PD

[PD @secondgengamer]

@munsy_uk Which school? As always with these, intrigued to see what the admissions and finances have been for the last 5 years.

[PD @secondgengamer]

@SaulGoodman404 @TheSalesBull1 @RupertLowe10 I think there would certainly be an argument that pornography won’t kill you so the “harm” is a bit more akin to the potential harms of social media.

I genuinely believe that one day we will look at children using social media in thee same way as these restricted things.

[PD @secondgengamer]

@Steinerwoodwork Some people have money and some people have time. It may not be a case of can’t but it may be a case of having no interest in bothering to do it when you can pay someone else.

[PD @secondgengamer]

@Steph_9320 @Alexarmstrong By the same logic, babies cause a housing shortage.

It is, as always, a lot more complicated. Unoccupied homes. Housing that’s too expensive. Second homes. Not enough building. All these things are problems. Not just immigration.

[PD @secondgengamer]

@tc1415 @SilverAlso @Elephantastick

[PD @secondgengamer]

@CaliforniaFrizz

[PD @secondgengamer]

@GMcCor It’s not usually parents I see. It’s political motivation.

I have some sympathy for parents, not the sector overall and personally would rather see the removal of the private sector through market forces by making the state sector so good you don’t have to choose private.

[PD @secondgengamer]

@GMcCor I’m not sure we’re comparing a broken leg and a broken collar bone though. I don’t see them as equitable problems. More like a broken toe and a massive heart attack from my perspective.

[PD @secondgengamer]

@GMcCor … my Twitter timeline is alive with the problems for 7% of children who go to private school. If the same energy went in to the problems for millions of children at state schools, perhaps some improvement would have happened under 15 years of Tory government.

[PD @secondgengamer]

@GMcCor Overall, it’s honestly hard to have much sympathy. The per pupil funding gap has widened significantly between state and private. We’re dealing with falling rolls, reduced pay in real terms, schools closing, recruitment problems, SEND crisis all for less money. But…

[PD @secondgengamer]

@GMcCor Average pay is still similar or slightly higher than state generally though, right? Heads certainly seem to earn more.

The head of Eton (not representative of all I admit) is on around £370k.

[PD @secondgengamer]

@GMcCor The pay rises, 4% last year, weren’t fully funded but I had to pay them so were another cost that I had to cut accordingly.

Reduced provisions. Reduced activities. I have to make tough choices with less.

[PD @secondgengamer]

@GMcCor Again, just out of interest. When my pupil numbers fall (as they are), I have to cut my cloth accordingly. A 20% drop in income doesn’t equate to a 20% drop in costs such as staffing.

Could private schools have simply swallowed the 20% of vat and cut their cloth accordingly?

[PD @secondgengamer]

@GMcCor Dramatically above rate of inflation.

[PD @secondgengamer]

@GMcCor But it would imply that it’s not an overly cost sensitive industry. If I can almost double the fees in real terms without a reduction in numbers then a 20% increase (which schools could have chosen to swallow and reduce the provision) should not be existential.

[PD @secondgengamer]

@GMcCor I didn’t say you did, it has not however caused a flight of people who can’t afford it though.

[PD @secondgengamer]

@GMcCor Out of interest, why do you think the massive above inflation rise of private school fees has been fine for the last 25 years without impacting pupil numbers massively?

[PD @secondgengamer]

@GMcCor It’s a snowball. More private schools closed in the 18 months before Labour came to power than the 18 months after. There have been many factors in falling numbers at all schools, including private schools. Vat is just one factor. Tories want you to believe it is the only one.

[PD @secondgengamer]

@GMcCor And I’m saying Vat is only one part of that story. Falling pupil numbers in general, lowering overseas pupils, cost of living all play a part in the reduced numbers. People with an axe to grind only ever point to one factor. Take that or leave it.

[PD @secondgengamer]

@GMcCor I think the very fact you call it the Grauniad says everything I need to know. You’re not looking at this objectively. You’re involved in the sector and have a political axe to grind too.