School fees, public and private?

Hi all,

Just wondering if any of you guys can share your experiences with school fees, in both public and private schools?

Whilst Olivia is still way too young for us to worry about which school she goes to, I have been looking at potential schools for her on the web, as we are moving house toward the end of the year, so I wanted to take the childrens future school needs into account.

In my hunt I realised that the schools in our area, both public and private, primary and high school, all seem to charge school fees?! Is this common? The dollar amounts between schools all seem to vary, and the fees have different names, so I ended up totally confused! (Bear in mind I am from the UK, and the system is very different there, so I think I am a bit clueless!)

So if anyone has any experiences in this arena, let me know?! How much do you pay? Did it make a difference in your choice of school?

Thanks guys....

hi lucy

i am fairly new to all this myself as ds is starting school this year - in two weeks time in fact (but hey who's counting lol ;) )

Anyway he is going to a public primary school and the fees were as follows:

$165 voluntary school fees (they say voluntary but i do think most people pay them) this includes all their books - for prep this consists of a reader folder and 8 scrapbooks - not sure if the fee is higher depending on what grade - can imagine it would be.

$50 excusion levy - you can pay this in a lump sum with your fees or choose to pay as per excursion - we chose to pay in with our fees.

there is also a voluntary building maintenance levey which they offer suggestion of $25, $50 or $100 (this can be a tax deduction)

so we paid our fees last november a total of $240 being $165 fees, $50 excursion levy and $25 building maintenance gift.

school uniform is complsary at ds school and so far has cost us around $300 but that includes stuff we won't need to purchase every year - such as school bag, library bag, art smock etc.

hope the above is of some help - oh and i have been putting away $20 a week (i give it to my mum) since he was around 2yrs old and this has been great cause of the money was there for fees and uniform and i haven't missed it.

Lucy

South Australia is the only state that has compulsory school fees for State schools. I don't know how much they are as I haven't been in SA for a long time now.

Emma & Jack go to the local Catholic school and it costs me $320 a term for the two of them. This includes all books and stationery, building levies, P&F contirution etc ... on top of this cost there is uniforms and excursions although most of the excursions are subsidised by the P&F.

I do know that the fees charged here in WA are set by the school and they have a cap of $70 (I think!!). That doesn't include books and stationery either, uniforms are not compulsory and it is up to the parents how their kids go to school. That said the schools in the "leafy green" suburbs tend to find all kids in uniform!!

The best thing to do is to ring the schools you are thinking about and talk to them about the fees. I am not sure where you live but from memory it is in the Rostrevor area ... not far from where I did my prac placement ... at a fantastic school with some really great teachers! I know of some fantastic schools ... and I have friends who are teachers in the state system in SA and I know of some dodgy schools!!!

Good luck in the hunt for the perfect school!!!

Cheers

in my boy's schools there is a voluntary $45-$50 fee then about $20-$30 for texts (which is compulsory) and the extras for excursions and uniforms and stationery. this is in a public primary and a selective K-12 school (state run but audition only entry). but this year my 7yr old will go to a catholic school and that is $510 building fee $225 excursions + extras and $1200 tuition. but you still have to buy uniforms and stationery. oh and this is in NSW.

Our DD has attended private girls' schools since she was in 4yo preschool. I was also a staff member at her first school for 5 years and received a 25% discount. Fees have gone up significantly since then. I think they are around $5,000 for the first year of school and increase about a thousand each year. Her new school is similar and this year we will pay about $9000 for grade 6. This includes everything except uniforms (about $1000 in the first year; hats, dresses and blazers often last for 2 years and a school backback is part of this ammount which lasts up to 4 years). Stationery is about $200 (includes annual school diary). I'm glad that these schools didn't require the students to have their own lap-tops which is fairly common in private schools. We make significant sacrifices to send our daughter to private school but it's already proving it's worth. Our DD loves school, has learnt a little of most of the world's religons and much about Christianity, has a sports teacher that contacts us personally when she thinks there's an outside-of-school athletics event that she would do well in, she's also on her way to speaking fluent French and has learnt several instruments eg violin at no extra cost to us. Perhaps some of these programs are available in public schools though. My DH and I attended public schools and didn't enjoy school at all and we believe we could have maximised our potential if we had the opportunties we are giving our chidren... anyhow, I often feel defensive when I discuss our DD's education as few of our friends or relatives seem to support our decision. Good luck in your search for a good school. I think the most importnat aspect of a school is it's "culture" ie small and caring is the best in my experience :)

Hey Lucy

Confusing isnt it?!

Both my DD attend a public school, we pay a $300 fee at the start of the year and that covers everything, excursions, stationery etc. The only thing it doesnt cover is school camp, about $280 and uniforms.

Eldest DD has just finished primary school and it about to start secondary college next week. So far fees $510, can be paid in monthly installments though, that does include her camp though. Uniform $515. Booklist $380 School shoes $80 Sports shoes $60. But that is it for the year. There are a couple of extra items like school diary and memory stick for computer, but that isnt too bad.

