‘We’ll send our daughter to private school in Spain if Labour drive up fees’

Parents are sending their children to private schools in Spain to dodge rising fees and a Labour tax raid at home.

There are 70,000 British students in Spain currently studying under the British educational system across more than 80 different schools.

Last month a deal was signed between the British and Spanish Governments to make it easier for students from both countries to use their qualifications to apply for Britain’s top universities.

Alexander Wickham, headmaster at Sage College and The British School of Jerez, said more and more British students are choosing to study at Spanish private schools instead of UK ones because of the typically lower fees and a high level of education in the country.

He said: “We are gaining a lot more students from the UK – not just us, but the other British schools in the South of Spain, too.

“I guess if a British Government starts taxing [school] fees it will mean more families will look to send their children elsewhere.

“British pupils are eligible for entry to Oxford and Cambrdge and any university in England through the A-level programme in Spain because British schools here run under the same examination boards as England.”

It comes as families are juggling rising mortgage bills, with average annual boarding school fees now close to £40,000. 

Sir Keir Starmer also intends to remove the charitable status independent schools enjoy under a Labour government, resulting in the loss of tax breaks which is expected to increase further still.

There are around 80 fee-paying day and boarding schools across Spain which cater for the children of expats and pupils who study and live abroad.

They teach lessons similar to those in British independent schools and offer international GCSE and A-level exams and have English-speaking teachers.

Pupils are also taught the local language and can learn social studies and some other subjects that are on the Spanish curriculum.

One school, the Montessori British School based in Alicante on the Costa Blanca, charges around £9,500 a year for day fees and £20,000 a year for boarding.

The British School of Córdoba, which has around 450 students, charges approximately £4,300 a year for day school, and £13,500 a year for boarding fees.

These schools’ fees are far cheaper than what is now paid in the UK, where families are on average now paying £15,654 a year for day school, and £39,000 for boarding.

Chris Lipscomb, a leader at a global recruitment firm based in Devon, sends his daughter Tsarina to Kingsley School in Bideford.

But he said he and other families have started looking at Spanish private schools because of the strain of rising fees, adding that if Labour starts taxing schools, he will have no choice but to send his daughter abroad.

He said :“Labour’s plan is very bad, and I predict it would impact thousands of families who send children to private school. They will end up looking elsewhere – especially Spain.”

Mr Lipscomb said the Spanish fee-paying schools he has seen are more affordable than their English rivals and has recently visited to see what is on offer.

He added: “We have looked at schools like Kings College in Alicante, and St George’s School in Bilbao. Last year when we were on holiday in Oviedo in Northern Spain, we were also given a tour of the English school of Asturias.

“In an ideal world, we would keep my daughter in a British school, but a number of her friends have already had to leave because it’s longer affordable. A trickle will become a torrent and lots of kids will leave if fees go up again.”

A recent survey of more than 16,000 parents at 332 different schools by the Independent Schools Council (ISC) found that only 10 per cent of parents would have no problem affording VAT on fees, which would apply under proposed Labour changes.

Almost 60 per cent of parents said they would certainly or probably withdraw their child from their current school if VAT of 20 per cent was added to fees.

Of those, around 20 per cent said they would definitely have to withdraw their child. A further 40 per cent said they would try to keep them in the same school, but were not optimistic about doing so.

The headmaster of Sir Keir Starmer’s former school said this week Labour’s plans would force thousands of children into an “oversubscribed” state system.

Julie Robinson, chief executive of the Independent Schools Council, said: “Labour’s tax on parents would put independent schooling out of reach for more striving families, putting further pressure on certain areas of the state system while not raising the money Labour claims it would.

“We would welcome the opportunity to engage with Labour to build on the good work already being done in the sector to improve outcomes for more young people.”

Labour has previously defended its tax plans, saying: “Scrapping tax breaks for private schools will fund our fully costed and ambitious plan to make sure we have world-class teaching in every classroom, including funding 6,500 more expert teachers in our state schools.

“Of course, in addition to this, we are also setting out our plan to reform the education system itself, so that every child has access to a high standard of education, no matter what their background.”