State school is often described as the affordable option.

In one sense, that is true. There are no tuition fees.

But that does not mean it is free in real life.

For most families, state education still comes with a steady stream of costs. Some are expected. Some creep up more quietly. And when you add them up over the years, they can become a significant part of the family budget.

Uniform is the obvious place to start. Recent government figures said parents were paying an average of £343 for primary school uniform and PE kit, and £442 for secondary. That is before you get anywhere near trips, transport or tutoring. (GOV.UK)

Then come the extras that are not always treated like extras.

School shoes. Bags. Coats. Packed lunches or lunch money. Clubs. Music lessons. School photos. Revision guides. Calculators. Devices. Travel. Contributions for activities. You may not pay for every single one of these, but most families will recognise a good chunk of the list.

And this is where the phrase “free education” starts to fall apart a bit.

Because the pressure is not only about one big bill. It is about the drip, drip, drip of regular spending. It is about having more than one child at different stages. It is about one child needing more support than another. It is about being asked for money at exactly the wrong point in the month.

For some families, tutoring becomes part of the picture too. That might be to support a child who is struggling, to prepare for exams, or to try for a grammar school place. Either way, it adds to the total.

None of this means state school is not the right choice for many families. It is. But it does mean the real cost is often underestimated.

And that matters, because when people think of education costs, they often think only of private school fees or university tuition. In practice, plenty of families are feeling the financial pressure long before either of those things enter the picture.

The better way to think about it is this. State school may be free at the point of entry, but it still needs budgeting for.

That is especially true if you are trying to look ahead across the full education journey, rather than getting caught out one term at a time.

For a fuller view of what families tend to spend from nursery through to university, download Sencillo’s whitepaper, The True Cost of Education 2026.