PARENTS are being forced to reassess their children's education because of a combined rise in school fees and the credit crunch.

Experts are predicting a five percent drop in pupil numbers at independent schools, leading to rising demand for grammar school places and academically strong comprehensives.

A Charminster mum who has one child in school, one due to start school and is pregnant with her third child said she was having to make a decision on schooling which would influence all three children.

"Once all three go, based on the fees as they are now, I could be looking at £18,000 a year.

"A decision has to be made sooner rather than later.

"I'm really happy with the school my eldest is at, which makes the decision even more difficult."

Christine Dipple, headteacher at Talbot Heath School, said she had no evidence yet to suggest the credit crunch was hitting parents but she believed it would affect everything, including schools.

She believes parents will weigh up not just education but the pastoral care being offered.

"The thing about education is you are not buying into it for a year, you are buying into it for at least a key stage.

"I think that parents who are considering independent education for September 2009 will be doing a lot of sums to make sure they are not committing to something they cannot sustain.

"Particularly now with the new form of GCSEs, a lot of the teaching for them starts in year nine."

Murray Smyth, bursar at The Park School in Bournemouth, said they had not felt the credit crunch.

"We have opened a new nursery. We have not advertised it. It's pretty near full. Our numbers are as strong as they have been over the last decade.

"From our perspective, we continue to be very well supported."

A spokesman for Poole council said it was too early to say if more people would apply for state places, as the admission process does not start until September 1.