Independant Executive March/April

INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE MAR/APR 2012

UTIVE

Going co-ed: a cop-out or great way to boost pupil numbers?

Board-minded

A guide to day schools going the boarding way

An offer you can refuse

How the Bribery Act will affect donations from parents

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EDEXEC

MAR/APR 2012

GOING COED | BOARDING SCHOOLS | BRIBERY

MIXING IT UP

SECTOR

EXEC

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News The latest news and developments in the world of independent schools

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Advice Community outreach programme How to build useful (and often lucrative) links with the community MARKETING AND DEVELOPMENT

12 Advice Be a good sport How expanding your sports provision can attract more pupils 16 Analysis Girls against boys Going co-ed: a cop-out or great way to boost pupil numbers?

PROCURE AND PLAN

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Independent Executive, brought to you by the publishers of Education Executive, is a bi-monthly magazine that supports business and financial excellence in the modern UK independent school – whether it be fee-paying, an academy or a free school. Every issue features a host of original editorial content aimed at bursars, headteachers, finance directors and development officers and focused on issues to do with the financial and administrative management of a school.

EDITOR julia.dennison@intelligentmedia.co.uk ASSISTANT EDITOR carrie.service@intelligentmedia.co.uk REPORTER jonathan.hills@intelligentmedia.co.uk george.carey@intelligentmedia.co.uk PUBLISHER vicki.baloch@intelligentmedia.co.uk SENIOR SALES EXECUTIVE neil.pauksztello@intelligentmedia.co.uk SALES EXECUTIVE jonathan.love@intelligentmedia.co.uk DESIGNER sarah.chivers@intelligentmedia.co.uk DESIGNER/PRODUCTION peter.hope-parry@intelligentmedia.co.uk

22 Premises Board of education Expanding into boarding provision – what to consider and where to turn 26 Case study Getting the Gos’ Gosfield School reduces its fees in a new take on its admissions policy 29 Top tips Top five to better procurement How to make the best purchasing decisions you can 32 Case study The best and the Hurst The Hurst Lodge School puts sustainability in the picture MANAGEMENT 36 Advice Clever coach The business of running a school: When to get the consultants in 38 Insurance Rest insured A guide to how to get the best school insurance on the market 40 Legal An offer you can refuse How the Bribery Act will affect donations from parents ICT MATTERS 42 Case study Against all odds Nepal’s Ullens School uses technology to makes waves 44 Techno Geek BYOD or break?

The pros and cons to bring-yourown-equipment policies INSPIRED MINDS

Independent Executive is published by intelligent media solutions suite 223, business design centre 52 upper street, london, N1 0QH tel 020 7288 6833 fax 020 7288 6834 email info@intelligentmedia.co.uk web www.intelligentmedia.co.uk web www.independentexec.co.uk Printed in the UK by Buxton Press www.buxtonpress.co.uk

46 Case study Give and you shall receive Portsmouth High School takes a refreshing approach to bursaries 50 Diary Rich relations Charlotte Oosthuizen of Talbot House prep on working the press Turn to the back for a special supplement on arts provision in independent schools

Welcome

W

hile the single-sex debate is one we’ve been having for a long time, I thought it was time to address the subject again. With smaller independents struggling to fill places and, in the worst cases, facing closure as a result, those that have found a niche in the single-sex marketplace may be questioning whether it is viable to continue to exclude 50% of the population from your applicant pool. However, the other side of the debate would say going co-ed could water down an all-girls or all-boys’ school’s unique ethos – particularly when there is competition from new independents in the state sector. On page 16, I look at this age-old debate from the new perspective of a market facing new challenges.

This is a particularly interesting topic for me, as my all-girls school began accepting boys mid-way through my time there, and more than doubled in size as a result.

My form went from 13 girls when I was 13 to 80 people by the time I graduated. I went from being able to invite my whole class for sleepovers to struggling to fight the crowds during lunch. Of course, many schools will have little choice but to expand their offering, but when academies become ever more impressive, thanks to their being the apple of Michael Gove’s eye, it’s important to remember that small class sizes is sometimes all private schools have left in their arsenal.

Speaking of the female sex, girls’ boarding is the biggest growth area for boarding schools in the country.

On page 22 we look at the rise in girls’ boarding, along with the burgeoning popularity of flexi-boarding and how day schools can expand into boarding easier than they thought. For examples of schools with growing boarding provision, see our interviews with Hurst Lodge School in Ascot on page 32 and Essex’s Gosfield School on page 26, meanwhile Portsmouth High School (p46) remains a staunch supporter of educating day girls.

Enjoy and have a pleasant jump into spring.

EDITOR

INDEPENDENT NEWS

TOP STORY

CHANGES PROPOSED TO INDEPENDENT SCHOOL INSPECTIONS Ofsted launches a consultation for the inspection of all ‘non-association’ independent schools, aimed to raise expectations of pupil attainment and performance Education watchdog Ofsted has launched a consultation for the inspection of all ‘nonassociation’ independent schools in England.

The proposed changes to inspection, set to begin in September, are intended to raise expectations for improvement and performance in independent schools for the benefit of pupils and their parents.

The inspections are to determine children’s attainment within the context of their age and ability and are to be based on observations of the pupils work.

Improvement of the independent school pupil will then be balanced out with their starting points and the school’s existing record of pupil’s progress.

Director of education and care at Ofsted, Jean Humphrys, commented on the announcement: “The quality of teaching is the key driver of school improvement.

“One of the main findings from Ofsted inspection in this sector is that the quality of teaching in non-association independent schools tends to be competent but seldom inspiring.

“It is vital that our inspection is incisive and rigorous, and that judgments are fair, clear and helpful to a school’s further development. With these new arrangements

we will focus more sharply on what makes teaching truly effective.”

Ofsted has stated that it “will continue to use a four-point scale to make qualitative judgements”, adding that “detailed grade descriptors will seek to provide more consistency, openness and transparency and encourage independent schools to strive further for improvements to the quality of provision”.

The education watchdog said that the key inspection areas proposed include overall effectiveness; pupils’ achievement; pupils’ behaviour and safety; quality of teaching; quality of the curriculum; provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development; provision for pupils’ welfare, health and safety; and leadership and management.

Ofsted also intends to carry out no-notice inspections from September 2012, due to recommendations from pupil’s parents and carers. Currently, independent schools are permitted two days’ notice before an educational inspection.

“Inspection without notice is important as it lets the inspectors see the school as it really is,” said Ofsted, adding that it intends to pilot the new inspection arrangements.

Nelson run kick-starts school tercentenary celebrations ROYAL HOSPITAL SCHOOL, Holbrook Pupils at the Royal Hospital School, Holbrook, celebrated 300 years of history last month with a run in tribute to one of its most famous governors – Lord Nelson.

As well as being a school governor, Nelson also sponsored pupils to attend the school and students were awarded medals bearing his image. Today the upper sixth boarding house is named after Nelson and the school celebrates Trafalgar Day each year with a ceremonial dinner.

Twenty pupils and four staff took part in the RHS 300 Nelson to Nelson Run from the place of Nelson’s birth near Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, to Nelson House at the Royal Hospital School.

The first runners started at 7am and groups of two or three completed legs of 12-15km passing a ‘Nelson’ baton over 150km.

They passed through such places as Great Bircham, Castle Acre, Swaffham, Merton, Bardwell, Elmswell, Stowmarket, Needham Market, Great Blakenham, Sproughton, Stoke Bridge in Ipswich, Wherstead and finished at 6pm at the school’s Nelson House.

Event organiser and teacher Martin Callow said: “I totally underestimated the depth of enthusiasm demonstrated by these girls and boys. Most had already taken part in sporting activities that morning or over the weekend including the East Anglian Cross Country league, inter-school hockey and netball matches and kayaking on the River Stour in preparation for the Devizes to Westminster challenge at Easter. These are incredibly committed young men and women who are prepared to push themselves and enjoy the challenge – it seems to be an RHS trait!”

Charity says bring back 1970s grant scheme Chairman of the Sutton Trust says poor pupils should get the opportunity to attend private schools for free Sir Peter Lampl, chair of the Sutton Trust, told the BBC that poor pupils should be given the opportunity to attend private schools through the revival of something similar to the grant scheme abolished in the 1970s, which provided bursaries for students from less privileged backgrounds to attend independent schools.

“Now the only people who can go to these schools are people who can afford fees, which can be £12,000 a year for a day school,” he said.

The charity has undertaken a seven-year pilot scheme at a school in Liverpool, to try

and convince the Government that places at independent schools should be “available based on merit” not on income. The Open Access scheme, carried out at Belvedere School, allowed bright children with parents who had a combined income of less than £15,000 to attend the school for free.

Other pupils paid fees on a sliding scale depending on their parents’ income. The result was “a great success” according to the trust, and Sir Peter told the BBC: “Academic standards at the school went up and it was a happy school. No one really cared whether your father was a barrister or a bar tender.”

Rhys Evans, Luke Jones and Freddie Ferguson (all Year 13)

Group picture of all the runners

INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012 05

INDEPENDENT NEWS

WHEN FAILURE IS AN OPTION WIMBLEDON HIGH SCHOOL What lessons can we all learn from failure?

This was the question at the centre of ‘Failure Week’ at Wimbledon High School last month.

While the initiative may sound unusual for a top performing girls’ independent school, the idea is to demystify the word and encourage the girls to put ‘failure’ into context and learn from it (see box out).

