ISC reports rise in pupil numbers at private schools

According to international research, our schools offer the best education globally. David Lyscom, Chief Executive, Independent Schools Council

The annual census of the Independent Schools Council (ISC) has found that, despite the recession, numbers of pupils at private schools in Britain has risen year on year. There are now 514,531 pupils at ISC schools in comparison with 511,677 in 2008, and the numbers of boarders has risen, too.

ISC Chief Executive David Lyscom comments, “ISC schools are a UK success story. Heads have told [us] that parent interest in places for next year remains high. The reasons are clear. According to international research, our schools offer the best education globally.”

Education is a lagging indicator, however, as many parents will try to keep children in school until the end of an academic year or until important exams are sat. The full impact of the recession on the independent sector may not register until September, when we see the figures for the new intake.

Cultural mix

For the first time, the ISC included a compulsory question on ethnicity, which revealed that 78.36 per cent of ISC’s UK students are from a White British background and no less than 20.73 per cent are from a Minority Ethnic background. The equivalent percentage shares for maintained schools in 2007 were 85 per cent and 14 per cent respectively.

Lyscom comments: “The backgrounds of our students are more diverse than in the maintained sector - the opposite of the traditional picture portrayed by our critics. In short we are producing exactly the sort of well-rounded, well-educated adults that the UK requires if we are to maintain our competitiveness into the future.”

The survey also found that 93 per cent of A-level students at ISC schools went on to higher education in 2008, which was an increase year-on-year, and that 50.7 per cent of students at ISC schools achieved a Grade A at A-level.

For more information, or to view the report in full, see www.isc.co.uk/Publications_ISCCensus.htm