For most of us, school is a place of learning. We spend the first dozen or so years of our conscious lives learning about the world, complaining the entire time. Then we get to our twenties and realise we’d do pretty much anything to be able to spend our days learning about stuff we find interesting with zero consequences.
And some parents feel the need to go a step further when it comes to making sure their kids get a good education. In the private sector, parents pay tens of thousands of pounds to schools to give their children access to the world’s best maths classes to zone out of.
The Spear’s School Index keeps track of these institutes, and has recently published a list of the most expensive private schools in the UK. Warning: the fact that people even have this much money to just spend might make you want to cry.
The biggest shocker is that the priciest is not Eton or Harrow. Don’t worry, they’re in the top ten, but Concord College, a co-ed boarding school near Shrewsbury, came top. At £17,800 a term, totalling £53,400 a year, it costs more than £20,000 more than the average Brit makes in a year.
Coming in a close second was Brighton College, which costs a sixth-form border £52,560 per annum, and then Sevenoaks School, at £50,747.
That’s quite a lot of cash. And for what? Well, according to Concord College, class sizes of around 12 and top qualified teachers make the quality of their education second to none, and their focus on being a ‘home away from home’ for students means that borders settle in well.
The rest of the list included Harrow in fifth place at £50,550 per child per year and Eton in sixth, whose termly fees are £16,666 which is an almost spookily on-the-nose fee for Boris Johnson’s ex abode. Rishi Sunak’s Winchester College also made the list, at only £49,152 a year! What a steal.
The UK’s most expensive private schools, plus price per year
- Concord College, West Midlands, £53,400
- Brighton College, Brighton, £52,560
- Sevenoaks, Kent, £50,747
- Cheltenham Ladies College, Cheltenham, £50,700
- Harrow, London, £50,550
- Eton College, Windsor, £49,990
- Westminster School, London, £49,518
- Winchester College, Hampshire, £49,152
- Gordonstoun, Elgin, £48,990
- Wellington College, Berkshire, £48,930
So there you go. A glimpse at how the other half lives. Or maybe how you live. If you do send your kids to one of these elite institutions of excellence, we have only one question for you. Fancy lending us a fiver?
You can read more about Spear’s Schools Index here and find out more about eight of the world’s best schools being in London.
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