Headmistress Heather Hanbury came to teaching after a successful career in management consultancy and is adamant that success and satisfaction in life can come from daring to get things wrong. “My message to girls is that it is better to lead a life replete with disappointment than one where you constantly wonder ‘if only’,” she said. “I want to suggest to girls that it is acceptable and completely normal not to succeed at times.”

She continued: “Failure Week complements what we do throughout the

school, which is to encourage our girls to be courageous and to take calculated risks.

We give our students plenty of support and opportunities to try new things in and outside the classroom. For high-achieving girls especially, where the fear of failure can be crippling, this intellectual resilience and robustness is vitally important. Successful people learn from failure, pick themselves up and move on. Something going wrong may even have been the best thing that could have happened to them in the long run – in sparking creativity, for instance – even if it felt like a disaster at the time.”

Helen Fraser, the chief executive of the Girls’ Day School Trust, of which Wimbledon High is part, is adamant the initiative will be valuable. “Resilience is so important in working life nowadays,” she said. “Things happen that are not ‘fair’ – companies merge, economies crash, strategies change – and a young employee can find his or her career hits the wall, through no fault of their own.

“Wimbledon High School are helping to build vital resilience in girls; by showing how making mistakes is not necessarily a bad thing, that it is fine to try and fail – and then pick yourself up and try again – or as Samuel Beckett said, ‘fail better’. Any successful woman or man will be able to look back at bad times in their career and remember how they regrouped, and moved on to better things.”

FORMER PUPIL’S £2.5M KICK-STARTS NEW BUILD KING EDWARDS SCHOOL, Birmingham Planning permission has been granted for a science block extension at King Edward’s School, Birmingham, kicking off the second phase of a £25m building improvement programme.

Partly funded by a £2.5m donation from an anonymous former pupil, the new phase at the top independent boys’ school will include state-of-the-art teaching facilities for science and modern languages, as well as a new sixth form centre. The generous donation will enable an entirely new modern languages department and new laboratories to be built, reflecting the school’s ongoing commitment to science and languages.

The second phase, which follows the development of the Sir Paul and Lady Ruddock Performing Arts Centre, will involve the removal of the existing physics laboratory block and the creation of an L-shaped teaching space that will be wrapped around the southern side of the courtyard. This will replace single-storey classrooms with facilities over two storeys tall, to maximize the building’s footprint. The new sixth form centre will be built over an existing building on one side of the courtyard. Plans also include improving the connection between the science department and the main school building to enhance circulation and connectivity to the rest of the school.

John Claughton, the chief master at King Edward’s, said: “We are engaged in a long-term programme to ensure that the school has the best possible facilities for all aspects of our education.

These are very exciting times and these projects show the ambition we have to remain one of the great day schools of this country.”

06 INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012

Failure Week included: n Assemblies focusing on the subject of failure, with examples of successful people, including famous names and teachers, who have ‘failed’ along the way n Activities designed to assess how students feel about failure n Tutors discussing the merits of failure, sharing a ‘failure’ they faced in their lives with their pupils and discussing how they came through it n Explorations of the negative side of ‘not failing’; the importance of having a go and risking failure n Emphasis on the pastoral network of support that underpins school life and can help when things go wrong n Encouraging parents to discuss any ‘failures’ they have had with their daughters and what they learnt from them.

New free school to open in Norwich SIR ISAAC NEWTON FREE SCHOOL, Norwich Norwich may have a new sixth form college, specialising in maths and science, by 2013 under plans announced this year.

Backed by Victory Academy in Costessey, the new Sir Isaac Newton Free School hopes to cater for 100-plus students initially.

Rachel de Souza, Victory Academy principal, will take the free school under her umbrella: “This school is for seriousminded academic students who want to go to a good university. We will aim for A and A* A-levels and we will develop close links with Oxbridge and the best universities in Britain.”

She said Norfolk and north Suffolk represented “a black hole” for maths and science education. “Something like 2,000 students achieve A*-Bs at GCSE, yet less than 1,000 pursue the subjects at sixth-form,” she explained. “Equally important, our sixthform students are far from the top of national performance tables for maths and science.

There is a clear demand for high quality maths and science education in Norfolk and north Suffolk.”

The free school will also provide training in entrepreneurial skills, IT and Mandarin.

INDEPENDENT NEWS

DIARY

IN PICTURES

20 March MEET VSO VSO offices, London 27 March REFORMING THE SCHOOL ESTATE: CREATING SCHOOLS FIT FOR THE FUTURE Central London 22 June EDEXEC LIVE Business Design Centre, London

WE ARE LOOKING FOR LOCAL SCHOOL NEWS. British sprinter Jeanette Kwakye visited The Maynard School in Exeter last month to run an interactive and physical master class with a group of Year 8 and 9 students. The session was part of the school’s ‘Try a new Olympic Sport’ project, which was initiated by PE teacher Rachael Miller as part of the London 2012 Olympics.

If you have a story to share, please get in touch on editor@edexec.co.uk

A new gate for World Heritage church with help from St Edmund’s School ST EDMUND’S SCHOOL, Canterbury Pupils from St Edmund’s School Canterbury have played a key role in maintaining the city’s World Heritage Site.

The wooden gate at the rear of the churchyard at St Martin’s Church had rotted away and was at the end of its life. The city council, which is responsible for maintaining the churchyard, contacted the school to see whether students from its technology department would be interested in a project to make a new gate.

The school took up the challenge and over a two year period, a group of A-level students followed the process through, from watching the felling of an oak tree at their national nature reserve in Blean Woods and the wood being prepared, to constructing and hanging a new gate to the original design. The hinges on the old churchyard gate were also beyond repair, so new ones have been made by the Littlebourne-based company Kingsley Forge.

In recognition of the many hours of hard work put in by the school pupils, the city council has made a donation of £500 to enable them to buy new equipment for the technology department. The council’s executive member for the

environment, Cllr Rosemary Doyle, said: “This was a great opportunity to get local school pupils involved in a community project while learning and developing their skills. They have done a superb job and have helped to ensure the standards we set for maintaining our World Heritage Site continue to be met.”

Paul Gadenne, teacher of technology at St Edmund’s School, said: “In these times of virtual design and computer-aided

manufacture, it is refreshing to give pupils the opportunity to work with traditional methods and materials on such an important project. It was very rewarding for pupils to be involved in a project that they could see through from the live tree to a finished product which will be in place for years to come.”

Cllr Doyle presented the pupils of St Edmund’s with a cheque on 1 February at a ceremony for the blessing of the gate by Canon Noelle Hall. The ceremony was also attended by parishioners of St Martin’s Church, members of Canterbury City Council and Paul Gadenne and Kathy Lloyd from St Edmund’s School.

Canon Hall, rector of St Martin’s Church, said: “St Augustine arrived here at St Martin’s with the good news of Jesus Christ in 597AD, and we are still going strong, which makes St Martin’s the oldest church in continuous use anywhere in the English-speaking world. We are delighted with the efforts of the council and St Edmund’s School to help keep the churchyard in a proper state for the visitors who come here from all over the world because of its special significance.”

INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012 07

SECTOR > COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Friends with

benefits

08 INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012

SECTOR > COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Should a school do more than simply serve the interest of its pupils? George Carey looks into the links that schools have forged with their communities and the benefits that can be enjoyed by both

C

onsidering the age of some of Britain’s independent schools, it should be no surprise that they have formed part of the warp and weft of their communities as they have expanded around them. Across the length and breadth of the country, schools are enriching their surroundings and the education of their pupils by working with those in surrounding areas.

Warwick School is more than 1,000 years old and has been a long-time advocate of close school and community links. The school became heavily involved in the Warwick Independent State Schools Partnership (ISSP), making it one of the most successful inter-school collaboration programmes in the country. Warwick School set up and implemented the ISSP enrichment programme, which incorporated many events and activities and opened up the school’s facilities to local state schools. The Warwick ISSP consisted of 11 schools: four secondary and seven primary; three independent and eight from the maintained sector. Joint activities between the schools still continue even without the formal partnership.

The enrichment programme championed by Warwick School included a variety of events, covering both primary and secondary schools.

Activities in recent years have included a politics conference and a history day with more than 250 pupils and teachers enjoying a full day’s visit to Warwick Castle. The school also still runs come-and-try-it days every summer term, with around 300 pupils from six primary schools taking part in activities including archery, wall climbing and water polo.

Edward Hulse, the school’s headmaster, said: “Warwick School has played an active role in the community since it was established over 1,000 years ago. Today this

manifests itself in a huge number of ways. We organise many events that involve local schools, from art exhibitions to rugby training days, and work hard to ensure more schools and their pupils are involved each year. Our facilities are available to many local organisations on both a commercial basis or to support charity events. Our professional theatre is open to all, offering a great range of musical and dramatic events and often guest speakers deliver free talks, to which all are welcome.”

Another independent school heavily involved with helping its community is Wellington College.

Dr Anthony Seldon, the school’s master, was the architect behind the creation of The Wellington Academy that replaced a struggling secondary school that had been placed in special measures. Wellington College has been instrumental in aiding the academy’s transition, with Ofsted recently describing its progress as ‘oustanding’ and it has become one of Wiltshire’s best performing schools.

The benefits are not merely one-sided; some of the college’s teachers do not have qualified teacher status and have used the academy to complete their teaching practice.

