Can private schools afford such lavish facilities?

Schools don't want to cut back on the quality of teaching, or class sizes, but there are things they could do, such as putting capital projects on hold
Dr Anthony Seldon, Master of Wellington College

Parents are feeling the pinch as the credit crunch takes hold. The spiralling costs of food and utility bills, combined with the end of many fixed-rate mortgage terms, is putting pressure on households – even those who are well-off.

School fees are an additional cost for parents whose children are educated privately, along with the extra financial burden of school trips and replacing outgrown uniforms this autumn. But families are not the only ones having to tighten their belts. Many independent schools are scrutinising their balance sheets and could end up struggling to survive in the current economic climate.

They are trapped on the horns of a dilemma, not wanting to pass on costs to parents by putting up fees, but also reluctant to provide anything but the best service. This could result in the suspension, at least temporarily, of what one head described as an ‘arms race’ between competing schools in recent years to build lavish sports and boarding facilities.

Some have struggled to imitate internationally-renowned schools such as Harrow, which has a concert hall suitable for chamber music performances plus a new state-of-the-art recording studio. Millfield, as befits a school renowned for its sport facilities, has two sports halls, a climbing wall, a fencing salle, an indoor tennis centre, an equestrian centre, an Olympic-size swimming pool, squash courts, a golf driving range and a polo field.

Smaller schools may be hit

Smaller schools, which lack the same resources, are feeling the strain. Several have closed their doors in recent months and experts believe they will not be the last. Wentworth College in Bournemouth went into administration this summer and was saved only after an eleventh hour bail-out by the United Church Schools Trust. Those that closed recently included Wispers School in Haslemere, Westbrook House in Folkestone, Sandhurst School in Worthing, Dorchester Preparatory School and Fawkham House School in Kent.

Dr Anthony Seldon, Master of Wellington College in Berkshire, chaired a recent session at the Headmasters' and Headmistresses’ Conference at which heads of industry spoke about the credit crisis. Dr Seldon told us afterwards: "The message from it was that things are going to be much tighter than people think, and it's going to take time for this to make its impact felt.

"The speakers felt there was nothing more important than education for parents to be spending money on, but that schools should be doing what they can, both by helping parents spread their fee payments and by cutting back on inessential expenditure.

"It's difficult because in any school by far the biggest cost is teacher salaries and teachers are underpaid as it is. Schools don't want to cut back on the quality of teaching, or class sizes, but there are things they could do, such as putting capital projects on hold."

Public pressure

A recent survey of headteachers and bursars illuminates the pressure schools are under. The research, by Zurich, found one-in-eight independent schools believed they would have to put up fees in the near future.

This is partly in response to new Charity Commission rules that require independent schools to prove they provide ‘public benefit’. Some schools are considering allowing state schools and the local community to use their playing fields and music facilities in an attempt to pass this test, the survey found. But this is unlikely to help schools in financial difficulty. The Zurich report claimed: “Nearly two-thirds of the heads and bursars questioned believe such initiatives will produce only low levels of income.”

The Reverend Tim Hastie-Smith, the new chairman of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC), which represents 250 leading independent schools, is adamant that heads will be doing all they can to protect parents: “Schools have been working very hard to keep fee rises as low as possible. For most schools the fee rises have been lower than their rise in costs.

"Costs have risen by 10 per cent in real terms this year for a lot of schools, but I doubt you would find many have put their fees up by more than five per cent." Mr Hastie-Smith said expensive capital projects would be shelved as a consequence. He predicted schools reacting to the current economic climate would “squeeze surpluses, and that in turn will squeeze building projects in the first instance". 

Prep schools are vulnerable

Mr Hastie-Smith said there was not yet much evidence of any huge rise in bursary applications by families, but said he expected prep schools to be hit harder by the credit crunch than secondary schools. It will be interesting to see what this means over the next few years for schools keen to expand their facilities. Some could put building programmes on hold, introduce larger class sizes, recruit more overseas pupils from abroad, or eventually pass some of their soaring costs on to parents by putting up fees.

Don't miss Nicola's latest report on the sharp rise in parents taking legal action against schools 

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