November ~ December 2011 - Independent Schools Magazine

Independent schools
support for academies
Governors beware
There have been growing calls for the independent school sector to become more involved in
academies. But this is an area in which governors need to be careful, advises lawyer Nick Burrows...
The Schools Minister Nick Gibb,
the Secretary of State for Education,
Michael Gove and Lord Adonis,
the former Schools Minister have
all spoken over the past few months
about this, and what they have said
has had common threads.
Michael Gove said that he
‘welcomed the contribution that
independent schools can play
in supporting or sponsoring
academies’. Nick Gibb told the
Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’
Conference that there should be
an expectation that all successful
fee-paying schools should support
an academy thus ‘providing an
opportunity for the sector to
spread its unique ethos, culture and
thinking…’. And Lord Adonis has
said that he wants the ‘DNA’ of the
independent sector transferred into
state schools, and wants to forge
a new settlement between state
and private education in England.
In his view ‘every successful
private school, and private school
foundation, should sponsor an
academy or academies, in place
of existing underperforming
comprehensives’.
8 Independent Schools Magazine
Whilst there has been a considerable
involvement in academies from
over two dozen independent
schools, such as Wellington College,
Dulwich and the King Edward VI
Foundation, it is true to say that
there is some disquiet in the sector
(and certainly among some parents)
at these proposals.
Some feel that for an independent
school to be deploying its
resources in assisting or sponsoring
academies means that parents
are, in effect, being asked to pay
three times for education – once
in paying their taxes, the second
in paying the school fees for their
children, and the third by way of a
contribution to the set up and/or
running of an academy.
It has also been pointed out that
in providing support to enable
an academy to raise its academic
standards, independent schools
might find themselves using their
own funds to create or sustain a
competitor which can provide high
quality education and which does
not charge fees. In other words,
might independent schools be
helping to raise standards to a level
where parents who might have
opted for an independent school for
their children choose instead a high
performing academy?
Governors may well feel, however,
that providing assistance to an
academy is a way in which a school
can demonstrate a clear provision of
benefit to the public, and one which
may benefit more children than the
provision of bursaries.
A further important point which
needs to be addressed is the extent
to which an independent school can
use its funds for assisting academies.
Governors will need to be aware of
what the current constitution of the
school says (and this will probably
be contained in the memorandum
and articles of association).
Often a memorandum will state
a ‘main object’ which may be
the setting up and running of
a particular school (and quite
often in a particular place).
There will then be other clauses
in the memorandum which
Nick Burrows is a partner at law firm Blandy & Blandy and heads up the Charity, Education and Third Sector service. 0118 951 6800
Boarding facilities opened
Godolphin School, Wiltshire,
celebrated the launch of their new
boarding programme in style last
month (October). The school recently
restructured their boarding to include
girls from Godolphin Prep School
and now offer boarding to girls aged
9 – 18 in three distinct phases: junior,
senior and Sixth Form.
As part of the restructure, the girls
in the boarding houses were asked
to suggest names for the new houses
and they decided that it would be a
good idea to honour three Godolphin
“old girls” who have succeeded in
the literary world: Dorothy L Sayers,
Minette Walters and Jilly Cooper.
Walters House is the home of Junior
Boarding and accommodates girls
aged 9 – 12 in delightfully bright and
colourful rooms. When being shown
around the house after the opening
on Sunday, Mrs Minette Walters was
heard to say “it makes me wish I was
10 again”.
Sayers and Cooper Houses are for the
senior girls, aged 13 – 16, and were
opened by Mr Christopher Dean,
Chairman of the D L Sayers Society,
and Mrs Jilly Cooper respectively. Pictured: Minette Walters and Jilly Cooper with pupils
&
include wide powers to carry out
a range of activities. However,
and importantly, those additional
powers will be limited – the
memorandum will state that they
can only be used in furtherance
of the main object of the charity.
In other words, the ability to,
for instance, set up other schools
(which is a relatively common
clause in such a document) can
only be exercised to the extent
that it furthers the main object
of the school. To what extent
can it necessarily be said that
the investment in an academy is
‘incidental or conducive to the
attainment of’ the main objects of
the charity?
