HAVE A PLAN AND BEWARE THE PUNCH

Robin Fletcher Chief Executive BSA and BSA Group

On meeting the Japanese managing director of a Panasonic TV factory in the Welsh valleys in the 1990s, the first question he asked me was: “Where will your business be in five years’ time?”

given the global impact of COVID19 on every part of the world over the past two years, it is tempting to regard any efforts to look ahead long-term with a high degree of caution and scepticism.

Mike Tyson, the former boxer, usefully reminds us that ‘everyone has a plan until they are punched in the mouth’ . But just because we might get an unexpected punch from time to time doesn’t mean we should not try to have a plan in the first place.

Until COVID-19 the number of boarders at UK schools remained fairly static at around 75,000 taking the independent and state sectors together. There was of course a marked dip in the middle of the pandemic as many international students, particularly from the Far East, could not return to the UK. It is hoped of course that the sector will recover from this dip, if not immediately then perhaps over the next two years. And if this gets us all back to square one, the question about what five years ahead looks like remains valid.

In trying to figure this out, it’s worth boarding leaders considering these points: • 42% of all boarders at UK schools live overseas

• 30% of BSA UK schools have fewer than 50 boarders

• 30% of all boarders are at just 30

UK schools

• 35 UK boarding schools will have closed or stopped boarding from

September 1 2019 to August 31, 2022. Different schools will draw different conclusions to these points based on their own circumstances. But whatever these conclusion are, considering these sort of questions is fundamental for any school as it plans beyond the immediate and attempts to chart of a five-year path.

If your school doesn’t have a five-year plan it’s fair to say now is the time to write one (and BSA is happy to help you!). But if your school has one which says that despite the wider market context you fully intend to double all your numbers in the next five years, then it’s also fair to say that your plan may need tweaking.

Optimism is a wonderful asset in any organisation, but you cannot run one on optimism alone, especially a boarding school.