Independent schools are now reaching the end of their conversation with the Department for Education about the Green Paper Schools that Work for Everyone. We have said very clearly that we agree with the main aims of the Green Paper and we are willing to do all we reasonably can to support it.
We are pleased that the government recognises that most of our schools are small (only 70 have more than 1,000 pupils), and that the great majority of schools with capacity are already fully engaged in partnerships with state-funded schools.
Most of our schools are not “rich”. They have no endowments, they make very small surpluses and they are working hard to keep fees down. But they will still do what they can. The focus of our conversations, therefore, has been on schemes that would actually work.
We have offered to create up to 10,000 new free places a year in independent schools, jointly funded with government. The state would contribute the same amount of money as would have been spent at a local state school, about £5,500, and our schools would then need to raise funds, worth about £8,000 a year, to make up the difference between that sum and the actual fee.
Crucially, our proposal is that the places would be non-selective, available across all age groups and confined to pupils whose family income is low. They would be additional places, so the state would be saving the cost of educating these children. This is not the same as the old Assisted Places Scheme, through which the state paid the entire cost of the place at independent school, and places tended to be taken up by those on middle income.
Creating school places
Today we release the results of a public opinion poll, which shows that the majority of parents with children at senior school - some 67 per cent - support our proposal. It would create enough places to be the equivalent to filling 10 state senior schools, at no extra cost to government and at a time when we face a booming school-age population.
The fact is that some of the most successful schools in England are offering free places to pupils. If the government fails to take up this offer, we can be sure that its reform agenda is being determined by politics, not by what is in the best interests of pupils or parents.
But we don’t recognise any attempt to characterise our schools as riding in to save the state sector. We don’t have the capacity, experience or - in many areas - the expertise to set up and run state schools. What we can do is contribute in areas where we do have some expertise: specialist subject teaching in primary/prep schools, university admissions, modern languages and science teaching, finance and governance, sport and other co-curricular activities.
We don’t have the capacity, experience or - in many areas - the expertise to set up and run state schools
There are other ways in which we might make these areas of strength available to state schools which are interested in tapping into them. One is through voluntary partnerships between groups of local schools, as happens at the moment. Another is by setting up free schools and becoming involved with multi-academy trusts, which would allow us to work with all the schools in the MAT on school improvement.
One such alliance is the Guildford Education Partnership Academies, initiated with the support of the Royal Grammar School, Guildford and the University of Surrey, which are collaborating to support students at Kings College, Guildford with a technological curriculum.
A third method is by starting national-level schemes, such as a modern languages or physics teacher-training programme.
In recent years, the number of partnerships has grown rapidly. Most of our schools are already engaged in them. They are based on good relationships between schools and a sense that everyone gains from them. Both independent and state schools are confident that being “forced” into partnerships will not work - the psychology is all wrong. Successful schemes depend on teaching staff being willing to give up time voluntarily.
The charity ‘myth’
The Green Paper proposals point the finger at schools in England with charitable status - about 1,000 schools. Charitable status relieves these schools of business rates, but the sums of money are not large - less than many schools are spending on partnerships; much less than most spend on bursaries.
It is estimated that charitable status is worth around £150 million to our schools, but we already spend almost £400 million every year on free and reduced-cost places for children from families on lower incomes. Charitable benefits are not, as far as most of our schools are concerned, the driver behind our response to the consultation. What drives these schools is an enthusiasm to be part of an improving school system, as many already are.
Another issue is how information about the contribution of each school will be collected. This should not be difficult. All charitable schools are regulated by the Charity Commission and are required to make an annual return to them. There is no reason why the Charity Commission could not remain in the driving seat. It seems unnecessary to set up an expensive bureaucracy to manage the contribution of such a small number of schools.
We do not know what the outcome of the consultation will be. Whatever proposals the DfE puts forward, Number 10 will make the final decision. In the end, we might be forced to comply in the way that the Green Paper envisages. But we have been involved in partnerships for 20 years and have a good idea what works and what doesn’t.
Political capital might be made from compelling our schools (average size, fewer than 400 pupils) to work with state schools, and we accept that all charitable schools are going to be held to account. But no one should lose sight of the fact that partnerships will only be worthwhile if there is some enthusiasm for them on the part of all the schools involved.
Barnaby Lenon is chairman of the Independent Schools Council and tweets as @barnabylenon
