The turnover of private school headteachers could be “accelerated” by the impact of applying VAT to school fees, a sector leader has warned.
In response to a question from Tes, Robin Fletcher, chief executive of the Boarding Schools’ Association, said that the “nature of headship is changing” in his sector. He told the Schools and Academies Show in Birmingham, in a session yesterday, that there had been an “alarming flurry” of headship changes recently.
“There are people for whom the toll of Covid was very hard, and the current situation is going to be hard as well. It wouldn’t surprise me if that accelerates turnover a bit,” he told an independent school sector panel.
VAT may impact how long headteachers stay in post
Mr Fletcher’s comments come after the Independent Schools Council announced it will be taking legal action against the government for applying VAT to private-school fees.
From January, independent schools will have to charge 20 per cent VAT on their fees as part of a key education policy from the new Labour government.
When asked by Tes if the impact of VAT on private-school fees could be the final straw for some private-school headteachers, Emilie Darwin, deputy CEO of the Independent Association of Prep Schools, agreed that it would.
“Headteachers sustaining posts for a shorter period is not necessarily surprising”, Ms Darwin said, adding that she knew of some headteachers who retired early during the pandemic and that “the job has changed a lot”.
Ms Darwin also said that the VAT policy could have an impact on pay. Meanwhile, future state-sector pay rises would be “quite possibly better” than in independent schools.
Earlier this year, the government announced a 5.5 per cent pay rise for state-school teachers and leaders from September 2024. Independent schools are not required to match state-sector pay, although many do.
“Schools are going to really struggle to pay their teachers what they want to be paid, and we’re already seeing an increase in unionised activity within independent schools,” Ms Darwin said.
Some private schools need better ‘cost-management’
Mr Fletcher also warned that some schools are “taking independence too far” in managing their finances.
“There needs to be an outbreak of cost-management common sense very quickly on those non-precious items,” Mr Fletcher said, using examples such as “managing facilities” and IT.
He said that anything that is not about “delivering lessons” and “department needs” should be considered for cutbacks, and he encouraged schools to “pick up the phone” to each other to share resources.
Fiona Boulton, director of independent schools at United Learning, England’s largest multi-academy trust, said that schools need to seriously think about restructuring staff to save costs, as “you can’t just sit and see what’s going to happen”.
“You go into some schools with 300 pupils and four deputy heads - there should be one head and one deputy,” Ms Boulton said.
The “luxury of having a classroom assistant with every class has gone”, she said, adding that class sizes could increase and some schools could share essentials, such as an HR team, to mitigate against VAT.
The law ‘should be the same’ for all schools during exams
On special educational needs and disabilities, Ms Boulton addressed different access arrangements that pupils receive in the state and independent sectors.
In private schools, Ms Boulton suggested it was easier for parents to ensure their child has their own room for an exam if, for example, they have difficulties with anxiety.
“Yet in an academy, they’ll pull them out of the big exam room and put them in a classroom of 30,” Ms Boulton said, adding that “the law should be the same for all schools”.
Research this week showed that private-school students in England no longer perform better in GCSEs than state students in English, maths and science when results are adjusted.
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