Apart from its work with Wellington Academy, the school has a very real commitment to community service, which it considers a vital part of every pupil’s development while they are at the school. Wellington College’s ‘community service programme’ changes every year but is invariably organised and run by the students. Some past community service projects include volunteering at a local centre for the mentally handicapped, tutoring students at local schools, and reading to the elderly. Students also traditionally volunteer their time with the National Trust and the college estate.

Although the school does make money from the use of its

INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012 09

SECTOR > COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Warwick School has played an active role in the community since it was established over 1,000 years ago impressive facilities, Stephen Crouch, Wellington’s bursar, explains that it is not run for profit: “We make our facilities available to a large number of local groups on a free-of-charge basis, which is part of the school’s ethos of contributing to the community. We do also charge other groups for the use of some things but any money made goes back into a school fund for philanthropic projects.”

You might be forgiven for thinking that academies wouldn’t be in such a strong position to help their local communities but one man is on a crusade to prove just how much they can do. Phil Karnavas is headteacher of Canterbury Academy and has been a teacher at the school since 1991. In 1993 it was named and shamed by the Daily Express for having some of the worst results in the country, but he has been striving to turn the school’s fortunes around ever since and in 2010 school inspectors labeled it ‘exceptional’.

At the heart of the improvements to the school have been mutually beneficial schemes involving the wider community, as Karnavas explains: “These decisions to link with the community are always based on three factors: to raise additional sources of revenue for the school; to bring opportunities to the children; and to support part of the school’s vision and moral purpose of working to help the community.”

The academy has a private language company that is housed on site and pays rent, but the rent is offset against its fees so that it provides language tutoring to small groups at a time when it is convenient to the school, at a cost that is much cheaper than employing a member of staff. Another initiative that has proved to be incredibly successful is a private dance company with a similar setup to the language school that provides choreography and experience for the school’s elite post16 dance academy. The academy is the only one of its kind in the area and has been responsible for almost

100 pupils from other schools joining the sixth form in the past two years.

These are just two examples of the many innovations at Cantebury Academy that benefit both sides of the school fence and exemplify its headteacher’s philosophy. “My basic premise here is actually not financial but moral. Schools are amongst the best resourced organisations in any local community. However, they are generally only open five days a week, during the day, 36 weeks a year. On the whole they are only open for a small number of children who happen to attend them and to me that is both stupid and selfish,” he says.

“Schools can either sweat their assets and make money or offer what they have to their community so that it can be educationally, economically and socially improved.

“Schools are not only learning communities in their own right, but they are also the definition of a community centre,” Karnavas continues. “They should make a difference not only to the children that attend them, but to the other children in the area that do not, and the community in the broadest sense. Headteachers should not be leaders of their schools but leaders in their communities.”

As well as the undeniable benefits to his pupils and those in surrounding areas, all of this activity gives a healthy boost to the school’s balance sheet. Rent from businesses on the academy’s grounds brings in around £120,000 per annum, while each of the 100 pupils who were attracted by the dance academy brings £4,000 of funding with them.

With the huge array of resources available to independent schools and now academies, it seems only right that they should contribute to those around them who are not privileged enough to attend. There is plenty for schools to gain out of the bargain as well. If you can strike the right balance, it’s possible to boost school funds while improving the quality of life for your students and their neighbours. 

10 INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012

MARKETING AND DEVELOPMENT > SPORTS

A sporting chance 12 INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012

MARKETING AND DEVELOPMENT > SPORTS

Sport is not only good for your pupils’ health and general wellbeing; it can also act as a handy marketing and business tool for your school. Carrie Service looks at how schools can use their sport achievements and facilities to increase admissions and maybe even make some extra cash

W

ith the Olympics just around the corner, schools are becoming more innovative than ever within their sports departments. Some are integrating sport into their science lessons and using it as an opportunity to get pupils thinking about health and exercise, while others are organising Olympics-inspired charity events. The Games have got people thinking and talking more about sport and schools can use this buzz to showcase their sporting abilities.

MORE TO OFFER With a drop in funding for sports at state schools, independents have the opportunity to really take advantage of the freedom they have to invest in their own sports facilities and use this to set themselves apart from the state sector.

A strong reputation for sport is a definite plus in attracting new students as parents now want the full package, says education marketing consultant Peter Berry: “Economic pressures make parents look ever more closely at the overall education and development their child will receive and sport is an area where independent schools can not only differentiate themselves from one another but may convince parents to choose an independent rather than a maintained school.” In state schools the programmes usually dropped from the budget are extracurricular activities, which usually include sports. Offering good sports facilities alongside a high quality education is of increasing importance to parents as less and less can afford to send their children to private school.

Parents want to know they are getting that extra something that the state sector doesn’t offer and that their money is being well spent.

Although the principal reason for most parents choosing a school is largely based around its academic achievements, sports are still important to many parents and students. Increasing press coverage of Olympic athletes has meant that prospective pupils now have a broader demographic of sporting role models and sport is being given greater prestige as part of a person’s academic background. Young people are becoming interested in a wider range of sports going beyond the traditional favourites of football and rugby, which may give a school’s sporting achievement more influence over a prospective parent’s decision to choose it. “Whether it’s as a leading element or a supporting one, sports achievement and facilities are important,” says Berry.

TEAM TALKS It is essential to identify how you want to communicate your sports offering when you begin integrating it into your marketing campaign, says Berry. You should start by asking yourself what areas you want to concentrate on: “Is it about the overall quality of your facilities and coaching, emphasising the opportunities for all students?” Or do you want to emphasise the variety of sports your school has on offer, giving students the chance to try something new? Some schools may want to concentrate on a niche they fill, for example equestrian facilities, while others might want to publicise the success of their sports department over all. For most, the bottom line is about increasing admissions, and the great thing about using sports as a marketing tool is that it shows your school has the right balance and doesn’t concentrate purely on academic achievement.

INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012 13

MARKETING AND DEVELOPMENT > SPORTS

Although not everybody is a budding sportsman, increasing numbers of people are starting to see sport as an important part of education. Students are becoming savvy to the influence it can have on university applications and this is something that schools are starting to tap into.

“Underlining your good sports provision can not only strengthen your appeal to those already sporting inclined but to others too,” explains Berry. He advises steering your marketing campaign not just around the competitive element of playing sport but also demonstrate how sport can back up academic achievement by emphasising the team building and communication skills it harnesses. “Universities look at sporting participation to support personal statements of candidates” he adds. “Some of the most academically successful schools in the country make great play of their sports success.”

RELEASING CAPITAL Another way a school can utilise its sports facilities is by leasing them out to other schools and members of the public for sports clubs, exercise classes and the like. This creates another source of capital for the school, while also showcasing its facilities to prospective pupils. If sports facilities are open the public, anyone who has an interest in coming to the school can simply go along to the sports hall/swimming pool/ badminton court and try it out first hand.

However, leasing out your facilities can be quite a lengthy process and does have its problems as Simon Shneerson, a strategic business developer for independent schools, clarifies: “There are various issues of public access, child protection, and increased wear and tear on the facilities.” There is also the problem of competition. Local leisure centres and gyms usually have a wider range of facilities on offer which can be difficult for schools to match, reflects Shneerson: “It’s often hard for schools to compete with commercial fitness centres – which tend to be better located and which have better opening hours, better access, big branding and critical mass.” This, of course, can vary depending on the area you are in. Do some research into what existing facilities there are and decide whether or not your services could realistically compete.

SPREAD THE WORD Getting as much positive exposure as possible around your sporting achievements is obviously key, and one way of doing this is to get involved in as many tournaments 14 INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012

and competitions as possible. Going on a tour can help you to get a name for yourself within the country’s sporting community and allow you to build partnerships with other schools. One tool that’s employed by most schools to get their sporting message across is their website. By publishing weekly news articles on the sports pages you can keep people up to date. This also reinforces the feeling that you have a lot of different activities going on and that you are a school that communicates well with the public. The local press can be another useful marketing tool, but if you want to get your story published make sure it’s interesting and relevant to their readership.

If you are hoping to get into the local newspaper, organise a community sports event, perhaps involving local charities or faces people will know. “Local media will be likely to carry stories with photographs of local sportsmen visiting the school, coaching or talking to pupils,” says Berry.

“Secondary schools can host tournaments for primaries, bringing parents and children in who have the opportunity to experience your facilities and sporting ethos.” If you send through genuinely interesting content your story is more likely to be printed, so be forward thinking in what you come up with. 

Some schools may want to concentrate on a niche they fill, for example equestrian facilities

MARKETING AND DEVELOPMENT > SINGLE SEX EDUCATION

Boys vs.

With money becoming more of an issue, single-sex schools are considering the age-old decision as to whether they should go co-ed in a bid to boost pupil numbers – but critics argue this runs the risk of detracting from what makes the school different.

Julia Dennison asks: Does sex sell?

16 INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012

MARKETING AND DEVELOPMENT > SINGLE SEX EDUCATION

girls

S

ingle-sex schools are in decline. The editors of the Good Schools Guide spoke last year of the “near extinction” of independent boys’ schools, calling the remaining few “survivors”, when fewer than five per cent of schools listed in the 25th anniversary edition were all-boys (compared with 24% in 1986).

According to the Independent Schools Council, 25% of all boys’ schools have gone co-ed in the past decade, and the number of boys in a single-sex school has dropped by a fifth in the same period. Meanwhile, girls schools didn’t fare that well either: also in the Good Schools Guide, all-girls schools accounted for only 13% of the leading establishments in their ratings, the lowest proportion since the list started, while the Independent Schools Association has witnessed a decline in all-girls’ education in general. Could this signal a downward trend for the single-sex model? Perhaps.