Where a school is proposing to
sponsor, set up, provide assistance
to or help in the running of an
academy, Governors will need to
look carefully at the wording of
the governance documents of the
school to ensure that the necessary
powers are provided, and if they
are not, then to make appropriate
changes.
Talking point
Quadruple whammy on parents?
‘Must independent school parents pay four
times over for education? Once through
the tax system for state education their
children don’t use. Once for independent
school fees – often substantial and
demanding considerable sacrifice. Again
to support bursaries and scholarships and
other provisions advocated by the Charity
Commission (even though watered down by
the recent judicial review). And now Michael
Gove and other enthusiasts are expecting
them to countenance the outflow of staff time
and/or money to help out academies.’
In this latest in our occasional series of
‘Talking Points’ we asked a head and a
former school governor to comment:
Dr. John Newton, head, Taunton School, Somerset:
This is scandalous. Another
example of the squeezed middle.
It appears that both Labour and
Conservative policy is not to ban
fee charging education, but exploit
it to compensate for their own
mismanagement of both education
(for the last 60 years) and the
economy.
I would also suggest that both
parties have lost sight of the
founding principles of the welfare
state and the jewel in the education
crown which is the private sector.
The welfare state was never meant
to be an all encompassing comfort
blanket, but a genuine support
when all else had failed. Paying
for one’s own pension, simple
medical needs and education for the
majority should be second nature.
More schools should be feecharging
– not to make a profit
but a surplus. HM Gov should
recycle taxes to all parents through a
voucher scheme and simply ensure
quality through proper inspection.
Schools then need to compete for a
real education pound. And crucially
parents are more directly involved
creating far more engagement from
them as schools will be able to ask
for top ups. This engagement from
and with parents will generate both
social and educational change.
The current academy/free schools
policy still keeps schools shackled
to central government while
losing local control. Yet central
government has been the one
constant factor in our educational
decline.
Reforms to the way we think
about our relationship with the
state is the elephant in the room
as economic realities – both short
and long term – indicate that
overambition on the state’s part is
bringing in bills we cannot pay for
generations. Pensions and PFI are
just two examples.
Instead of charging hard working
parents more, the Government
needs to expect more from those
who can afford fees but do not
pay them because they happen
to live near a good state school.
Such parents are cashing in on free
education and stable/increasing
house values.
The state can then focus on the
genuinely needy. I would more
happily pay taxes for that because
that is my social responsibility.
It is time for a grown up
conversation on all these matters
before economic circumstances
overwhelm us.
Henry Briggs, accountant and former Worcestershire
independent school governor:
Despite paying several times over
for education, private school parents
receive no tax relief at all. It is
understandable that they feel they are
being taken for granted.
The initiatives for Independent
schools giving additional help
usually come from a combination
of political pressure, the governors
and benefactors of the school and
the Heads. Fee paying parents are
rarely consulted. With the recent
Judicial review on public benefit,
the ruling has effectively removed
one point of pressure.
The sacrifice of paying school fees
is certainly biting; although overall
numbers in Independent schools
are holding up well in the present
environment, there are indications
that they are falling at entry levels
and boarding places are being filled
by an increase in overseas pupils. The
UK parent who is also paying for the
state system should never be taken
for granted and no school can be
complacent.
Schools that have been trying to
improve bursary provision from
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policy. A voluntary approach where
donations attract gift aid (rather than
high fees which do not) will appeal
because the tax man is contributing.
Those schools that are already well
endowed should be able to be more
price competitive.
The trickle of applications for schools
to become Academies has now become
a river. What is interesting, though, is
that failing private schools with falling
pupil numbers are not joining the
queue; largely because parents have
acted to prevent it. The Academies
will undoubtedly have mixed success,
but the program will eventually
challenge some independent schools in
certain catchment areas. Committing
resources from an independent school
to a nearby potential competitor seems
short sighted in lean times.
Private schools embarking on social
schemes that are going to be paid
for by their fee paying parents
should consider doing so on a costed
voluntary basis with the taxman’s
help and show they are reducing the
four times multiple.
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Independent Schools Magazine 9