Downturn will force rise in pupils leaving private schools

Many parents are struggling as they face both rising fees and the threat of redundancy. By July, at least 2,500 families are expected to have asked for payment to be restructured or deferred, according to The Good Schools Guide.

Regional editor Sue Fieldman said London's 478 independent schools could see a fall in pupil numbers in the spring. "We anticipate that by July next year, two or three children per prep school will be being pulled out because parents can't cope with fees," she said. "Schools will not admit to having parents in financial difficulty. They also won't admit to helping with payments because there would be a stampede of parents asking for help.

"But we expect there to be a queue of parents outside the bursar's door after Christmas asking for their payments to be restructured - I would estimate about five or six families per school."

The warning comes after a survey of councils showed fee-paying parents were increasingly requesting places at state nurseries, primary and secondary schools. One in 10 councils said they had received enquiries and one in five expected increased demand.

Dole queues in the South-East are growing at up to three times the national average and unemployment is predicted to hit three million by 2010. Private school fees have risen 40 per cent in five years with the average day school now charging £10,239 a year.

Fairley House School in Pimlico said it had seen one child removed after a father was made redundant in August.

The Independent Schools Association also said families were asking for fees to be restructured to help them cope. Deborah Odysseas-Bailey, chairman of the Independent Schools Association and head teacher of Babington House School in Chislehurst, said: "There are parents who in the past would never have graced the door of the bursar.

"Now, those people are coming in and asking just what can be done. They are asking if they can make direct-debit payments as and when the money becomes available rather than paying lump-sum payments."

City audit manager Duncan Stewart, 48, who works at HBOS and pays £2,700 a term for his eight-year-old James to attend a private primary school, said: "We are looking at our lifestyle, but our priority is to keep our son in school whatever happens next year with HBOS."

Mr Stewart, of Worcester Park, added: "At my son's school, one parent was made redundant last week. It's a difficult situation but, like us, they will do whatever it takes to keep their child in school."