VAT on private school fees came into effect on 1st January 2025 across the UK. Since then, parents at some of the 2,500 private schools in England and Wales have seen a rises in fees. The economic downturn, combined with these rising fees, has sparked a national debate on whether private school is really worth the money.
Sarah*, 53, based in Staffordshire, reflects on her experience moving her 12-year-old daughter out of the private system and into the state, after having sent her four older children to private school all their lives. Not in work herself and with her husband shortly entering retirement, switching their daughter’s schools became their only option. Interview by Esme Gordon-Craig
Taking my youngest child out of the school she loved, away from the friends and teachers she adored, was not a choice I ever wanted to make.
After having privately educated my first four children, I was determined to ensure that my youngest could have those same experiences and opportunities growing up. For me, raising children has always revolved around fairness.
That’s why it was so difficult to put my daughter into the state system. Having spent my entire life dealing with private schools, I have come to internalise the assumptions and stigma that surround the state system.
Snooker champion Graeme Dott jailed for child sex abuse
Former snooker world champion Graeme Dott has been found guilty of sexually abusing two primary school-age children.
In August, he was found guilty of two counts of lewd, indecent and libidinous behaviour and on Tuesday he was sentenced to seven years in prison.
What you need to know
The High Court in Edinburgh heard how Dott subjected a girl and a boy to multiple incidents of abuse, with the girl targeted between 1993 and 1996 and the boy between 2006 and 2010.
The jury heard Dott exposed himself in front of both children, touched them inappropriately and kissed them.
What did the victims say?
- One of Dott’s victims, now in her 40s, told the court Dott had sexually abused her on multiple occasions.
- The second victim, now in his late 20s, also said he was sexually abused on multiple occasions.
- Lord Harrower, the judge, told Dott he had “robbed the complainers of a significant part of their childhood”.
- He added the behaviour bore “the hallmarks of grooming”.
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New treatment for ultra-rare ‘second skeleton’ disorder
Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP) is a “devastating, irreversible” genetic condition.
What is FOP?
- According to the charity FOP Friends, there are around 70 known people with FOP in the UK.
It is one of the rarest diseases in the world, affecting around one in a million people.
FOP is a genetic condition which leads to the body creating extra bones in locations where they should not form, including inside muscles, tendons and ligaments.
What is the treatment?
A new “disease modifying” treatment has been shown to reduce new bone growth by more than 90 per cent, reduce flare-ups and potentially offer hope for new surgical options in the future.
The drug garetosmab is an antibody that blocks a protein called activin A, which has been found to be critical in the development of new abnormal growth development in people with FOP.
63 adults were involved in the trial, which saw a massive reduction in flare-ups in the groups which received the treatment.
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Writing in , the authors said they expect the drug to enable “long term preservation of mobility and function”.
Chris Bedford-Gay, FOP Friends founder, said the community “has desperately waited for a way to stop FOP in its tracks”. He added this “is the moment a life-changing treatment comes that bit closer”.
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How the UK could rejoin the EU, step by step
Labour grandees have urged Andy Burnham to start preparing to reverse Brexit – but high hurdles would have to be overcome.
Why is it coming up now?
Sadiq Khan said he wants Britain to return to the customs union “almost straight away” and provision in the next Labour manifesto to reverse Brexit without a referendum.
However, experts are sceptical. Polls indicate a narrow majority of Britons support the idea of rejoining, but it may require more support before we could rejoin.
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What the process could look like
Experts warned it could also take five to 10 years to get back in.
Here’s how rejoining might look:
- A second vote is not technically necessary but leading experts think a referendum would likely be needed to provide a stable mandate to start negotiations with the EU.
- If the UK applied to rejoin, the EU would need to ensure the applicant met the 1993 Copenhagen Criteria.
- If talks then began, there would be a series of big issues to resolve.
- The EU could demand that Britain use the Euro and become part of the Schengen Area.
The expert analysis
Experts disagree on the likelihood the UK could be allowed to opt-out of either the Schengen Area or the Euro. Dr Thomas Sampson, economist and Brexit expert at LSE, suggested it is possible the EU would be willing to let Britain rejoin under the same deal.
But others suggested the EU would want to lock the UK into the Euro to “make it harder for [us] to ever leave”.
- The European Commission would need to approve any deal for the UK to rejoin. A majority of MEPs in the European Parliament would also have to vote in favour and all the bloc’s member states.
- Professor Catherine Barnard, an expert in EU law at the University of Cambridge, thinks negotiations and ratification could take as long as a decade.
- If talks did not start until after a Labour general election victory in 2029, it could be 2040 before Britain was back in the bloc.
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Men feel happier than women about how they look, study finds
Researchers at the BI Norwegian Business School also found men overestimated their IQ, while British people generally rated themselves less attractive than other nationalities.
What did the study find?
- Men consistently gave themselves higher ratings for physical attractiveness than women.
- Participants scored themselves between 0 and 100.
- On average, men scored 6-8 per cent higher than women.
- How attractive the participants were considered by other people was not part of the study.
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A closer look at the study
The study also found that men and women with higher IQs tended to rate themselves as less attractive.
