly not fit for purpose.

This increased demand for state school places will mean that students from all financial backgrounds could find themselves unable to get places at local schools and be forced to travel miles to get an education which, even then, may not be the one their parents want for them.

What can be done

Few of us have the ability to bring about the changes needed to repair our education systems – whether that is state schools or private. We have a state education system which is strained to breaking point in some places and a private education system, which should be taking the pressure off the state schools, being made less affordable. The outcome is obvious: more and more students trying to access an inadequate education system.

Some parents with children currently in the private sector are able to pay their school fees up front before the 20% VAT comes into effect in September 2025  and so may be able to get around this issue, but many either can’t afford to do this or their schools won’t allow it.

So what options are left to the families who can afford private education now but may not be able to afford the extra 20%?

I’m not going to pretend that, as a private tutor, I can fill the gap for families who can no longer send their children to private schools but tutors like me can help.

A recent article in The Independent (https://www.independentschoolparent.com/school/the-benefits-of-private-schools/) lists some of the benefits of being able to send your children to a private school and many of these benefits can be offered by hiring a private tutor for your child.

More attention and One-to-One lessons

Class sizes in private schools are commonly about 15; my biggest class in my last year of teaching was 34. This class size made it a huge challenge to ensure that all students got enough attention and is one of the reasons why I left the profession. In a 60-minute lesson, that would mean each child could have 1 minute 45 seconds of my time (and that relied on the other 33 just getting on with their work while I did that!) Obviously lessons can’t and don’t work like that, but you can see the impossibility of giving every student the attention they need and deserve.

In private tuition sessions, each student gets my full and undivided attention for 60 minutes – no waiting around with their hands up; no wasting time while the teacher is speaking to another student; no fading into the background if they can’t get the voice heard. All students will benefit from this. One- to-one tuition allows the student to ask all of the questions they have, seek clarification when they need it, get feedback instantly and go at the pace that suits them.

Bespoke Education

One of the things parents often say when faced with a poor report at Parents Evening, is that their child doesn’t like the book/topic/class. I could sympathise with these students – there were often topics and texts I really did not enjoy teaching either! There’s not much a teacher can do about that– the National Curriculum and exam board specifications dictate what we teach students, and the teacher is then restrained by the resources available to them in the school. The chances of a teacher being able to pick a topic or text to suit every student in their (large) class, are slim.

Private schools are free of some of these restrictions and, as a tutor, I can offer more of this freedom. At Key Stage 3, I can choose texts and topics with the child to suit their interests which will make it far more likely they will engage with the lessons; we can work on the areas which they need help with rather than them having to go over things they many have already mastered because of the needs of the rest of the class. The pace of the lessons can be dictated by the child’s needs and ability.

If your child is having tuition alongside their school education, GCSE and A Level text choices will be dictated by exam boards and it would not benefit the child to be taught different books in a tutoring session, but that does not mean that the sessions cannot be bespoke to the individual child. There are many different ways to teach every text, and a tutor should be able to find the way that suits your child so it will still be easier for them to engage and enjoy their sessions.

If your child is being home schooled, they will be able to select their set texts with the tutor thus making the sessions entirely bespoke.

Excellent teaching

Whether you are sending your child to a private school or a state school, you are very unlikely to ever be able to choose your child’s teacher. In a perfect world, every teacher would be equally brilliant – inspiring, knowledgeable, excellent at communicating their knowledge, well organised, hard-working, entertaining even – and thousands are. Sadly, falling numbers of teachers means that schools are often forced to appoint people who are not cut out for teaching. The good teachers are increasingly overloaded with ‘non-teaching’ tasks and so they may not be able to be as brilliant as they might once have been. The result is a ‘luck of the draw’ situation each summer when new timetables are published.

This is not the case if you hire a good private tutor. When you hire a private tutor, you can choose who teaches your child and you can guarantee that that tutor is not overloaded with other tasks which might take them away from planning the very best lessons for your child.

As a tutor, my priority is to get to know exactly what your child needs to help them succeed in English and enjoy their lessons. I will plan lessons that cater to their specific needs and find resources that will benefit them, taking into account their preferences, their ability and the ways that they like working. I can adapt my pace so that I slow down if there is something they need more support with and speed up if they master something more quickly. What’s more, I can give feedback on their work as they do it, helping them to understand when they have made mistakes rather than expecting them to look back much later and notice where corrections have been made. This makes it far easier for students to act on suggestions and improve the quality of their work.

I may not be able to offer the range of extracurricular activities and opportunities your child enjoyed at a private school, but I believe that I can help to fill the academic hole left for children who are moving from private to state schools.

If you would like to arrange private tuition for your child, please contact me.