Check the financial 'health' of your school

Even if you’ve never visited an independent school before there are various signs that you can look for that will tell you so much about its general ‘health’. Kitty Foster helps you make the right choice

Single sex, boarding schools

The main advice for parents is to ask searching questions and have a good old look at the finances. Are they breaking even? Are they making a surplus? Vicky Tuck, principal, Cheltenham Ladies' College

Alarming headlines regarding the closure of private schools have peppered the broadsheets over recent months, with the credit crunch being blamed for falling pupil numbers and decreased revenues. Last year, six private schools closed down, some of them literally overnight, leaving pupils, parents and teachers in utter chaos. Those closing include Dorset and Wispers School in Haslemere, Surrey; La Sagesse in Newcastle and four preparatory schools in the Home Counties and Dorset.

school closures This is a terrible situation for all those people affected, but how large is the problem nationally and are the headlines misleading? There are around 3500 private schools in the UK and those five schools that have closed represent a fraction of the total number – 0.17 per cent to be precise. It wouldn’t make much of a headline, would it?

As the credit crunch deepens, however, some schools may become more vulnerable to closure, in particular small schools. Larger independent schools are beginning to strengthen themselves against recession by looking ahead and making a few subtle changes. Vicky Tuck, principal of Cheltenham Ladies' College, comments: “We haven’t had to cut back on anything, but we have slightly increased our pupil numbers. One of the salient characteristics of this school is that we are in incredibly good financial health, not because we have huge endowments but because we have always been astute and careful in our management.”

Checking 'general health'

Headteachers believe there are many ways that you can check the ‘general health’ of a school before making a commitment. “The main advice for parents is to ask searching questions and have a good old look at the finances," says Vicky. "Are they breaking even? Are they making a surplus? Most private schools are charities and therefore publish their annual reports on the Charity Commission website.” www.charitycommission.gov.uk

Aside from accounts, what are the other signs to watch out for? “You can tell a lot by walking around a school,” says Vicky. “If the place starts to look dilapidated, the class sizes are alarmingly small, or if half of the beds in the boarding house are unoccupied, that’s telling you something.”

Mark Moore, headmaster of Clifton College in Bristol, believes that prep schools are vulnerable. "Parents will defer private education as long as they can. Instead of putting their children down when they are three or four, they will wait until they are 10 or 11."

Mergers with other local schools or takeovers by groups of schools or educational charities are on the increase, so if you see this happening to a school in your area it’s a positive move. As our case study below on Wentworth College illustrates, a school that is under threat can be rescued by the tenacity of parents or the interest of education charities.

Your essential checklist

Ask to see pupil numbers over the last five years. If there’s a general downward trend, then the school may be vulnerable.
Take a good look around on open days. Can you see any evidence of cost-cutting? Does the school look shabby and are the facilities dated?
School mergers can be positive. Some smaller private schools have had to do this in order to survive and it suggests that the governors saw the writing on the wall and did something about it.
A large number of bursaries suggests that the school has healthy support from associations and former pupils.
Go through school accounts checking for healthy and steady financial management over the last five years. If you have any questions, check with the head or the bursar.

Case study

Rescuing Wentworth College, Dorset

Once a girls-only school, Wentworth College’s attempt to attract male pupils was one of the factors that made it founder in summer 2008. After borrowing £400,000 to fund new sports facilities, the lender, Lloyds TSB, called in the debt without notice and the school went into administration on July 28.

Parents campaigned to save the school and raised £300,000 in interest-free loans (70 per cent also paid the Michaelmas term fees in advance). In early August, the United Church Schools Trust, a charity which owns 12 independent schools, presented a bid to take over the school and this was accepted. The school reopened in September and announced record results at GCSE and A level. Lord Carey of Clifton, former Archbishop of Canterbury and chairman of UCST, commented that the school would have a “broadly Anglican ethos” but it remains to be seen what other changes will be made. The school declined to comment.

Post your comment

Has your school recently closed down? Have you had to find a place for your child in a matter of days or weeks? Tell us about your experience