Britons generally rated themselves less attractive than their American, Australian, Canadian and South African counterparts. Researchers suggested this could be a symptom of British manners, with more emphasis on “modesty or understatement”.
What does this mean?
Professor Adrian Furnham, who led the study, noted men often overestimate their IQ, while women typically underestimate it.
He said the similar gap in attractiveness self-ratings could be another indication of “male hubris versus female humility”. He added that more intelligent people could be “more honest”.
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How quickly triple lock could end – and possible replacement
The future of the triple lock has been thrown into question after reports Andy Burnham is being told to scrap the scheme to fund his social care plans.
Experts say that at some point, the policy will have to be replaced with a way of increasing the state pension that is “more sustainable”.
A ‘double lock’
- A double lock linked to either earnings growth or inflation has been suggested as a possible alternative.
- Tom Selby, director of public policy at AJ Bell, said the starting point for this would determine what a “reasonable value” for the state pension should be, most likely as a percentage of median earnings.
- After deciding that figure, Selby said, you put in place “a sensible plan to reach that level”.
Link to earnings
Maike Currie, vice president of personal finance at PensionBee, said the simplest replacement would be an earnings-only link. This would mean the state pension broadly maintains its value relative to working people’s incomes.
But the Institute for Fiscal Studies has previously recommended introducing the “smoothed” earnings link, which means pensioners receive inflation protection if inflation exceeds earnings.
Simple link to inflation
- Former pensions minister, Steve Webb, said another approach could link the state pension to inflation.
- This approach would create “big savings”, he said.
- But it would also substantially weaken the state pension at a time when millions of retirees are coming up to state pension age with very modest private savings.
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Who will be the most affected?
Currie said the triple lock being scrapped would impact people of all ages.
“For someone close to retirement, scrapping it could have a more immediate impact on their expected income,” she said.
As for younger generations, “the effect could potentially be greater over the long term, as smaller annual increases compound over decades”.
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How AI could help screen for type 2 diabetes
Artificial intelligence (AI) technology could be used to analyse speech to screen people for the disease, a study suggests.
What you need to know
- The tool was trained using more than 63,000 voice samples from more than 21,000 people in the UK and US.
- It was trained to detect changes in speech which have been linked to type 2 diabetes, such as increased hoarseness and an inability to control breath.
- The study found that the speech model gave a higher risk score to those who reported having type 2 diabetes 80 per cent of the time.
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How effective is it?
Giedre Cepukaityte, research scientist at tech company thymia, said the technology “opens a new route to screening for diabetes”. But she emphasised it is “not a replacement for a blood test”.
The technology performed well across different ages and genders, but its performance was lower on Black patients.
It also wasn’t as effective with recordings from people with heart disease, high blood pressure or obesity.
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AI gets a cautious welcome
Dr Lucy Chambers, head of research impact and communications at Diabetes UK, said: “AI-based technologies could help identify more people who may benefit from diagnostic blood tests, but it’s crucial that they are rigorously designed and tested to make sure no-one slips through the net.”
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More than half of international students are influenced by British fictional characters when deciding to study at universities here.
2,500 UK-based students from the US, China, India, Pakistan and Nigeria were surveyed for the British Council.
What are the key findings?
- It found that 83 per cent of international students said British culture was an important reason why they decided to study here.
- 59 per cent said fictional British characters were a draw, with 19 per cent citing Peppa Pig and 21 per cent Mr Bean as examples.
- British cultural icons like Princess Diana and David Beckham were also a major influence.
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Importance of soft power
A majority (62 per cent) of respondents said the UK music scene had been a major or strong influence on their decision to study here.
Among those who cited music, Ed Sheeran was the top named artist with 18 per cent, followed by Dua Lipa, Coldplay and Harry Styles.
What does this mean?
Catriona McCarthy, the British Council’s interim director for education, said the results tell us it is “crucial” that Britain remains “culturally vibrant” in order to retain its status as a global leader in higher education and attract the best students from around the world.
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How to be more grateful for daily life in five easy steps
The world feels like a difficult place at the moment, and it can feel very hard sometimes to find things to be thankful for; when we are overwhelmed, we have less capacity to notice and reflect on the good things. Yet, ironically, proactively cultivating gratitude is one of the things that can actually help us feel less stressed.
NHS GP dR RADHA
The science
Research has shown that feeling or expressing thanks can actually alter our brain.
- The balance of neurotransmitters change; more serotonin and dopamine (feel good chemicals) are produced.
- This can be long lasting if we make gratitude a regular habit.
- We also get a decrease in our cortisol (stress hormone) levels which helps lower anxiety.
- Being grateful can strengthen the nerve pathways which triggers positive emotion.
How can we build gratitude?
Change your words
Instead of seeing something as a problem, try to see the opportunities within it.
Our brains are very receptive and what we read or write can alter our emotional system.
Express it
This will not only make you feel good, but you will also get a positive response from others.
How can we build gratitude?
Notice more
Throughout your day, try to notice all the things that are going well; has someone opened a door for you, or smiled?
