Another 8% fee increase at Hornsby House school Post Reply

[readysteadycook]

For the second year in a row, Hornsby school have just announced that fees will go up again by around 8% - since we started in September 2021, they have gone up around 20%.

Lower school is now £6,385 a term (including lunch) and a chunky £6828 for us next year as we start the Upper school. That’s the same as many Secondary private schools !

We are only a few years in at Hornsby, but there are now a few of us that wonder if we can afford to stay if this continues.

What fee increases have other schools announced ? What cheaper private options do we have ?

I think it’s back to the State system for us if this continues, very few get pay rises to match this, especially with mortgage rates going through the roof.

Bonkers 

[Secondaryschool 2022]

I think HH fees are still the cheapest in the area … you just have to go on some of the local schools website and you can see that most Prep (what HH calls upper school) are between £7,500 and £7,800. HH doesn’t charge for most clubs while other schools in the area will charge you for every single club on top of the fees and some charge you on top of that for lunch

I am not suggesting the increases are easy to swallow just that HH is still good value !

[Abbmun]

But aren’t the more expensive schools all the non charities ie owned by private equity or creaming a profit off for the owner, with associated tax implications of a non charitable status? I think only HH and Finton are charities in this area and hence the most relevant comparison.
Private schools will become only more elite with the election of labour and imposition of some level of VAT, which is a real shame.

[workingmum62]

Isn’t inflation running at 10%? So 7.5% is below inflation. To put it in context Thomas’s also increased their fees by 7.9%.
Hornsby upper school will be £6453 compared to Thomas’s £8270. I would therefore say Hornsby is a complete bargain!
Hornsby is a charity and plug everything back into the school. They have to put fees up as energy costs, food, etc have all gone up. As long as inflation is running high school fees will rise. Not sure how they would survive otherwise.
Hornsby is and will continue to be (IMO) one of the best schools in the area and kids are extremely lucky to go there.

[Greyskies]

As Working Mum says, a below inflation fee increase is effectively a fee cut. Unless the educational offer has been curtailed, the school is doing well. 

[readysteadycook]

As Working Mum says, a below inflation fee increase is effectively a fee cut. Unless the educational offer has been curtailed, the school is doing well. 

Maybe if peoples salaries go up by inflation. They aren’t, maybe 4-5% is what most people are getting as pay increases.

[Goldhawk]

Does anyone know how much Broomwood are charging next year?

Cheaper options maybe Eveline Day, Dolphin and the White House?

[waltzer]

Presumably they have increased running costs to cover as well as salary increases, supplies, energy etc. The increase seems fair, especially reading about other local schools fees. 

[Goldhawk]

I have heard that the upper years at Honeywell and Henry Cavendish are no longer full so transferring to state may be easier

[Pigeon5]

As others have said, compared to similar preps in the area, the fees are very competitive. To be honest, there is no way these fees are going anywhere in the next few years except up- both as a function of inflation and goodness help us if we end up having to pay VAT on top. With the change of uniform also coming in at HH it does make for some rather painful accounting but I suppose that is what we signed up for!

[Tial]

I’m with pigeon5. It’s what you signed up for… and you need a big buffer, preferable a lump sum in the bank, for school fees rather than paying from monthly income to shield you from shocks like these. We purposely avoided the private route for this very reason - far too stressful and life impacting financially and for what benefit I’m not too sure…

[Bibbity]

Hill House is considerably cheaper. Maybe also look east to schools like Rosemead and Oakfield - both on the South Circular.

[Eee75]

As someone else wrote smaller schools like Eveline Dolphin or White House are slightly cheaper, smaller classes and no additional tutoring is required on the top like HH. Eveline also includes wrap around care and open 51 weeks a year which makes is even more cost effective.

[LMPN79]

As previous posters have said, fees (and mortgages) are only going on way and that is up. There are countless excellent state options, why make financial choices you clearly cannot afford? Private schools are increasingly for the mega wealthy.

[Sunnydays12]

Vote with your feet. We left Thomas’s Battersea partly because the fees in Y6 were higher than for an A level student at Alleyn’s. And the school was in our experience poor value. Lack of individual attention, expensive clubs etc.