Private day school fees hit £20,000 for first time

Carol Evans, who lives with her husband Hugo near Gloucester, has three children, two of whom were day pupils at Rendcomb College, an independent school. The third was privately educated but they have now sent him to a local state-run sixth-form college as they can no longer afford the fees.

"The increase since we started sending our kids private has been fantastic," Evans said.

"If you have two kids it might be okay, but once you try sending three or four private it's just impossible.

"There is no more skiing at Easter or summer holidays in Greece. It's a week in Devon if you're lucky.

"I think people are increasingly looking at the state sector and saying, if you can find good non-fee-paying schools, why not? We're lucky in this area in that we have very good schools that are not fee paying."

School fees have risen by more than 40% since 2000 - more than three times the rate of inflation. The cost of sending a child through private education can top £250,000 and many parents have economised by sending their children as day pupils, rather than boarders. However, the gap between the two has narrowed.

Some schools, such as Sherborne in Dorset, are charging more than £20,000 for day pupils for the first time. Sherborne's fees are rising from £19,140 last year to £20,205 in 2007-8.

Some top boarding schools, such as Charterhouse, already charge more than £20,000 for day pupils, but it has only a small number. The problem arises with schools that have a larger proportion of day pupils.

Those that have imposed some of the biggest increases include Gordonstoun, Prince Charles's old school, where day fees are rising by 10% from £16,175 to £17,790, and the Perse school for girls in Cambridge, where day fees are also up by 10% from £10,680 to £11,745.

The schools say the rise in fees is mainly driven by teachers' pay. Richard Harman, headmaster of Uppingham school in Rutland, said: "This is a service and people industry and we have different cost pressures built in."

Fees have continued to rise despite an Office of Fair Trading (OFT) inquiry into private schools sharing information on school fees. The OFT investigation was first triggered in 2003 after The Sunday Times uncovered meetings between school bursars to discuss future fee increases.

It was concluded by the OFT that parents had been charged more because of the way schools shared information between 2001 and 2004. The schools involved agreed to pay fines and create a £10m settlement trust to benefit pupils.

Despite the rises in charges, the numbers of parents sending their children to fee-paying schools has continued to rise. This will be of concern to Gordon Brown, the prime minister, who has identified education as a priority.

Opposition MPs claimed that new figures show that failing state schools are forcing parents to go private. The statistics show that out of the 6.7m children of compulsory school age in England, 431,650 - or 6.4% - are in independent schools.

Graham Brady, the Conservative MP who resigned from the opposition front bench because of Tory policy on grammar schools, said it was crucial to retain them to stem this outflow.

State school heads warn that rising demand for private schooling is likely to thwart Brown's efforts to foster social mobility. Ian Andain, head of Broadgreen comprehensive in Liverpool, said: "In schools where there is not a mix of all social groups you get a lack of ambition."

Additional reporting: Laila Sennah, Mary Rachel Meyer, Karen Yossman