The basics
By being thankful for the small things every day, we are far more likely to be and stay healthy so that we can enjoy them.
What to do
Gratitude can lead to feelings of optimism, lower our blood pressure, and improve sleep quality.
- Write down what potential good aspects there are to the things you don’t feel like doing, or even what could be worse about it.
- Spend a few minutes writing down three things that you are looking forward to that day, or the good things that have happened to you that day.
- Say thank you to yourself for the things you have achieved, or managed to get through and changed that day.
However, after the 20 per cent VAT increase and the removal of business rate relief by Labour in January 2025, my daughter’s school fees rose above £6,000 a term with an extra £350 for lunch. We just couldn’t stretch it anymore.
But even before this change, my husband and I were already struggling to pay the fees. The added financial pressure was just the last straw. The mixture of having already sent our first children to private and now my husband entering retirement has made a future in the private system unsustainable.
And so, at the beginning of September this year, my daughter, aged 12, started at her local state school, the result has, so far, surprised me.
My biggest fear was how my daughter would settle in. Was she going to be bullied for coming from a private school? Would she be ignored in class by teachers who are overworked and underpaid? Come home crying every day because she misses her old friends? Or will she become disenchanted by education, put down her books and pick up a social media addiction instead?
Those were my assumptions based on decades of entertaining stereotypes. The reality has been quite different.
The transition couldn’t have been smoother. She’s settled in incredibly well, found new friends, and even joined the school council. It’s reminded me that all children are just children, that they don’t have the hang-ups we adults do.
There are differences, of course, but most of them have actually felt more like improvements rather than any regression. For example, the sport’s facilities are brilliant. Unlike her previous school, her new school has an indoor pool. They have space for pitches and offer an excellent variety of sports. She’s doing cross-country, football, netball, and rugby, which the school is known for nationally.
I also had no idea that she would be offered such a choice of after-school and lunchtime clubs. Along with sports, she can also do theatre, chess, art, music, dance, photography, and even cribbage.
I am lucky, though. Properties in the catchment area for this school demand a premium and it takes no more than 10 minutes to drive to.
Likewise, the quality of the teaching has proven to be equal to, if not better than, what she experienced in the private system. She’s found classes to be far more engaging. But it’s still been an adjustment for her. Private schools don’t have to adhere to the national curriculum, so right now she’s having to play catch-up. Luckily for me, she loves to learn. This would have been harder if this was one of her older sisters who has dyslexia and who benefited massively from the extra assistance that her private school provided.
The transition around lunches has been a trickier one. The school are still yet to set up her account with their cashless biometric system which requires a thumbprint to organise payments. So, unfortunately for me, I’m now on packed lunch duty, which, to be honest, she’s more than happy with. But the canteen lunches are still good, healthy and inexpensive (£2.95 for a main course and pudding).
There’s still the worry that being in such a big school will mean she’ll receive less attention, academically and pastorally. She’s only been there a few weeks, so this is still difficult to measure. But so far, there’s been no signs of this. I can still email the school if there’s a problem and my daughter certainly doesn’t feel overlooked in class. Even on arrival, the attention to detail matched what I’ve experienced in the private system. After discovering my daughter’s love for running, she was matched with the fastest runner in the class – they’re now best friends. Sounds simple but it’s these little things that reassure anxious parents like myself that our children are going to be taken care of.
One drawback she’s mentioned is the difference in how free time is spent. “At break, no one plays. We just hang out,” she told me after her first week. By encouraging play during breaktime, I always enjoyed how private schools keep children younger for longer.
Saying this, as a 12-year-old on the cusp of her teenage years, she is enjoying the newfound freedom and independence that state school brings. Rather than walking her into school, she now walks in alone. And in the afternoon, we’ve arranged where we meet, allowing her the space to leave school with her local friends. Reluctantly, this has meant getting her a phone.
Despite always believing that confidence comes from doing things by yourself, I am the type of parent who likes to get more than involved in their child’s education. But at the new school there is undoubtedly far less room here for helicopter parenting. I still don’t know any of her teachers, friends or parents of friends, and I don’t know yet how that’s going to change – or if it will. Frustrating for me, but I’m learning it’s actually incredibly rewarding for the children.
When you pay for school, you want to know exactly what you’re paying for so to ensure you’re getting value for money. Private school is much more about the relationship between the parent and the provider. I’ve come to realise how much they’re designed for and marketed towards us parents, rather than the children themselves. In her old school, events such as sports day, matches and music recitals felt, first and foremost, like an occasion for parents to socialise and the luxurious facilities that it boasted felt more like a way to wow us parents, rather than help the children. Do 11-year-olds really want to do yoga?
I am missing the social side of her last school. But I won’t miss the judging, the competitiveness between pushy parents, or the feeling that I’ve let my child down because I can’t afford the school trip (their ski trip cost over £1,650).
But this isn’t about me, it’s about my child. And what matters most is that right now she’s learning, and she’s happy where she’s learning, and who she’s learning with. It feels as if I’ve unlocked a superpower. I’m educating my child, and it costs absolutely nothing.