Industry News
Parents pay thousands for schools appeal process
Posted on 13th March 2008
Parents sending their children to private schools may think they have the monopoly on fees, but new research has shown that some families are paying as much as £2,795 to get their children into decent state schools.
Demonstrating how tough the competition is at the moment for children to attend a good school in the state sector, parents are resorting to paying thousands of pounds to independent advisors to help them to appeal the local council's decision.
With one in ten schools now labelled 'inadequate' by the inspectorate and one in five children not getting into their first choice of state schools, many parents are either turning to independent schools or drudging through the lengthy appeals process.
John Chard, who organised more than 2,000 appeals at Brighton and Hove council before going on to become an independent advisor, told Bloomberg News :"Parents are very emotional about it and worried.''
Many are now abandoning the state sector altogether and choosing to go private - a number of independent schools reported that their applications skyrocketed after families received the news of their allocated state school.