It seems the only glimmer of hope for supporters of single-sex education comes from the world of boarding – where the

ISA reported a three per cent rise in girls’ boarding facilities.

So what has caused the decline? Many argue it is a reflection of the challenges independent education is facing. The ISC reported pupil numbers in UK independent schools falling by 0.5 per cent, which impacts budgets at private schools and means many are faced with difficult decisions when it comes to recruiting new pupils. Julie Booth, head of independent schools at Capita, says schools change to accept girls or boys in order to survive.

“Where we are seeing schools that are looking to change and go co-ed, it’s been largely financially driven,” she comments.

However, is going co-ed the right solution to getting bums on seats? Let’s start with the impact it has on education, which is why, after all, we’re all here.

GIRLS ARE GOOD FOR BOYS It seems not all single-sex schooling is created equal. According to studies, girls benefit more than boys from a single sex environment. Research by the Good Schools

Guide in 2009 found girls are far more likely to thrive, get GCSEs and stay in education if they go to an all-girls school.

Girls are also more likely to take subjects that are historically ‘masculine’ in a singlesex environment. The Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST) worked out that if the same proportion of girls did maths or science A-levels in all schools as they do in GDST schools, there would be 66,000 more girls with a chemistry, biology, physics or maths A-level in the UK every year. Furthermore, research presented at the 2011 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences in Canada looked at gender segregation in classrooms and found that girls really “took off” academically in same-sex classrooms, while boys did just “okay” – but to make matters worse, taking girls out of the boys’ classrooms led to misogyny and violence on behalf of the boys. Lastly, a study in 2008 by Tel Aviv University said outright that girls improve boys’ grades. “Being with more girls is good for everybody,” professor Analia Schlosser told Science Daily. “We find that both boys and girls do better when there INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012 17

MARKETING AND DEVELOPMENT > SINGLE SEX EDUCATION

are more girls in the class.” It is with this in mind that there has been a trend in recent years towards all-boys schools admitting girls. “In this country it tends to be the boys’ [schools] – for the bums on seats and results – [that] take girls but not the other way around,” confirms Helen Fraser, chief executive of the GDST. GIRLS ARE GOOD FOR BOYS Before schools get carried away abiding by this research, Lisa Eliot from the Chicago Medical School argues that there is no scientific basis for teaching boys and girls separately, and that there are fundamental flaws in the arguments put forward by singlesex educators to justify their existence.

She says neuroscience has identified few differences between boys’ and girls’ brains relevant to learning. Although research shows that men and women – not boys and girls – tend towards different learning styles, she argues that there is no evidence that teaching specifically geared to such differences is actually beneficial. “Beyond the issue of scientific misrepresentation, the very logic of segregating children based on inherent anatomical or physiological traits runs counter to the purpose and principles of education,” Eliot commented in Science Daily. “Instead of separating children in the name of ‘hardwired’ abilities and learning styles, schools should be doing the opposite: instilling in children the faith in their own malleability and promoting their self-efficacy as learners, regardless of gender, race, or other demographic characteristics.”

So the question as to whether separate is better remains. Gender theorists like Judith Butler would be quick to remind us all that gender is a social construct and while boys and girls’ brains may show little difference, there are social pressures that can impact behaviour. Scientifically there should be no difference between boys and girls but for whatever reason, socially – whether from impressing the other sex; acting out/showing off; underestimating their abilities – girls seem to be better off without boys. So what’s a school to do?

IN DEFENCE OF SINGLE-SEX Louise Robinson, president of the Girls’ Schools Association and head of Merchant Taylors’ Girls’ School in Crosby, is, unsurprisingly, a big advocate of all-girls education, and believes there will always be room for girls schools. “Schools are strange beasts,” she says. “On the one hand, we have to be all things to all people. On the other hand, specialist provision – in any field, not just education – is a powerful attraction.

When single sex schools decide to go co-ed, the driver is usually the perceived benefits of scale. But it’s an undeniable truth that you lose your niche appeal in the process. Girls’ schools top the league tables year after year and, market forces being what they are, as long as parents want the best education for their daughters, there will always be a place for single sex girls’ schools.”

Headmistress of Malvern St James School for Girls, Patricia Woodhouse believes the kind of education she offers allows girls to thrive. “Parents continue to 18 INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012

choose single-sex education for their child because schools like MSJ offer a liberating environment that empowers girls,” she comments. “We are 100% dedicated to girls giving them the space and freedom to express themselves. Increased self-belief, self-esteem and confidence are particular key rewards for girls.”

The GDST, which celebrates its 140th anniversary this year, is a staunch supporter of all-girls education but this commitment is not just historical, rather Fraser and her colleagues believe girls need the support to succeed now more than ever. “Girls excel educationally at GCSE, A-level and degree level and they’re just starting to pass boys in first jobs, but if you look above that – if you look at boards of directors, the FTSE 100, and if you talk to some of our most brilliant young alumni who are the vice president of Goldman Sachs at 29 or a director at Universal or Unilever, what they will all say is that actually it is still not easy being a woman in the business world,” she says, pointing to evidence from the Institute of Education that shows that women who were educated in a single sex environment earn more than those in co-ed schools. She puts this down to girls in girls’ schools having the whole field to play with – there is quite literally nothing they feel they can’t do.

The GDST had what Fraser calls “forays” into all-boys education, when it bought a couple boys’ prep schools a few years ago, but chose to sell them on and stand by its all-girls ethos. “Essentially, we’re very committed to all girls,” she adds. “In terms of the marketplace, distinctiveness is incredibly important. Our offer is that we know about educating girls… That’s our area of expertise and that’s what parents come to us for.”

THE HALFWAY HOUSE There are alternatives to simply going coed.

“It’s not an all or nothing scenario,” says Booth, who sees single-sex senior schools “dip their toe in the water” by having a co-ed sixth form, which helps the pupils prepare for the mixed environment of university. For example, all-boys Leeds Grammar School and Leeds Girls’ High School came together recently to become The Grammar School at Leeds, however it wasn’t as straightforward as throwing everybody into the mix. From nursery to Year 6 it’s coeducational; then from Year 7 to 11, the lessons become singlesex but all the pastoral and extracurricular activities remain coeducational; finally, in the sixth form it becomes completely coeducational again. When it came to making the decision, the school was faced with a wide spectrum of conflicting evidence (as outlined above) and felt it could use research to justify a move one way or the other, so decided to take a kind of halfway house approach. “We were taking girls [and boys] who were mid-course who were used to being taught in single-sex [and] this seemed like an interesting and safe thing to do,” says deputy head of systems, Eric Medway – who admits it had its difficulties, especially with timetabling. A year in and the school reviewed the set-up and found that teaching and learning standards had been maintained and benefits, including a tangible separation of work and social time and more extracurricular activities, were enjoyed.

An amalgamation like The Grammar School at Leeds depends on the good fortune of having such a school to partner with – and asking a school to leave its premises and join yours is a big ask, but Medway believes if the opportunity of combining

MARKETING AND DEVELOPMENT > SINGLE SEX EDUCATION

two schools presents itself, schools would be well-placed to take it. “My feeling is that merging two schools, although there are all sorts of cultural issues that you have to deal with, is actually the more satisfactory thing than trying to import the other gender into a school,” he comments. He recommends schools take it slowly and give both the boys and girls ample time to find their feet, underlining the importance of planning to ensure the two schools can progress from the day of the merge onwards. He sings the praises of using data to track the attainment standards, to ensure nothing slips.

Not everyone is a supporter of this middle ground. Neil Roskilly, CEO of the ISA, recognises the idea of boys and girls in separate classes as a popular phenomenon in the state sector that he hopes won’t permeate too much in the private sector. In short, he sides with Chicago scientist Eliot on the subject of approaching segregation with caution. “That form of apartheid has little educational merit and does not add to parental choice,” he says.

WORDS TO THE WISE There is much a single-sex school needs to consider before it goes co-ed – and vice versa. “If anyone is going to make the change they really do have to make sure that they’ve consulted with their existing parents,” explains Booth. “Their existing parents are their best marketing material.

While the quest for new pupils is obviously great, they need to consult their existing numbers first.”

Choice is a topic to which the specialists continue to return. Julie Robinson, the education and training director at the Independent Association of Prep Schools (IAPS) and a former head of two co-ed prep

20 INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012

schools, says that while many single sex schools have been under pressure to move towards co-education, there remains a place for single sex education in the market. “It is important that parents feel that they have a choice of school: rural/urban; boarding/ day and co-ed/single sex,” she says. “When we speak to youngsters who are a product of either single sex or co-education, they are usually able to see pros as well as cons and, in the end, choosing a single sex school is a parental choice in the same way that selecting a career or a place to live is.”

She goes on to explain that there is more to a school and its success than the gender of children it chooses to educate.

“Parents consider a range of factors when selecting the right education to suit individual children,” she adds. “The single sex approach is just part of the mix.”

Indeed, Woodhouse – who responded to the questions for this article by calling the single sex vs. co-ed debate “clichéd and out-dated”, argues instead for the merits of personal choice and thinks attributing success of schools like hers solely to the fact it just educates girls would be wrong.

