Hey all
Posting in General but hoping for some serious discussion.
I am becoming increasingly disappointed with the local school in our village. Now it's not a bad school by any means, but it's just not that good either. Average on the Ofsted report, which I didn't initially believe because I thought the school was better, but I see it now that our kids have been there a while. They don't push the kids enough, and large class sizes make it difficult for teachers to dedicate much time to individual children.
Short of it is that I want to put the kids into privately funded education, but I'm scared of making the financial commitment. I would have to eventually put all 3 kids through, with fees of around £12k each per year, so taking up something like a £50k pre-tax annual income.
This could be a long-term commitment to make, anywhere from 7 years (if they qualify for grammar schools) or 15 years (and then Uni!). I wouldn't want to pull the kids out once they are in, so I need to know that I can fund the full education. It would be easy if I only had one kid to put through school... but with 3, how will I continue to find £3k/month purely for their school fees for years to come?
Even if I was guaranteed contracting income for the next 10 years, I would still be worried about making this level of commitment (you can see that this is a big word for me!), but the reality is that I am in my last contract and will be going permie by the end of 2013.
The other option is to move house, into an area with better local schools, but this will prove more difficult, having to find a suitable property, moving away from family/friends etc. And homes in good catchment areas seem to cost 20% to 30% more than in our area.
For those of you who have kids, have you considered putting them into private schools? Or already done so? How do you mentally get round to the idea of having to pay fees for that amount of time?
Bang goes the early retirement
Posting in General but hoping for some serious discussion.
I am becoming increasingly disappointed with the local school in our village. Now it's not a bad school by any means, but it's just not that good either. Average on the Ofsted report, which I didn't initially believe because I thought the school was better, but I see it now that our kids have been there a while. They don't push the kids enough, and large class sizes make it difficult for teachers to dedicate much time to individual children.
Short of it is that I want to put the kids into privately funded education, but I'm scared of making the financial commitment. I would have to eventually put all 3 kids through, with fees of around £12k each per year, so taking up something like a £50k pre-tax annual income.
This could be a long-term commitment to make, anywhere from 7 years (if they qualify for grammar schools) or 15 years (and then Uni!). I wouldn't want to pull the kids out once they are in, so I need to know that I can fund the full education. It would be easy if I only had one kid to put through school... but with 3, how will I continue to find £3k/month purely for their school fees for years to come?
Even if I was guaranteed contracting income for the next 10 years, I would still be worried about making this level of commitment (you can see that this is a big word for me!), but the reality is that I am in my last contract and will be going permie by the end of 2013.
The other option is to move house, into an area with better local schools, but this will prove more difficult, having to find a suitable property, moving away from family/friends etc. And homes in good catchment areas seem to cost 20% to 30% more than in our area.
For those of you who have kids, have you considered putting them into private schools? Or already done so? How do you mentally get round to the idea of having to pay fees for that amount of time?
Bang goes the early retirement
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