ISC response to research from Killik & Co on school fees

“Independent schools know that parents are under pressure to pay fees and schools work hard to keep fees as low as possible, with last year’s increase being the lowest in twenty years.

“The big challenge for schools is to keep fees as affordable as they can be, whilst maintaining the high standards which independent schools wish to set and parents expect. Most of our pupils, about 87%, are day school pupils, not boarders, and the day school average termly fee is £4,174.

“One third of pupils receive some help with their fees and schools remain affordable to a wide range of families through school bursary programmes, which provided bursaries to the value of £350 million last year. Bursary provision has risen by 31% since 2011, well above the rate of any fee rises.

“Independent schools remain very popular with parents and there are now more pupils at ISC schools than at any time since records began in 1994. Most independent schools are charities and fees have to reflect costs. Schools, like any other organisations, have faced substantial increases costs in recent years, including rising management and administration costs, teacher salary and pension rises and increasing energy costs.”