Parent Briefing

Clear school updates before they become admissions stress.

Short, practical briefings on UK independent-school admissions, deadlines, fees, bursaries, boarding, SEND, policy changes and the questions parents should ask next.

Built for parent decisions

Official sources where possible
Plain-English implications for 2026 families
Next questions to take to schools

Fees & Bursaries15 May 20266 min read

Private school fees after VAT: what parents should budget for now — and where the surprises still are

Private school fees now carry VAT. Parents should budget for the full package, check bursaries, and compare fees before 2026 deadlines.

Read briefing

Why it matters

Each briefing is written to answer three parent questions: what changed, who is affected, and what to do before the next deadline.

Latest briefings

22 updates

Field NotesWhat the lady tatiana mountbatten birth announcement tells us about how aristocratic families now choose schoolsThe lady tatiana mountbatten birth announcement is a reminder that even titled families face the same London admissions squeeze. Here's what it signals.14 May 2026 - 6 min Field NotesPrince Philip and Queen Elizabeth Were Third Cousins — and What That Tells Us About Britain's Elite Education NetworksPrince Philip and Queen Elizabeth were related through Queen Victoria. Here's what their schooling choices reveal about elite education networks in Britain.13 May 2026 - 5 min Field NotesPrince Philip and the Education of a Duke: What His Life Reveals About Britain's Elite SchoolsFrom Gordonstoun to naval training, Prince Philip's education shaped a generation of thinking about elite schooling. What can London parents learn from it?11 May 2026 - 6 min Field NotesThe 11+ Decoded: What London's Independent Schools Actually Want From Your ChildEverything London parents need to know about the 11+ — from what selective independent schools test to how to prepare without burning out your child.10 May 2026 - 6 min Field NotesRoyal Family Windsor Estate Move: What It Means for Private School Admissions in Berkshire and West LondonThe royal family Windsor estate move is reshaping private school demand across Berkshire and West London. Here's what parents need to know for admissions.9 May 2026 - 7 min Long ReadThe year VAT arrived: what happened next, in numbers.Fifteen months after VAT arrived, the London picture is clearer than the rhetoric: fewer closures than feared, sharper rises than promised, a reshaping middle.23 April 2026 AdmissionsWhy the 11+ calendar quietly shifted earlier.At ten of the most-applied-to London schools, the reply-by dates have moved, the ISEB window has narrowed, and October-for-registrations no longer holds.22 April 2026 BursariesBursary awards: who actually gets them.The top-line figures obscure a useful picture: what share of awards are full, what income bands succeed, and what has changed since VAT arrived.22 April 2026 AnalysisPicking sixth form: A-Levels, IB, or a third way.The A-Level vs IB binary conceals how few London schools now offer a real choice, and how sharply curricular positioning has moved since 2022. A map.21 April 2026 PracticalThe Year 10 side door: 15+ entry points nobody mentions.Around fifteen London independents take meaningful numbers of new pupils into Year 10. The assessment looks nothing like 11+ prep.20 April 2026 The Long ReadOn waiting lists, and what to do when the offer does not come.The waiting list is not a lottery. It is a system with habits.17 April 2026 - 7 min Field Notes · TutoringThe six questions to ask a tutor before you commit a term.Rates are the least of it, pass rates worse. The things that actually predict a good placement come out in the first five minutes of a trial. A field guide.11 April 2026 - 4 min Practical · BoardingEvery exeat weekend, plotted for the year.Eton, Winchester, Marlborough, Wycombe, Downe House, Benenden, Uppingham, Rugby, Oundle. One downloadable calendar, one worry fewer.4 April 2026 - 3 min Letters · Readers"We are the fourth family in our cohort to be declined."A reader's letter, and a considered reply from the editors on regrouping when the first choice says no. With two resources, and one question.28 March 2026 - 2 min The Long Read · ScreensThe pact: what happens when a year group agrees to wait.A case study from a year group at Thomas's Battersea, nineteen months in. It is, it turns out, the parents who struggle more than the children.21 March 2026 - 9 min Admissions · ReportedHow the 11+ field has softened, and where it has not.A quiet shift in the top twenty is producing more-forgiving cycles at four schools — and a harder cycle, by some margin, at one. An annual note.14 March 2026 - 6 min Practical · CampsThe rule of six weeks: when to book the summer.Why the Easter-week booking rush now begins mid-January — and the three camps that remain bookable every year at a month's notice.7 March 2026 - 4 min Admissions · BursariesBursary trends, 2026: where the money is actually flowing.Means-tested support has shifted meaningfully since 2023. The top twenty schools now diverge in ways parents should understand before they register.28 February 2026 - 8 min Practical · SENSEN pathways through London senior schools: the honest map.Which schools genuinely provide — and which put a SENCO on the website and hope you do not ring. A five-month investigation, unnamed sources, honest map.21 February 2026 - 11 min Admissions · Sixth FormSixth form evenings: what is different this year, and what to ask.The 16+ round has changed for 2026. Here is what your Year 11 should be looking for, and the five questions almost no parent asks.14 February 2026 - 5 min Practical · AdmissionsThe letter to the Head: what works, what does not.One registrar, twenty years of waiting-list letters, and the six principles she applies — quoted here, with her permission, unattributed.7 February 2026 - 5 min The Long Read · BoardingOn homesickness, and the myth that it ends.It doesn't, exactly. It changes shape. A former housemistress on what parents most often misread about the first Michaelmas term.31 January 2026 - 8 min