Election Year or Fear!

[Andy_Faber]

In fairness you probably look at them quite often but chose not to accept them or understand them!!

Strangely fees at Eton are "only" 63,000 per year - so just a 10k uplift on the mid tier schools I looked at earlier and that is inclusive of VAT. If you are going to have a donut, may as well have it with fresh cream and go to Eton!

What does seem common is the vast gulf in cost between day pupils and boarders - you can get the education and use of most facilities for half the cost of the full monty. Is it therefore value for money to board? I suspect this is where many schools make their money - especially where the guildings have been historically fully paid for

Many schools keep their heads above water (and some not, RIP Ockbrook Moravian amongst others) by taking in foreign boarders, mainly Chinese from my recollection

[Geoff Parkstone]

My kids' school specialised in Nepalese for historical reasons I never fully understood - its not that they were good at rugger. But on average only about 5-6% of fee paying students come from overseas - and the imposition of Vat will reduce that I imagine. An all to rare example of labour reducing (albeit temporary) immigration. I think that 5-6% may include kids of Brits posted abroad and paid for by foreign employer.

[swaledale]

My kids' school specialised in Nepalese for historical reasons I never fully understood - its not that they were good at rugger. But on average only about 5-6% of fee paying students come from overseas - and the imposition of Vat will reduce that I imagine. An all to rare example of labour reducing (albeit temporary) immigration. I think that 5-6% may include kids of Brits posted abroad and paid for by foreign employer.

In the interests of accuracy following a boom and bust in migration levels under the previous government, net migration to the UK dropped to pre-Brexit levels of around 200,000 in the year ending June 2025, according to new estimates from the Office for National Statistics.

Net migration—the number of people arriving long term minus the number leaving—fell to 204,000 in the year ending June 2025. This was a decline of 720,000 over the previous two years, from a peak of over 900,000. The decline was driven primarily by a 662,000 drop in non-EU net migration, although small declines in EU and British net migration also contributed.

After all you wouldn't want to be known expressing views that are demonstrably false, would you?