Advocates of single-sex education can rest easy – it does not seem that single-sex schools will be going co-ed in droves. None of the ISA schools have changed their gender balance in the last few years and Roskilly believes that the movement away from single sex education seen in previous years has largely stabilised. “Many parents who were educated themselves in single sex schools still wish to have this as an option for their own children,” he says. “Yet even more important for them is the reputation of the school and whether their child will be happy there.” So in short, for a school to succeed in this market, it’s got to be good. 

Distinctiveness is incredibly important. We know about educating girls. That’s our area of expertise and that’s what parents come to us for

PROCURE AND PLAN > BOARDING SCHOOLS

22 INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012

PROCURE AND PLAN > BOARDING SCHOOLS

Boarding schools have seen an increase in pupils choosing to board of late. Carrie Service takes a look at the logistics of taking in extra boarders and how to accommodate them

T

here are many advantages to having a child board in today’s hectic world.

Parents are under huge pressure to keep hold of their jobs while ensuring their child receives a good standard of education and takes part in extracurricular activities. But providing them with the best education available comes at a cost. With tough economic times upon us, those who are lucky enough to still have a job can’t risk losing it, so being as flexible and accommodating as possible at work is of the utmost importance. Many parents in demanding jobs find that boarding allows them the flexibility they need in the week: not having to be home in time to meet the children and sometimes working long hours or away from home at short notice. Perhaps this is why many schools are starting to see a significant increase in the number of boarders they have.

Hilary Moriarty, national director of the Boarding Schools’ Association thinks so. She believes that the added option of flexi-boarding has also played a part: “For modern busy parents, often both working in high-flying posts, demanding long hours and trips away from home, flexi- or weekly boarding can make the juggling of work and family possible without resorting to sometimes haphazard childcare at home.” Taking into consideration the cost of childcare on top of all this, boarding could even be considered a more economically viable option for some families.

INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012 23

PROCURE AND PLAN > BOARDING SCHOOLS

ROOM FOR ONE MORE? More admissions is good news for any school, but when you have boarders and you’ve got to find somewhere for all these extra people to sleep, where do you start? Ian Hunt, MD at Gabbitas educational consultants, says that one way of accommodating an influx of new boarders is to re-open old houses (or open new ones) to extend capacity.

Although this might sound like a big commitment to make when you are unsure of what the total number of boarders will be, there are ways to minimise the risks without having to resort to turning people away, he explains: “To bring a house back into circulation in a school that has been mothballed is a big decision, but in today’s climate, to turn away what are most likely to be full-fee-paying boarders is an even bigger one.” To give yourself a bit of flexibility, it is a good idea to practice caution if you are employing extra staff to accommodate a reinstated house, says Hunt: “Houseparent contracts could be set up for a one year period so that the option to return the house to standby is maintained.”

Depending on how your school is organised in terms of boys and girls, it might also be worth considering whether single-sex houses could be divided into split houses. There has been a considerable increase in the number of sixth form girls deciding to board in recent years. By contrast, there has been a steady decline in the number of boys boarding.

Assessing how the accommodation is divvied up could allow you to make use of all available space rather than having perhaps a boys’ junior house that is virtually empty and a girls’ senior house that is full to the brim. You could also look into accommodating pupils off campus on a temporary basis, says Hunt: “[You could] accommodate pupils in what is effectively a ‘holding pattern’ until beds become available on the main campus [as] there is often a shift in numbers during a term,” thus not committing to building new dorms but still not losing out on new admissions.

FLEXI-TIME As previously mentioned, flexi-boarding is one of the best ways to accommodate additional pupils and can probably account (in part) for the increase in boarders in recent years. There are a number of ways in which schools can offer boarding to pupils. The ‘full boarding’ model, which involves the child staying for about three weeks at a time before having a weekend at home, tends to be popular with international or expat parents, as it offers not only education but childcare and entertainment in the evenings explains Moriarty: “Weekends will be busy and active, with lots of time and space for individual study but also with things going on – sport, music, drama, trips, often even lessons – so that the student is neither

24 INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012

bored or homesick.” Flexi- or weekly boarding is popular with many British parents because it means “more of a sharing of care with the school, with the child at home at weekends” she adds. Many schools also offer the option of staying just a couple of nights a week here and there to suit the family’s needs, something that more and more are adopting, with many closing at the weekends altogether: “Boarding schools, now more than ever, are sensitive to the needs of parents and children: if there is capacity in what was once a full boarding house, they will certainly consider the flexi- and weekly market”.

Sounds like a perfect arrangement, however Hunt warns that schools should not to be tempted to take on more boarders than they can manage, after all, the whole idea of paying for private education is so that this doesn’t happen: “Squeezing them in is neither a good business sense nor legal now that care standards have issued minimum distances between beds.” He adds that to be sure you are utilising all available space it might be worthwhile giving occasional or flexi-boarders a nudge to either upgrade to weekly or full boarding, when you know that there may be some new boarders arriving. This is where schools that are close to capacity can fit a few extra boarders in: by implementing a system where two boarders alternate which nights of the week they stay over, therefore sharing a place between them.

GROWING NEEDS Queen Ethelburga’s, an independent day and boarding school in Yorkshire, has seen a 55% rise in boarders over the past five years, with an increase from 220 girls boarding in 2007 to 341 at present. They have just invested another £2m to refurbish Benedict House, their accommodation for middle school boys and girls, increasing their capacity to accommodate the extra boarders. But it’s important to remember that when a child is boarding, the school becomes, in a sense, a second home and their needs stretch beyond state-of-the-art sporting facilities and top-notch boarding houses. It can be a traumatic experience for the younger boarders and a turbulent one for those in the difficult teenage years.

Ensuring that pupils have all their pastoral requirements met is equally, if not more important than making sure they have a bed to sleep in, something that Queen Ethelburga’s takes very seriously. “Our houseparents have vast experience of all kinds of pastoral difficulties that our boarding children might worry about. From lost luggage and homesickness to settling in to a strange place,” said a school spokesperson. “It is not just about the facilities but the surroundings and the people with which our students spend their time.” 

PROCURE AND PLAN > INTERVIEW

FREEDOM FROM FEES While man y schools struggle th these time rough s of financ ial difficult School ha y, s taken th e radical d Gosfield lower its f ecision to ees in a b id to appe strapped ase cashparents an d compet pupils. Juli e for new a Denniso n visits pr Sarah We incipal Dr lch, chair of govern Sakal and ors Peter sales and marketing Kim Betts manager to find ou t more

26 INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012

PROCURE AND PLAN > INTERVIEW

E

ssex’s Gosfield School is a small, independent school that has existed in its current incarnation since 1929. Previously, it was based in Leigh-on-Sea and called Leigh Hall School. It moved to its current property when then owners, the Courtauld family, decided to lend it to education. After the all-boys school accepted girls for the first time in 1986, it now has a 50/50 mix of boys and girls, most of whom are day pupils (it began allowing day pupils from the early ‘80s), although the school is actively trying to expand its boarding services.

This is principal Dr Sarah Welch’s second year at the school – before which she was head of King William’s College on the Isle of Man. Her career has been varied, though always centred around education. She’s taught at university level in America, started her teaching career in Kenya and has worked both in the state and independent sector – most recently in day and boarding schools.

“Coming to Gosfield, I suppose I’ve done it the wrong way round – I’ve moved from larger places to a smaller place,” comments Welch. But she feels there’s something to be said for working at a school with just under 200 pupils where you know everybody.

While Welch is fairly new to Gosfield, chair of governors Peter Sakal’s history at the school goes back over two decades. His oldest child started at the school in 1991 and his children’s love of the place soon encouraged him to get involved. He became a governor then chair of governors five years later and has stayed in the position

ever since. His family was first attracted to the school because of its size and ethos. “It reflected how we felt about our children at home,” he explains; “the same kind of caring environment.”

EXPAND TO DEVELOP In 1994, Sakal and fellow governors started the process of purchasing the freehold for the school from the Courtauld family. It took 12 years to convince the family that it was a good idea, and it wasn’t until 2006 that the property eventually changed hands. “It was absolutely critical to do it,” says Sakal, of buying the school. “We couldn’t continue to develop on someone else’s property.”

Furthermore, the school’s borrowing against the property is around 30% of its value, so there is plenty of scope to develop the school and raise money when they need to.

As part of this, in the run-up to the purchase in 2000, the school built a new sports hall. Since owning the freehold, the school has undertaken a large number of refurbishments and developments. For example, in 2009, Gosfield expanded the sports hall again to build three more classrooms. “You don’t want to spend a load of money on someone else’s property,” says Sakal bluntly.

“So once that’s been removed, we’ve really gone through the process of refurbishing everything.”

BOARDING MATTERS Gosfield School is mainly a day school, with less than 10% of its pupils boarding. However, the school recently INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012 27

PROCURE AND PLAN > INTERVIEW

SCHOOL GOSFIELD SCHOOL TYPE MIXED 4-18 DAY AND BOARDING SCHOOL PUPILS JUST UNDER 200 (17 OF WHICH ARE BOARDERS) Left to right: Peter Sakal, Sarah Welch and Kim Betts

STAFF 52

Staff support: The newly refurbished staff room

reopened its girls’ boarding in a bid to increase the service.

The girls’ boarding area was refurbished and the school employed an experienced house mistress. “We’re open for business again on the girls’ side, which is marvellous,” comments Welch. The school also offers flexi-boarding, which is proving beneficial to pupils and parents alike.

