Best Schools - 'Labour's plans to abolish independent schools ignore the struggles of black families'

Diana Young writes in The Independent arguing 'there is an emerging black middle-class that sees access to fee-paying schools as a prerequisite for their children's success'.

The independent school sector trades on its ability to bring access to smaller class sizes, increased parental involvement, specialist teachers, a community environment, ample resources and a greater breadth of extra-curricular activities.

Based on findings from the Sutton Trust, privately educated MPs made up about 39 per cent of the cabinet in spring this year. And alumni from independent schools made-up 59 per cent of permanent secretaries in the civil service and two-thirds of senior judges. Crucially though, these numbers not only reveal the advantage of attending a fee-paying school, but also the disadvantage of attending a state school, and those are disadvantages exacerbated if you are black and if you live in London.

What gives the Labour Party the right to dictate anyone’s educational path or hinder their career trajectory? A private education isn’t automatically superior, but unless your child attends a top state school, is academically gifted or pushed to excel; the distressing likelihood for a black family is that your child will underperform in a state school.

Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott sent her son to a fee-paying school and Shadow Attorney General Shami Chakrabarti’s son attends Dulwich College. The leader, Jeremy Corbyn, also attended a private prep school. They should not chastise us for electing to front the cost of private school education while state schools still fail to meet the requirements of parents with black children.

For many of us, the education system needs a shake-up before we can consider state school as a realistic option.

How fee increases are impacting UK private schools

The demographics in UK private schools are changing as the rate of fee increases outpace wage growth in the country, a new report has found

Over the last two decades, fees have increased 403 percent and are now more than five times the 1990 average, according to research by UK investment house Killik & Co. As these fees make private education unaffordable for many UK parents, schools are increasingly signing up more international students.

It now costs an average of £15,000 a year at an independent day school, up from £14,562 last year. There are also additional costs that could amount up to another £3,282 per pupil per year for uniform, music lessons and sports kit.

In total, parents could be paying a projected £325,600 for a child starting in 2019, including fees and educational extras, up from £283,600 for a child starting in 2015. Two decades ago, this would have cost £212,000 for two children starting in 1990 and 1992.

This fee increase coincides with the share of pupils in British private schools with foreign permanent home addresses that have more than doubled since two decades ago, according to the report, Private Education Index: Evaluating the Future of your Children’s Education. There are now 29,000 such students in 2019, representing 5.4 percent of the private school cohort, compared to the 12,000 (2.6 percent) such students in 1989. In addition, there are 26,000 (4.9 percent) more students who were born abroad but had parents living in the UK.