7 h. ago Russian politician had his children's £40,000 UK private school fees paid for by his brother

Dmitrii Ovsiannikov, 48, accepted the cash from Alexei Owsjanikow, 46, and his wife paid him another £76,000, it is claimed.

Economics

19 h. ago Prep school hailed as Tatler's best in Britain four years ago becomes latest victim of Labour's war on private education as it announces closure over 'taxation pressures'

St Anselm's Prep School in Derbyshire was named Tatler's Prep School of the Year in 2021 and now has announced its closure following tax pressures from Labour's tax raid.

Events

19 h. ago Blow for Government as Lords vote against ending tax relief for private schools

Peers supported a Conservative amendment to the Non-Domestic (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill with a majority of 91.

Politics

3 d. ago Chancellor spending hundreds of thousands in legal fees defending her VAT raid on private school fees

Parents opposed to the 20 per cent education tax are crowdfunding to enable them to launch next month's landmark case at the High Court, on behalf of their children with SEN.

Economics

4 d. ago Labour's VAT tax raid on private schools is forcing most to cut staff, bursaries and subjects on offer while pupil numbers are already plunging, new figures show

Many of the country's most prestigious private schools are being hit hard with cost cutting measures seeing pay, pensions and jobs being axed, a new poll has revealed.

Economics

7 d. ago Expelled! review – turning the tables on the private school class hierarchy

Nintendo Switch, iPhone/iPad, Mac, PC (version played); InkleInkle’s latest game revels in lying, stealing and blackmail as you resort to any means necessary to avoid expulsion from a posh schoolAs with seemingly everything in the UK, it all comes back to the class system. Verity Amersham, a scholarship student at Miss Mulligatawney’s School for Promising Girls, is accused of pushing the hockey captain out of a window, and the school’s fearsome headmistress is determined to expel her despite the flimsiest evidence. When Verity protests her innocence, Miss Mulligatawney remains unpersuaded, spelling out her reasoning in plain terms: as a northerner with working-class parents, Verity simply isn’t the “right sort”.The injustice of it all is a potent driver, ensuring I set about my goal of preventing Verity’s expulsion with determined zeal, much like Matilda defying the hateful Miss Trunchbull. As in developer Inkle’s 2021 game Overboard!, you’re given a time limit to work within and a ...

Politics

7 d. ago Labour VAT raid on private school fees forces Scotland's largest private school which charges up to £20,000 a year to launch fundraising appeal

George Watson's College in Edinburgh said 50 pupils had either left or opted not to join at the beginning of the 2024-25 year.

Economics

9 d. ago The making of Elon Musk: how did his childhood in apartheid South Africa shape him?

The billionaire and now Trump adviser grew up amid the collapse of white rule, attending an all-white school and then a more liberal oneWith an imposing double-winged redbrick main building, and school songs lifted directly from Harrow’s songbook, Pretoria boys high school is every inch the South African mirror of the English private schools it was founded in 1901 to imitate.Elon Musk, who has rapidly become one of the most powerful people in US politics, spent his final school years in the 1980s as a day pupil on the lush, tree-filled campus in South Africa’s capital, close to his father’s large detached home in Waterkloof, a wealthy Pretoria suburb shaded by purple jacaranda blossoms in spring. Continue reading...

Politics

9 d. ago No exodus to state sector after VAT added to private school fees, say English councils

Most say they have seen no impact on applications for year 7 places, despite warnings from those against policyPredictions that adding VAT to private school fees would set off a wave of parents moving children to the state sector have been proved wrong at their first key test, according to figures from councils in England.While critics including the former chancellor Jeremy Hunt had predicted that up to 90,000 children could flood the state sector if VAT of 20% was charged, most councils say they have seen no impact from the policy in applications to start at state secondary schools later this year. Continue reading...

Politics

9 d. ago One in five private school teachers had colleagues made redundant over Labour's VAT on fees, shocking survey reveals

The National Education Union (NEU) polled 4,000 teachers in independent schools in England and Wales about the policy, which came into effect from January.

Events

1 week ago Around 100 schools could be forced to close under Labour's plans to impose VAT on private schools

Treasury Minister Torsten Bell put a figure on the effect of the tax hike for the first time. A dozen schools have already shut, or intend to close, since January, blaming the levy.

Politics

1 week ago Alexander Armstrong branded ‘out of touch’ for ‘extremely poor’ comment

Wealthy presenter has been accused of ‘whining’ as sarcastic social media users urged he set up a fundraising page

Politics

2 w. ago Starmer accused of lying by Tory frontbencher during Prime Minister’s Questions

Victoria Atkins could be heard shouting ‘that is a lie’ following a question on the Government’s policy to charge VAT on private school fees.

Politics

2 w. ago Bridget Phillipson faces pressure to scrap VAT raid on private school fees as Labour MP calls for U

Dr Rupa Huq (pictured), the Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton, said putting 20 per cent VAT on independent school fees was punishing 'working people'.

Events

2 w. ago Labour MP: VAT charge on private schools could make elitist system more elitist

Rupa Huq argued the amount of VAT imposed on private schools should be based on turnover, to prevent smaller schools getting ‘caught in this trap’.

Politics

2 w. ago Suella Braverman's former private school faces closure because of Labour's VAT raid on fees

A private school once attended by Suella Braverman is facing closure because of Labour's 20 per cent VAT on fees.

Politics

2 w. ago Princess Diana's brother Charles Spencer says his father 'did not suspect how deviant boarding school could be'

Charles Spencer has discussed why he wrote his memoir, A Very Private School, in an interview with the Times.

Politics

2 w. ago Labour's tax raid on private education set to claim another victim as independent school attended by Suella Braverman becomes latest to face closure

St Hilda's Prep School for Girls said it was 'consulting' on a potential closure this summer following the government's bombshell plans to introduce a 20 per cent VAT rate on fees.

Economics

2 w. ago ‘Horrendous’: the ‘ridiculously common’ lies people tell on CVs, and what happens when they are discovered

Fake reasons for leaving jobs, manipulated dates and inflated titles among most frequent falsehoodsIn 28 years of recruitment, Matt Collingwood has witnessed some “very awkward” job interviews. Like the candidate whose CV falsely boasted of a second-dan black belt in taekwondo, only to discover his interviewer was an aficionado of the sport. “An interview that should have been an hour lasted 15 minutes,” said Collingwood, the managing director of the IT recruitment agency Viqu.Or the candidate who claimed he had attended a certain private school, which his interviewer had also attended and would have been in the year above. But when asked for teachers’ names, the school motto, even where the sports field was, “he was clueless. Didn’t get the job.” Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Teenager who claimed his parents 'tricked' him into moving from London to Ghana to go to boarding school over fears he was in gang loses High Court bid to return to UK

The teenager was 13 when he travelled to the West African country on the pretense of seeing a sick relative only to find his parents had enrolled him in a private school.

Events