Independent Education Is Expensive

Ever-increasing red tape, the rising costs of staff pensions and various other contributions, plus the need to keep facilities first rate – all of these serve to make running an independent school an expensive business.

Contrary to the impression given sometimes in the media, most independent schools aren’t like Eton or Harrow, with vast endowments to fund their development projects. For virtually all independent schools in the North East, fee income is the overwhelming source of revenue to meet our costs. As those costs spiral upwards, fees need to rise to match them; this causes problems for the school and of course for the parents who pay them.

Affordability is an issue under constant discussion at independent schools. We work hard to make our schools within the reach of as many parents as we can, and one of the ways in which we do this is through the award of scholarships and means tested-bursaries.

There can be some confusion around the nature of scholarships to independent schools these days. It’s not surprising as schools have moved away from what was a fairly simple scholarship system towards a more nuanced balance between scholarships and means-tested bursaries; the distinction between the two isn’t always obvious to parents and does need some explanation.

Most schools offer scholarships on entry to recognise excellence in a number of areas: academic ability, sport, art, music, drama and sometimes one or two others. These are usually awarded based on assessment according to various demanding criteria. Scholarships usually carry a fee remission, and it is here where we have seen a change over the years. Nowadays most schools have moved away from high value scholarships towards a much smaller basic fee reduction. However, the scholarship can be augmented by a means-tested bursary up to – in some cases – 100% of the fee. The crucial aspect though is the means-testing; the level of the award is related to parents’ ability to pay rather than how well the pupil performed in the assessment.

Why have schools moved to this system? The main reason goes back to the issue of affordability. For me, the worth of a scholarship is that it allows a pupil to attend my school when parental means would usually preclude it. Much less common now is the example of very wealthy parents enjoying the benefits of a substantial fee reduction because their child is a good rugby player or pianist.

This may seem unfair to some. Two pupils performing equally well in a scholarship exam may end up with very different fee bills depending on their parents’ occupations. This though misunderstands the nature of the purpose of independent schools. Most were founded as charities and, surprising though it may be to some, their charitable nature is still very much enshrined in their aims. Schools such as mine offer a life changing experience for pupils, and we work very hard to find and fund places for pupils who would benefit most from attending our schools. The academic environment coupled with a fierce commitment to extra-curricular life means that pupils with talents will have them fostered in ways that often lead to great success after they have left us.

That point for us is crucial. When we award a scholarship we enter into a contract with the pupil. They will enrich our environment and raise the standard of performance at our school. But we too are obliged to enrich him or her too; we promise to nurture their talent, inspire and expect them to fulfil and exceed their expectations and allow them to realise their ambitions.