How private school parents game the system by switching to state sixth form

For Jenny and her year 11 son, Max, this year's sixth form open days have been highly stressful. Although Max is thriving at his independent school in Buckinghamshire, his parents have decided that the new Government’s introduction of VAT, on top of fees, has made staying on for sixth form unaffordable. With their younger daughter also privately educated, their monthly fees are about to rise from £5,000 to £6,000. “It’s not doable,” says Jenny. “We don’t have anything left for a rainy day, we’re not paying into a pension, we buy our clothes on Vinted. The only way we could find the extra £1,000 each month is to get a weekend job on top of my full-time one or take out a loan.” (Photo: CSA Images/Getty)

Time for a new start

Instead, the family are turning the post-GCSE transition into a ‘new start’ in the state sector, and she knows many parents doing the same. “The open days at our local sixth form grammars were absolutely packed. They ran out of parking spaces and had to bus us in,” she says. Max, who has been diagnosed autistic and ADHD since starting in private school, is struggling with the prospect of change – and though he is predicted top GCSE grades, Jenny believes that when it comes to admissions at the state grammars, he is at a disadvantage. “We’ve applied to three sixth form grammars, and he needs to get above and beyond what the current students from the lower school need to secure a place,” she says. “The grammar school students need 49 points – those from outside realistically need about 56 points – so that’s extra pressure. He’ll also be interviewed by a panel. There might not be a place for him. I’ve spoken to so many other parents like me and I can’t see how our children will all have a place to go.” (Photo: Ben Birchall/PA)

'Competing against private school students for places'

Many state school parents have opposite concerns. Liz is currently supporting her year 11 daughter through applications to some of London’s most competitive sixth forms. “The queues to get in on open days are insane and I’ve stood next to so many private school parents,” she says. “I’m very aware that their children have had all the resources money can buy. They’ve been educated in small classes. They’ve had a different level of individual attention, coaching and spoon-feeding and now they’re competing against our children for places, armed with higher predictions and polished interview technique.” (Photo: Star Academies/PA)

Much conjecture on the impact of VAT

Liz is looking at schools like Camden School for Girls and Harris Westminster. “Obviously [the schools] want as many high achieving, Oxbridge-material students as possible. We could debate private education and what’s fair until the cows come home, but when people start changing lanes at sixth form, it seems clear [to me] that the winners will be the private school kids.” With deadlines about to close for admissions, there has been much conjecture on the impact of VAT on private school fees and whether it will create an impossible crush for the best state sixth forms. (Photo: Jan Kruger - The FA/The FA via Getty)

Parents are feeling the pressure

Jo Trump, principal at one of the country’s top-ranking sixth forms, Hills Road in Cambridge, is all too aware that parents are feeling the pressure. “I have definitely heard parental anxiety about the issue at open days, including a father asking me what I was going to do about the problem,” she says. “I assume he meant I could somehow magically open new buildings or expand capacity.” Trump remains unconvinced that there will be a genuine surge in demand from private school students. “Our application deadline closes very soon and then we’ll know more, but right now, I think the problem is more imagined than real,” she says. “In all recent years the percentage of students joining us from independent schools has been between 13 per cent and 14 per cent and we are not expecting any dramatic change as a result of the VAT. Time will tell!” (Photo: Joe Giddens/PA)

Not often prompted by fee hikes alone

Estimates on how many children will leave private education because of the VAT on fees vary wildly, and so far, are not broken down by phase or stage of education. However, a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) suggests only a small drop in the short term, and perhaps a three to seven per cent reduction over the medium to long run. Francis Green, professor of work and education economics at UCL and co- founder of the Private Education Policy Forum, is convinced that talk of an exodus is an exaggeration. “The enormous amount of press coverage might have scared some parents,” he says, “but the best statistical evidence shows that the impact of past changes to private school fees on attendance isn’t great. Average fees have gone up three times faster than inflation since the 1980s – they’ve risen by 70 per cent since the turn of the century – but the share of pupils in private schools has remained very steady at around six to seven per cent.” Put simply, fee hikes alone rarely prompt parents to pull their kids out of private education. Instead, they tend to find the extra cash. (Photo: Aaron Chown/PA)

Reasons to move into state sixth form

For those parents who are feeling the pinch, however, Green concedes there may be additional reasons to move into the state system for sixth form. There is often a wider choice of subjects on offer, more freedom and independence for pupils, or in the case of single sex private schools, the lure of the opposite sex. “It’s the most likely stage where the pupil might be making more of the decision than the parents,” says Green. More relevant still is the fact that top universities are under pressure to give more offers, or lower ‘contextual’ offers, to state school sixth formers. “I have heard of families gaming the system, going private then moving to state sixth form for that reason – I know of one 15 year old considering it now – so it’s possible that state-run sixth form colleges will be the beneficiaries of that added demand,” he says. “The overall impact is impossible to predict.” If this ‘perfect storm’ does create a squeeze for places in the most popular sixth forms, will state school pupils really lose out? (Photo: Graeme Robertson/Getty)

All pupils must meet entrance criteria

Sixth forms have different selection criteria but many do offer priority to pupils from their lower school, or neighbourhood ‘feeder schools’. This is the case for Hills Road in Cambridge. “Our admissions policy means we exist to serve students who meet our entry criteria and have attended local Cambridge Area Partnership schools,” says Trump. “After that, we allocate places by distance, meaning that successful applicants need to live within a certain distance of the College. This inevitably has a limiting effect on the numbers we can take who travel a long way in, which might include some pupils at private schools, though not by design.” Other sixth form colleges, like Harris Westminster which secured 57 Oxbridge offers this year, offer preference to students who have been in receipt of free school meals in their secondary education – this group comprise around half the intake. The remaining 50 per cent come from a wide range of economic backgrounds, including private schools. All pupils must meet entrance criteria, take an exam and are then interviewed. (Photo: David Davies/PA)

Sixth forms looking for potential

Although state school parents may feel that private school children are at an advantage here, most sixth form colleges stress that they are looking for potential, quickness to learn and love for a subject rather than detailed knowledge. Sarah, a teacher with more than 30 years’ experience in a highly successful state sixth form in south-east London, would like to put an end to the myth that they are clamouring to attract private school pupils. “If pupils are doing well in private school, if they’re happy and achieving, then parents don’t tend to move them,” she says. “In reality, the ones who leave are often not doing as well as their peers, or they’ve been asked to leave by their school post-GCSE, or they come with problems. “Our biggest problem is often poor-quality students from the local private schools taking up our time with drug issues or special educational needs.” (Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA)

Government: VAT changes 'will raise £1.3-1.5bn'

For staff managing stretched sixth form budgets, the possibility of extra funding coming their way as a result of the VAT changes – which the government says will raise an extra £1.3bn to 1.5bn per year – is welcome news. At present, private sixth forms are much better funded than state ones, by a factor of two or three. Sarah’s sixth form takes about 25 students a year from private schools, and she does not expect the VAT on fees to change this ratio. “The open days, the applications, the exams, the results, it’s such an anxious time,” she says. “But I really don’t think people should be too concerned that there’ll be a new pressure on places,” she says. (Photo: Isabel Infantes/PA)