“It suits people’s way of life now, what with longer working hours and both parents working,” says Sakal. “It’s increasingly important for independent schools to do it because it’s actually good revenue.” Welch is also keen to introduce international boarders to the school. For this she has been working with agencies in places like Hong Kong.

FEE TO BE FREE Once pupils join Gosfield, they rarely leave. As an allthrough school, the loyalty among pupils, parents and alums is strong, but times have been hard. “It’s been tricky with the financial situation people have found themselves in in recent years,” says Sakal, who keeps his focus on the main agenda: “We’re here for a reason, and that’s to educate children to the best of our ability, so no one has an interest in the school being profitable,” he explains.

“Everything we take in is put back.” In fact, he believes the schools that have had the most difficulty financially have been those with interests outside of education.

To alleviate the tough financial situation for parents, the school decided to reduce its fees. “My business is marketing and sales promotion and it has been for the last 25 years, so I’ve run businesses through two recessions now, and it was an idea I put to the governing council a year ago, and it’s taken a while to engender their engagement,” Sakal says of the idea, which is a simple one: “Independent schools generally are looking at the income they require and their existing cohort and they’re saying: ‘Look, you’re going to have to pay more to make that measure.’ I just can’t see that that model really can exist.” He points to airlines, which charge passengers less the earlier they book. “That’s a model that absolutely works,” says Sakal, adding: “Why can’t that model work in an independent school?” He believes in recruiting more pupils so he can charge a smaller amount of money to each parent. He uses this example: “Instead of saying: ‘We need to bring in £100 to run our school, with 100 parents, that’s a pound each,’ why don’t we say: ‘Let’s have 200 parents at 50p each.’?” He finds the fact that other schools are increasing their fees by as much as 10% “absolutely ludicrous”, particularly as a parent. To this he says: “There has to be a ceiling at which independent schools can no longer expect parents to pay.”

With this in mind, Gosfield School seeks to recruit an additional 40 pupils into the prep school. “I’d much rather reach our budgetary requirement through a full prep school than have a 60-70% full prep school that means people are paying more than they need to pay. It’s our responsibility 28 INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012

that we fill that prep school and that all parents get a decent deal.” This decision felt bold, particularly when it meant telling existing parents their fees would be nearly halved. But it has helped the school’s appeal – and Sakal insists the move is no desperate measure, but rather a way to give Gosfield’s parents a break. This was not an easy move and it took more than a few governors’ meetings to convince the board, but convince them he did and he hasn’t looked back. “If it stays the same, it will cost us about £48,000, we can manage that.” He’s realistic about the fact that some increases may have to be made with the rate of inflation etc. – but on a much lower base. He believes the competitors will still be adding those increases to fees much higher than Gosfield’s anyway. “It will be sustainable until we reach the maximum number of pupils, which we predict to be around 2018,” he adds. But it’s already reflecting well on admissions since the initiative was launched in November, with more parents considering switching from other schools and children joining the reception class in January – unusual in this economy.

We’re here to educate children. No one has an interest in the school being profitable

RAISING THE PROFILE When Dr Welch started at the school, she felt its profile needed raising. To fix this, she hired Kim Betts as sales and marketing manager in November. “For some reason independent schools don’t see themselves like any other product on the marketplace,” explains Sakal. “They don’t think they need sales and marketing. For years it was a taboo at governors’ meetings.” He believes this will take its toll. “They hide behind things like registrar – Kim is our sales and marketing manager, we make no bones about it.” Betts looks to her colleagues for support: “Everybody that has a connection to the school is a PR agent,” she says. “Right from governors to the principal to the children and kitchen staff – the slightest comment down at the pub could lead to someone sending their kid to the school, so everybody needs to be educated about the school. I haven’t met a single member of staff that isn’t 100% behind this place – what better PR people to have?”

Despite its recent success, the school is determined to stay small and has no plans to expand its premises much. The ideal number of pupils is 300, and to reach this, Gosfield will continue to undergo refurbishment and development. “What we can’t do is just sit here and say: ‘It’ll be what it’ll be. It’s been here since 1929,’ says the chair of governors. “We’ve got to innovate; we’ve got to keep moving forward.” 

PROCURE AND PLAN > TOP TIPS

TOP TIPS

Getting the best deal With the pennies needing more pinching than ever, Timi Olotu finds out the best ways to get a good deal when it comes to educational procurement

O

ver the last few years, the education sector (along with much of the country) has had to tolerate several measures of austerity. For example, under the current budget settlement, there will be an above-inflation increase only if state schools are able to make what has been dubbed ‘efficiency savings’ of more than £1bn. Deepening recession troubles and continued fiscal safeguards mean that independent schools now, as educators, have to be educated themselves on how to live like a king one the widow’s mite.

As a result, we have drawn up a list of the top five ways for you to make more use of sense than money:

2 4

Buy in numbers. In a paper titled ‘Securing our futures: using our resources well’, the Government highlights the benefits that exist in collective buying. The paper states that great scope for savings have been shown in areas including ICT procurement, facilities management, energy contracts, the use of supply agencies and photocopier contracts. There is power in numbers, especially when it comes to shopping wholesale. Find out if you can team-up with schools local to you.

Centralise your procurement initiative, and coordinate your efforts to save. You can give your work focus and efficiency by investing in procurement expertise or nominating and training someone. It would also be beneficial to plan your needs ahead of time. These two prongs of the same idea mean that you will have clearly identified priorities and expert eyes on the lookout for the very best deals.

1

Ask for help. The DfE has created a service to help schools, including independent schools, called the Online Procurement for Educational Needs System (OPEN).

OPEN works on similar basic principles as online services such as Amazon. Schools are encouraged to sign up to this service so that they can view items on offer from a variety of suppliers, according to their search criteria. This should streamline the procurement process while helping to save valuable time and money.

Saving money is just as vital as spending less of it on purchases. You can ask for a smart meter, which will help minimise your carbon use, cut your fuel bills and as a result save you money, to be installed in your school. You can also join the Value for Money (VFM) government programme for free and get a day visit from a consultant who can help with issues such as strategic management and procurement performance.

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All that glitters is not gold. Sometimes, branded products do not present the best value for money. The operational word in the previous sentence being ‘sometimes’; and it is your responsibility to decide in which areas money will be better spent on non-branded, cheaper goods.

The same goes for leasing.

Finally, be sure to share any methods you find particularly effective with other schools. If all independent schools share their best tips, procurement is sure to become a highly refined art-form in the not-too-distant future. 

INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012 29

Schoolwear Trends

As the prospect of growth returns, and confidence in the Academies programme increases, we are finding that schools are becoming much more adventurous in their new uniform developments, seeing the development of a smart and well presented uniform as a vital part of building the school’s identity.

Having redesigned the uniform for over 50 Schools in the last 24 months, we are well-placed to identify current trends and respond to new ideas .We are seeing a sea-change in attitudes and openness to new ideas and directions. Some clear and consistent themes are emerging, which should shape the thinking of anybody involved in this area.

Bolder Patterns and Exclusive Colours

Whilst navy still dominates, we have seen an increasing desire to develop new colours and drive consistency between the uniform and the School’s brand colours. The obvious way to do this is via the boy’s tie and an exclusive skirt check or tartan, incorporating the specific colour palette. However there are other ways; we have produced a beautiful pink lined suit for one large school wanting to step away from this well trodden path. Other recent highlights include plum and teal jumpers for a new girls’ school, and exclusive shirt and blouse stripes for another bold redesign. As our supply chain has developed and our ability to produce short fabric runs increases, we believe that this trend will continue.

Girls will be girls

The trend towards fitted products also continues. Girls’ ties are almost extinct, and all but one of our schools has replaced the traditional patch pocket blazer with a fitted jacket for senior girls. This has been supported by the development of fitted blouse shapes and the adoption of lycra in the blouse fabric, making the garment more comfortable to wear and easier to care for. Our experience is that giving girls a more feminine silhouette reduces the need for girls to show their femininity to the world by shortening their skirts (although the total solution to that problem continues to elude us).

for 2013

Team Kit for All

Finally, the trend for higher performance games kit continues. We have seen more and more schools creating their own high performance sportswear, incorporating the school colours, and extending this to all pupils, not just teams. Our unique SquadKit range provides the perfect solution, using the highest quality sportswear fabrics at affordable prices. Costs are further managed by ensuring that garments are multi-sport, allowing many schools to upgrade the kit quality whilst reducing total costs for parents.

In short we believe that the trends are clear – Schools and Academies are keener than ever to project their brand with consistency, and more self-confident that uniform can help to do this. Parents and Governors as ever are seeking well-made, value for money garments, but are pleased to support a change when it enhances the image of the school. Some of these trends are challenging the traditional supply base; we’ve had to recruit new designers and find new fabric suppliers to support them. But we setup Schoolblazer to break the mould of traditional schoolwear, and love the challenge!

Tim James Joint Managing Director, Schoolblazer Ltd Tim and his business partner, Robin Horsell, founded Schoolblazer in 2004 to bring their professionalism and clothing expertise to the Schoolwear market. Schoolblazer now serves over 80 of the country’s leading schools with a complete online solution covering the full product range from bespoke blazers, skirts and knitwear through to high performance sportswear.

