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Grammars' popularity increasing amid school fee concerns

Posted on 13th October 2008

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Parents are increasingly opting to send their children to top state schools due to rising school fees in the face of the credit crunch, it has been suggested.

Wallington Country Grammar School in Surrey recently had so many entrants for its 126 available places that police were called in to prevent "havoc".

With economic circumstances prevailing, fewer parents can afford to send their children to private schools, suggested chairman of the National Grammar Schools Association Robert McCartney QC.

And this had led to a "record" year for applications to grammars, he noted.

"One of the effects of the credit crunch is that those people that were just able to make the fees are no longer able to do so," added Mr McCartney.

Regional editor of the Good Schools Guide Sue Fieldman recently echoed this view, suggesting that many parents are taking their children out of the independent sector for sixth form in a bid to curb expenditure amid rising fees.