FINANCE SCHOOL FEES
In and Out
of private education?
Do you really need to pay school fees throughout your child’s education,
or are there circumstances when ‘going state’ might be the best option?
Sarah Edworthy asks parents who have joined the In and Out Club
hen it comes to private
W
schooling, you could say
that the canniest parents
in the land belong to
the In and Out Club. With the cost of
independent school fees rising faster than
average household incomes, it can be a shrewd
policy to opt in and out of the state system to
preserve savings for the most vital periods of a
child’s education.
From the outside, core members of the
In and Out Club seem to have nerves of
steel – not to mention admirable long-
term planning abilities and an address
in a superior catchment area – as
they move their children with the
dexterity of the trader parlaying his
investments into a large fortune.
In the economic climate of today,
however, membership of the In
and Out Club appeals to all,
with or without the catchment
advantage. It pays to be savvy.
And that starts with considering
the pros and cons of engineering an
education in this way.
For example, when is it most advantageous
to opt into the state system? Does it jeopardise
your child’s chance of winning a place at
public school? Might it improve their chance
of acceptance by a top university later on?
Is it more successfully orchestrated with
girls, who move at 11-plus, than boys whose
parents intend them to go down the Common
Entrance route?
According to current belief, the ideal
trajectory goes like this: nursery (private),
primary (state), Year 7 to GSCE (private),
50 FIRST ELEVEN SPRING 2010 WWW.FIRSTELEVENMAGAZINE.CO.UK
pp50-52FESPR10 Finance InOUTmgSMsub2.indd 50 28/1/10 18:20:28
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