Head’s Blog: How to select an independent school – an insider’s guide

An independent school education is expensive, even more so now VAT is included.

Typical day school fees vary from £15,000 to £40,000 per year with boarding fees anywhere between £30,000 and £60,000.

This puts independent schools firmly in the luxury goods price bracket, especially as families are buying a multi-year product which, even for part of the 15-year school journey from Nursery to Upper Sixth, will cost hundreds of thousands of pounds in post-tax income.

Independent schools know this. Persuading parents to make investments of this magnitude is a big ask and requires schools to invest heavily in their marketing. Naturally, schools want to emphasise all their positives, and they take great care to position academic attainment, extra-curricular opportunities and pastoral care in the best lights possible. For prospective parents, unfamiliar with independent education, it is easy to be dazzled by stellar public exam results, impressive university destinations, shiny facilities and new pedagogies that claim to revolutionise teaching and learning.

School choice is a critical decision, not because of the costs involved, but because of the children involved. For a happy and successful education to occur (and you need the first to have the second), parents must match child to school so that there is an excellent fit. For this to happen, parents must make full and honest disclosures about their children and schools must do the same for the education they are offering.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen. Some parents present children in ways that might meet the admissions criteria of their preferred school, but do not accurately reflect the skills and qualities of their offspring. Whilst this might be well intentioned, it risks a child ending up in a school that is not right for them. The Perse is an academically selective school where the pace of learning is brisk. This is great for some children, but would be a poor fit for others. Parents owe it to their children to be as objective as possible in their assessment of a child’s skills, abilities, qualities and character so a ‘best fit’ school can be chosen.

Schools also need to be honest about themselves so parents can make ‘best fit’ decisions. Schools struggling to fill places in a market where there are fewer children, (the fertility rate has fallen by 25% since 2010), and where fewer parents can afford post-VAT fees, can be tempted to present themselves as ‘all things to all people’. This may result in important points being glossed over or omitted altogether from a school’s sales pitch.

As an experienced Head, these are the ‘insider’ questions that I would ask to gain a better understanding of any independent school.

• QUESTION 1       

  Is the school a ‘not-for-profit’ charity or a ‘for-profit’ commercial business?

  Some independent schools are not-for-profit charities. These schools will have a charity number and are regulated by the Charity Commission to ensure they operate properly, comply with the law and meet public benefit requirements. Not-for-profit charity schools are governed by boards of trustees who must act in accordance with the charity’s objectives. Governance is separated from management and Heads oversee the day-to-day management of not-for-profit charitable schools. These schools are effectively closed financial units, and any financial surplus remain within the charity for investment in improvements (e.g. new buildings) or to fund public benefit (e.g. means-tested fee support to ensure a breadth of pupil intake).

  Other independent schools are commercial enterprises run for profit, sometimes as part of a larger educational group who can be domiciled overseas. In these cases, surpluses can be removed from the school to pay dividends to owners/investors. It is important to find out who owns a commercial school and what their objectives are. It is also helpful to understand where key decisions are made – do they rest with the Head, the owner, or for educational groups, the head office?

• QUESTION 2

  How strong are the school’s finances?

  Hardly a week goes by without news of an independent school closure. In these challenging economic and demographic times, it makes sense to do some financial due diligence on a school before committing children to it. Schools that are charities publish their accounts on the Charity Commission website. Schools that are for profit may have their accounts listed on the Companies House website, but complex ownership structures can reduce financial transparency. Schools that routinely make losses can be a cause for concern as they could lack the means to invest in the staff, systems and buildings needed for an excellent education. Schools with very challenging balance sheets may face an existential crisis or risk being taken over.

• QUESTION 3      

  How inclusive are the fees?

  Schools can be a bit like hotels, and whilst some offer the equivalent of all-inclusive deals where the published fee covers lessons, textbooks, IT equipment, extra-curricular clubs, early/late stay charges, public exam entries etc., other schools charge for each and every extra. These extras can add up quickly such that the true cost of an independent education is higher than the published tuition fee.

  School uniform and school trips are also additional costs that can vary significantly between schools.

• QUESTION 4

  Do the published exam results give a full and fair picture of attainment?

  Many independent schools sit a mixture of Ofqual-regulated and Department for Education (DfE) recognised GCSEs, and unregulated IGCSEs which are not included in DfE school performance tables. GCSEs and IGCSEs are separate qualifications, and they differ in regulation, content, assessment and cohort. Typically, GCSEs have more assessment by exams and less assessment by coursework than IGCSEs, and GCSEs require pupils to know more as the specification content is greater. GCSEs are sat by pupils in England (including all state school pupils) whereas IGCSEs are sat mainly by pupils in overseas schools.

  These differences matter because comparing the GCSE performance of one school with the IGCSE performance of another is the equivalent of comparing apples with pears. They are both fruits, but they are not the same. There is also a potential currency dimension – GCSEs as Ofqual-regulated and DfE recognised qualifications sat in all state schools have a universal currency. Although IGCSEs are recognised widely by universities and employers, they don’t have the Ofqual seal of recognition and the assurances that come with that.

  Absolute levels of grade achievement don’t show whether pupils have under or overachieved relative to their ability levels. A highly selective school full of upper quartile pupils should achieve upper quartile results. A more insightful measure is what educators call ‘value added’. ‘Value added’ shows whether pupils of given ability levels have done better, performed in line with, or done worse than similar pupils in other schools. Schools that year-on-year achieve positive value-added scores are schools where pupils are consistently doing better (in public exams) than the whole-school average.

• QUESTION 5

  Ask the pupils what they think?

  ‘They would say that, wouldn’t they?’ is a claim that can be fairly levelled at many school marketing departments. Many independent schools, including The Perse, emphasise the three-dimensional strengths of their education and point to excellent academic results, supportive pastoral care and a breadth of extra-curricular opportunities for pupils to enjoy and develop from. However, are those three dimensions really equally valued and equally good? Children can usually be relied on to give a rounded and honest view of a school, so ask them! Prospective parents should use school open days to gain qualitative feedback from existing pupils. If the overall pupil view is positive and correlates with what the school says about itself, this is a very good sign. The parent view is important too, but I would always give more weight to the pupil view which is based on first-hand experience and is made by people (who by definition) are experienced current consumers of education.

Ed Elliott

Head