To find out more visit www.schoolblazer.com

To find out more visit www.schoolblazer.com

PROCURE AND PLAN > CASE STUDY

SCHOOL HURST LODGE SCHOOL TYPE MIXED 3-18 DAY AND BOARDING SCHOOL PUPILS 170 TEACHING STAFF 28

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PROCURE AND PLAN > CASE STUDY

Hurst Lodge School is a coeducational day and boarding school in Ascot, committed to the ideas of sustainability, thanks in part to the founder of the Eden Project being one of its owners. Julia Dennison visits principal Vicky Smit, headmistress Kate Leiper and director of finance Nick Leiper

East of Eden W

hen a school’s co-owner is Tim Smit KBE, founder of the Eden Project, it’s of little surprise to find sustainability and a respect for the environment to be fundamental to its ideology. Hurst Lodge School in Ascot, is co-owned by Tim and his sister and principal Vicky Smit and certainly lives up to the expectation. Where for many schools, sustainability is sometimes little more than a buzz word, this three to 18 day and boarding school takes it very seriously. It boasts a small holding of pigs, chickens and ducks, and the children are involved with sourcing and growing their food. As a leading school in Forest Schools (see box out for details), the children are often taking their learning outside to the school’s own woodland and, due to

a close link with the Eden Project, often making trips with parents and staff to Cornwall to visit the famous biomes.

“Sustainability is very much in the whole DNA of the place and has become an important part of the curriculum here,” remarks finance director Nick Leiper when I visit the school, which has recently started admitting boys after being all-girls in the senior school since its founding.

A FAMILY AFFAIR Hurst Lodge has been in the Smit family for 30 years – with Vicky an old girl herself. The school was founded in the early part of the last century by Doris Stainer, a dancer and the sister of actor Leslie Howard. “She had a dance school in central London that was wiped out by a German bomb,” recounts Vicky. “She had great friends locally – the dancers Ninette de Valois and Anna Pavlova – and they persuaded her to move to Sunningdale. So she bought a large house right next door to Agatha Christie’s stiles and she made a move to the country. She was persuaded to bring around 10 girls with her who were going to be evacuated anyway. So she arrived with a fleet of governesses and these girls and provided English, French and deportment lessons in addition to ballet.” When Doris Stainer died 30 years ago, Vicky happened to be a pupil there. The school’s building was due to be sold when her mother stepped in to buy it, rescuing the school from closure and it has been in the family ever since.

Unsurprising for a school founded by a dancer, Hurst Lodge has always had a firm foundation in creativity and is very strong in the arts – last year it won more arts prizes from the Independent Schools Association’s national art competition than any other school. Academics are also strong and results in the sciences are particularly impressive. “I think a lot of people come here because parents are very happy for their children to dance and to do the arts, but they also want them to have secure academics,” says Vicky. “They get a chance to do everything at Hurst Lodge, which I think is so important.”

The school has an intimate, familiar feel about it and is a very happy community. “It’s very much a family-orientated, friendly, nurturing school and it’s a lovely place to work,” says Nick. The children clearly feel at home there and although it has a small capacity for full-time boarders, the option of flexi-boarding has proven very popular and the boarding house is often full to bursting, particularly on an evening when boarders are toasting marshmallows around a camp fire.

NEW LEADERSHIP After leading the school on her own for some time as principal, Vicky decided to hire a headmistress to join her and recruited Kate Leiper who started in September. “I cover whole school development, while Kate runs the academics,” she explains of their roles.

Kate has worked at some of the country’s leading independent schools and is thoroughly enjoying her new role at Hurst Lodge. Her husband Nick has a background in marketing, and joined the school at the same time as director of finance and communications. Prior to their roles at Hurst Lodge, they worked together in two schools, including Ampleforth in North Yorkshire. “It’s different,” says Nick of the school. “I’ve never worked in a school where we’ve had to feed the chickens and the pigs – but the kids love it.”

The school also prides itself to being open to change. “As an independent school, when there is a new idea, we can move quite fast, whereas in a state school it has to go through governors and the state,” comments Vicky.

Kate has already made a positive impact as the new head and pupil numbers are on the rise. The school is in good shape and the recipient of very positive inspection reports, so it is more evolution than revolution, but there is most certainly a feeling of change in the air. The sixth form has had an overhaul with its students having a much higher profile in the school, including new responsibilities, a smart new dress code and extended privleges.

INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012 33

PROCURE AND PLAN > CASE STUDY

GREEN TO THE CORE The team at Hurst Lodge tries to run the school itself in an environmentally friendly way – though it’s not always easy. “Being in this magnificent building means it can’t always be an ecologically-friendly, carbon-neutral site,” admits Nick. “We’d like it to be – as Eden is – but one step at a time.” He maintains that the major focus right now is ensuring the children are made more eco-conscious when they enter the outside world – and that this is done in an academically robust way. “Parents pay money to send their children here and we have to deliver a first class academic education, so we don’t want the sustainability to be a diversion or something which is going to get in the way,” he adds. “We want to use it to really educate the children and use it as part of the whole raft of tools to do so.”

We’re finding that our science results are incredibly good and I think that’s because they’re experiencing the world and science in a very real way, which gives a context to their study LEADERSHIP TEAM Vicky Smit, Kate and Nick Leiper; the school’s chicken coop

Kate also has plans to introduce the Hurst Lodge Season next year, which would be an opportunity for sixth formers to have what she calls “cultural experiences” to take with them into the outside world. This will include short courses on things like personal finance, general car maintenance and self defence, while the school continues its tradition of deportment and etiquette courses. There will be a lecture series delivered mostly by staff, parents and friends of the school, and even trips to places like Brands Hatch racing circuit, Wimbledon, Glyndebourne opera festival and Stratford-upon-Avon. “I think all young people going out into the world should have as much education in life skills as possible and the opportunity to experience the wonderful cultural scene we are so fortunate to enjoy in this country,” says Kate. “We already have a number of parents who have volunteered to help.”

SUSTAINABILITY IN ACTION Although the Eden Project was 10 years old last year, the sustainability project at Hurst Lodge School is slightly newer, and was only recently interwoven into the curriculum. It is an important emphasis for the school going forward, and with Kate’s arrival, Vicky has more time to focus on driving this feature and teaching natural sciences. “We’re finding it’s having brilliant knock-on effects in the classroom, especially with confidence and leadership, and also for us to evaluate the different ways our children learn,” says Kate. “Translating that into their studies is what makes it all so valuable. We’re finding that our science results are incredibly good and I think that’s in part because the students are experiencing the world and science in a very real way, which gives a context to their study.” Indeed, for Hurst Lodge, sustainability is not just a passing fad, but very much a way of delivering the academic curriculum. “It’s not just a bolt-on,” explains Nick.

“We have a small holding, but we use it to teach our science curriculum – it’s not a petting zoo.” Future plans for the sustainability of the school include a tree-house classroom, as well as expanding the smallholding with a duck pond, outdoor classroom areas on the school farm and perhaps even a donkey or two.

34 INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012

Having a Grade-I listed building and smallholding also brings its costs when it comes to upkeep and maintenance.

Lucky for Hurst Lodge, local businesses have been generous to the school. For example at the time of my visit, one local garden centre (of which there are many in this leafy part of the Berkshire suburban countryside) had recently donated a tonne of topsoil, a water butt and a solar pump for use in the farm. “Both the community and the parents are very supportive of the idea of educating the children about their environment,” Nick adds.

Although it’s a tough market for small independent schools, Hurst Lodge is able to boast growing numbers and pupils registered long into the future. “If you’re trying to market a school, particularly in this part of the world where there are lot of good schools, having a unique selling point or different story to tell is very useful,” says Nick.

For Kate, the success of Hurst Lodge is about being confident enough to be different. “A lot of schools are becoming more and more like each other and trying to be all things to all people,” says Kate. “We are very different here; we’re like a big family and I think that’s what makes us special.” Her advice to other small private schools?

“It’s just about being brave enough to believe in what you’re doing. It’s a challenge to be different, but it’s hugely rewarding.” 

JARGON BUSTER FOREST SCHOOLS The philosophy of Forest Schools is to encourage and inspire pupils through positive outdoor experiences. The concept originated in Sweden in the 1950s as a way to bring learning into the outdoors. Research found that children attending school in a countryside environment tend to be happier; more balanced with greater social capability; have fewer days off sick; are more able to concentrate and have better coordination than children in the urban environment. For more information, visit Forestschools.com.

MANAGEMENT > STRATEGY

Consulting the issue The use of consultants can be a contentious issue, but for some schools, in particular free schools, using consultants can be a necessity. Jonathan Hills looks into management support: when it is appropriate to keep things in house and when to bring in external assistance to bolster your team

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mploying business consultants in your school is something that is becoming harder and harder to justify. Both independent and state sector schools are facing tough financial times so bringing in expensive consultants can seem like an unneeded luxury on their part.

However, sometimes bringing in a bit of outside help can prove to be of significant benefit and for many smaller independent schools and new free schools, there is little choice in the matter.

Some schools can be too small to sustain a separate administration or IT division, so they have to rely on existing staff members to perform these functions instead.

In these smaller schools, roles like bursar, public relations officer, IT technician or school secretary may have to be assimilated into the day-to-day routine of existing teaching staff. Even larger schools will inevitably be faced with the need for more talent from time to time, whether part-time or in the longer-term.

36 INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012

LOOK INSIDE Before jumping straight to quick-fix of an external consultant, school leaders should try to utilise the experience and expertise that their staff already possess.

Teachers and administrative staff members may have other professional talents, such as business management or accountancy training, which your school could utilise and coaxing out these existing skills from your staff could prove useful and save money.