I guess it really depends on what you want to pay for! We chose to go public as we really didnt have the money to spend $1000's a year on schooling. Eldest DD is doing brilliantly and is doing accelerated learning, basically work a year ahead of what she is in. Middle DD has struggled a little, but we have had the most amazing teacher and that has really helped with a lot of the issues and she is doing so well now. Both my girls play in a local netball team, socialise with friends in the area, this is all something to take into consideration.

You are definitely doing the right thing though researching early. It might be an idea to speak to people in the area and see if they are happy with the school, or attend an open day and see what you think. Make sure you ask lots of questions though, I went to secondary school armed with a huge list of questions and every single one was answered.

Best of Luck and let us know how you go.

Maddison is grade 2 this year at a Public school (Infact the primary school my sisters & I attended!) Each year her school fees have been the same, in total $140, ontop of this I pay for excursions as they come along, but this includes all books, building maintenance levy, grounds maintenance..
I do not send Maddy to RE (Religious Ed) which is an extra $10 per year as I believe all religions should be taught not just Christianity, as we are Balinese Hindu, she doesnt attend, but she has been to church with school friends & has been exposed to other religions.

Her uniform is compulsory, but is only a yellow t-shirt & navy blue shorts/skirt or track pants & a navy jumper. Maddy is small & still has same uniform as prep, other than that, all I have will have to pay during trhe year is excursions..

Included in the fee's is a Fruit levy which is compulsory as the schjool provides fruits daily.

The school only has about 140 students & actually hopkld some classes with 5 or so students from each year level, like Drama etc so kids from prep know kids from all the other year levels, they have never had an issue with bullying etc...
The whole school participtaes in a number of activities & most parents know each other! It's a real little community, Maddy is doing exceptionally well & is part of an accelerated learning program.
They have alot of Mums & Dads whom volunteerr to do reading, sports, music & dancing activities & the kids all love it!

She is really happy at this school.

Guys, thanks so much for sharing all this info with me, it is SO helpful.

I have also been hunting down info on the web, so I feel less clueless now.

(The thing that threw me was the fees for government schools......I am from the UK and all government schools are totally absolutely free, and private schooling is expensive.)

The public schools in the area we are looking to settle down in are all very good, by all accounts (my BIL works for the Dept of Ed, so gives me some good pointers).

My preference (regardless of cost) is actually public schools and the smaller the better, with the main emphasis on community values. (Tracey, your primary school sounds perfect!)

I guess, either way, we should probably look at putting some money away now, so that when the time comes in 3 years, we are armed with $$ and choices.

Thanks again guys.......

Lucy, I am very happy with Maddy's school... She is so comfortable there..
My nephew started prep & there were several prep classes, that was too daunting for me, let alone a 6yr old!


Maddy's school every teacher knows every student...
At my nephews I doubt the principal would know each child...


It was my reason for a smaller school too, classes are smaller even though they have composites, Maddy this year is in Grade 2 but with grade 1 kids & last year she was grade 1 with Grade 2 kids...
It works for us!

Well, I think Lindsays school comes in cheapest LOL! The 'voluntary' contribution is only $35 per year and you get $5 off if you pay in first term. He will attend the local public school where DH went. His uniform and odds and ends has cost around $250. Excursions are extra, but at his school they don't go on excursions until year 2. Lindsay will only have 17 in his class (but two kindy classes). DH went to Kinross Wolaroi school as a boarder for yrs 7-10 and the IL's paid around $15,000 a year. That's not including all the excursions they could go on during holidays!

DD compulsory fees for preschool is $60 plus stationary and uniforms.

StepDD fees are $20 for Year 6, plus stationary and uniforms.

Glad we live in WA \:D/

Our school fees are $150 per year (for 3) plus $25 voluntary contributions per year..plus stationary and uniforms and excursions.

Jo

Hi Lucy,

We have decided to send our children to an independant school ( not private or public ) the school Peiter goes to has about 90 students and is fantastic the cost is about $2,300 per year and the cost does not rise the older they get it will only rise when the need is there he has to wear a uniform but it does not have to be the one the school provides white or navy blue polo t-shirts and navy shorts, track pants etc are just fine we chose to get him the uniform that the school has to offer as alot of the children have it and it cost us about $165 for 3x polo t-shirts, 1x long sleved polo shirt, 1x tracksuit pants, 1x bomber jacket,1x cargo shorts and 1x sports shorts so we got quite alot and that will last him a while ( we are hoping anyway LOL )
we chose this school because they have a high standard of education and very small class sizes which we felt was very important for him as he gets alot of one on one time with his teachers.
I know one thing I learnt was to make sure you choose the school and get them enrolled about a year before they are due to start as places fill up very quickly, I was just lucky :flower: