I was very lucky. I went to a private school, Alleyn’s in Dulwich.
I passed the 11+ but my hard-up parents didn’t have to pay the fees as they were picked up by Labour-controlled London Borough of Southwark (that so cheers me up) under a system which has now been scrapped.
I wouldn’t be lucky today. My parents were very ambitious for their three children but I believe the imposing of 20 per cent class war tax by Labour would definitely have finished that dream.
It will be those families on the financial edge, who scrap holidays and nights out to give their children what they view as the best education, who will have to remove their kids and dump them into a state system which can’t cope with the numbers they have now.
A survey showed that 42 per cent of the 500,000 pupils will be taken out. That is an enormous number.
In a good piece of work, The Telegraph reveals that even if the parents pull their children out there is no guarantee that there will be places in the state system.
The Labour Party could introduce 20 per cent VAT on private school fees if they win the General Election
PA
Councils which have issued warnings about availability for ‘’in-year’’ include Cambridgeshire, which says on its website it has ‘’no available spaces in secondary schools in the Fenland area’’, and Oxfordshire, which lists several areas that have very few, or no places.
Wokingham Borough Council has told parents that ‘’all schools’’ are heavily oversubscribed and ‘’there is no guarantee of an immediate school place”.
According to Leeds City Council’s website, there are no places at all for year 10 students. For year 9s, only one academy has a handful of spaces.
Vale of Glamorgan and Solihull councils both warn that a child may not be able to leave their current school. The former council says pupils should not be taken out of school until a new place is confirmed.
A parent who wrote to the London Borough of Bromley, concerned about Labour’s policy, was told the ‘’majority’’ of schools in the area were oversubscribed and the application would go on the waiting list.
An admission officer in Newcastle told a worried mother that the only way students have succeeded in getting places previously is ‘’by the parents winning an appeal after their application was refused”.
Incredibly, Newcastle is one of a number of councils which advises against moving secondary school on the basis that it "could affect your child’s education’’. How astonishing is that?
Other councils are saying they do not recommend moving while a child is preparing for their GCSEs. Thank you for that.
Does Starmer know the nightmare he has imposed on ambitious parents?
Strangely I think he does but has to satisfy the Left of his party. After all, he went to a private school himself.
This is what Starmer said on Monday: ’’Many parents work hard and save hard to be able to send their children to private schools but there were difficult choices to be made.’’
This followed Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves saying that she was ‘’sure that private schools can make efficiencies’.’ What, 20 per cent? That is tosh.
And what does Reeves know about ‘’efficiencies’’? She has never run anything in her life. Her chosen profession was economist, but as everybody knows they were invented to make astrologers look good.
READ MORE OPINION:
Another difficult area for Labour in this policy is that there are 100,00 students at private schools with special education needs. In my wider family, I have seen the tremendous benefit that the schooling has had on life chances.
Without going into the detail, when my relative was in a regular school, it was a nightmare.
I would urge Starmer not to push through this policy.
There aren’t the schools and there aren’t the teachers to cope with the influx. Most importantly there is choice.
The system has worked fine for hundreds of years. Leave it alone, Starmer.