These professionals could be further relied upon to train their colleagues. By using existing talent from a member of your team to educate the rest, you will not only save a significant portion of expenditure in the short term, but staff members will have the opportunity to engage with each other on a more regular basis during normal school operation and see the training they have given put into action. Furthermore, existing staff will have a greater knowledge of the way your school is run and the issues it faces than an external consultant. Free schools due to

MANAGEMENT > STRATEGY

often find that heads and bursars are not quite on the same wavelength. If you have a handle on the strategic finance, such as the teaching timetable, which is our biggest cost, and also an understanding of the finance behind that, then you can run a school with a very successful business model. I will know what we can afford because I will know the global pot.”

Packer still intends to hire a financial manager in due course, however, but the fact that he can cover this role until then means that he can budget for the timeliest point to hire an additional member of staff. Finding a short-term solution within your existing staff can occasionally turn into a long-term solution, or at least allow you to pick your moment if you are considering hiring additional staff to cover the role, and like Packer, leading from the front provides the perfect example.

A FRESH APPROACH Obviously there will be many situations when there is need to outsource a consultant, no matter how hard up your school may be, but consultants are there to make the running of your school easier and in the long term, more cost-effective.

Furthermore, schools that attempt to assimilate job roles by getting teachers to perform odd jobs can often find their staff spread too thinly. Moreover it can be a waste of a headteachers time and salary if she is spending her day fixing computers when she could be leading the school. As such, outsourcing can prove a more sensible solution.

Consultants can also bring in a fresh perspective to the running of your school and generally their knowledge is extensive given the fact that they have the experiences from many other schools across the country.

School leaders may be some of the best people to offer subjective training to familiar staff members, but when it comes to overhauling a system or introducing new ideas, consultants can offer an objective outlook that cannot always be seen from an internal vantage point.

Often staff are more open to ideas from someone new, as they may feel they have heard it all before from their school leader, even if they haven’t.

Sometimes, merely hiring a new face to give the advice or training you need is sufficient if it gets the job done and the staff’s attention.

To save money it is also a good idea to synchronise different consultancy roles into a single visit. This may not always be feasible, but the expense of hiring consultants will reduce if they are there to achieve two similar goals. If your school is hiring consultants for a feasibility study or SEO implementation for example, see if they are able to offer you staff training or a competitor audit at the same time for a reduced price.

Consultants can bring in a fresh perspective to the running of your school and generally their knowledge is extensive

open next academic year should especially bear this in mind when recruiting for any new staff positions; if you can manage to fulfil two roles with a single member of staff, for example a teacher taking over the responsibility of IT maintenance, the amount saved on wages across the board can be considerable. Bear this fact in mind when recruiting new staff members and seek out applicants with additional skills that maybe useful. If you can hire a history teacher that also knows HTML you could save your school forking out £5,000 on website design.

Thomas Packer, headteacher of the West London Free School, gives a fantastic example of this process. He explains how his previous bursarial roles proved to be a massive help in the school and he remains confident that he has the skills needed to run the accounts of his school without a financial administrator. “I have nearly 15 years’ experience of running school finance,” he says, explaining his intention to take over the role of school bursar for the immediate future. “I would always want a handle on the strategic finance as you

PICKING YOUR CONSULTANT It’s good practice to liaise with other schools and seek out advice from familiar headteachers on how to select your consultant. Speak to schools that face similar issues to you and find out how they overcame them through consultancy.

Liaising with other schools can also increase your buying power and reduce costs. If a staff member is in need of particular training that requires a one-off consultancy session, determine whether there are any neighbouring schools that would be interested in a joint training day.

Whatever you use consultancy and training firms for, it is imperative that your school receives a return on its investment. Ensure that you highlight exactly what you require from your consultant’s visit and ensure that they deliver the solutions you are looking for. As a general rule, determine how you can help yourself and bring in outside help for those areas where you can’t.  INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012 37

MANAGEMENT > INSURANCE

Economy premiums In the current climate schools are looking to cut back on costs in any way possible and insurance is a large expenditure which can potentially be reduced.

George Carey looks at how your school could ensure a good deal.

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Tendering with the existing provider and two other school specialists every three years should not be an onerous task 38 INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012

hat constitutes a good deal on your insurance; are you paying too much? While there are some costs that schools will review regularly, shopping around and negotiating with current suppliers, insurance is not an outlay that tends to receive as much scrutiny.

Tendering your school’s insurance contract is an excellent way to see what is available and keep suppliers competitive. Martin Linaker, director of insurance services for SFS Group, advises: “Most schools have a three-year longterm agreement in order to access a discount, refund or profit share scheme. Tendering with the existing provider and two other school specialists every three years should not be an onerous task. It should provide sufficient breadth to test the market for any innovations or additional services being offered, which is how insurers can differentiate themselves from their competitors in an otherwise ‘like for like’ contest.”

When undertaking this process, a period of around three months is appropriate to make sure that every avenue has been explored. A decision should be made at least one month before a possible switch in order to make any transition as smooth as possible.

It is tempting during a tendering process to only look at price but it is important to evaluate the total package. The level of service should be considered and, if the worst does happen, you will need to know

how quickly an insurer will pay out and any areas that are not covered.

In addition to procuring insurance from the right provider, there are a number of measures that schools can take to make themselves more attractive to potential insurers. It may sound obvious but a review of health and safety, and anti-theft measures, in terms of policy and physical safeguards, can have a significant effect on premiums.

Relatively simple actions, such as investing in new locking systems or strengthening CCTV presence, could make all the difference.

Some may consider it a risk not worth taking but increasing the excess on your schools policy is a measure that could greatly reduce your insurance costs. This is particularly true in the case of property and contents cover. If this course is taken, it is important to preach extra vigilance from staff members, in an effort to cut down on small claims.

Another measure to consider is encouraging parents to take out personal insurance to cover their own risks. In the unfortunate event of the death of a parent, some schools are losing pupils who can no longer afford to pay school fees.

Losing their school too is a hard blow to a pupil who has just lost their parent. There are services available to schools that will continue to pay for a bereaved child’s education, ensuring a happier future for the pupil and a more financially secure one for your school. 

MANAGEMENT > LEGAL

Bribe wars

Private schools are often reliant on donations from parents – but with a change in legislation, they have to be careful.

Leading lawyer Henar Dyson discusses how the Bribery Act will affect private schools, particularly parental donations

40 INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012

MANAGEMENT > LEGAL

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ribery conjures up images of cash changing hands in dimly lit subterranean car parks to secure high value contracts in lawless countries. Beyond Hollywood, the United Kingdom Bribery Act (which came into force last June) covers all forms of bribery, tawdry or otherwise, and on whatever scale. Its aim is to create a level playing field for all commercial activity, even in the independent schools sector. The act can apply in relation to all schools, but independent schools, including academies with their new budgetary freedom, are more exposed.

In summary, the act sets out these offences that are committed by individuals, not the school: • offering, giving, asking for or receiving a bribe with the intention that a function should be performed improperly.

A ‘bribe’ can be financial or it can be any other form of advantage. A ‘function’ is any activity that could reasonably be expected to be carried out impartially and in good faith • bribing a foreign official in order to influence them. This will be relevant to schools with an international base.

The penalties include a jail term of up to 10 years or an unlimited fine for individuals guilty of an offence.

Any individual can commit the offences, including governors, trustees, headteachers, bursars, parents and contractors.

There is a further offence that can be committed by the school – the ‘corporate offence’ of failing to prevent bribery by a person associated with the school. An associated person is anyone performing services on behalf of the school, whether or not they are paid. The penalty is an unlimited fine. This offence applies to incorporated bodies and will catch schools established by royal charter, operating as private limited companies and incorporated by act of parliament. Many independent schools do operate within these structures. Academies are also independent schools for this purpose as they are formed as companies limited by guarantee.

“This doesn’t apply to us,” you cry. Consider the case of parents so grateful that their child has secured a place at the secondary school of choice that they make a generous donation, just as their next child moves into the sixth year.

What would an outside observer think? Mere generosity, encouragement to achieve the same result the following year or payment as promised? Whether a bribe is involved would be a question of fact, not of personal opinion. This shows that it is clear that schools now need to tread carefully.

Proportionality is key. Therefore, an invitation to dinner (depending on the dinner table discussions) or an end-of-term bottle of wine is perfectly acceptable. There is nothing wrong with parents wishing to thank the school or a particular member of staff. An invitation to spend a week in a family’s holiday home in France over the summer may not be appropriate, depending on the circumstances. Even if the relevant individuals all believe that there is no intention to secure an improper advantage, how does it look?

Both parents and the act expect headteachers, bursars, senior staff and governors to carry out their duties in good faith and impartially.

That said, a lavish gift in circumstances where there can be no suspicion of unfair advantage being sought is unlikely to fall foul of the rules. Consider the generous

legacy or philanthropic donation after all the children of the family have left the school.

It is certainly more of an art than a science to decide what does and does not constitute a bribe. To help, there are particular types of behaviour that should sound the alarm.

Consider these: • an offer of payment or over-lavish hospitality from a parent to the headteacher with the stated or unstated intention that their child should secure a place or that they will become head girl or team captain • bribes aimed at securing a top-tier report from the school to the secondary school of choice • an offer from a member of staff to promote a particular secondary independent, in return for a place or reduced fees for their own child • a charitable donation or hospitality from a supplier tendering for a major school building contract.

Contrast these scenarios with, for example, a headteacher favouring pupils who attend the local rugby club, of which he and some parents are passionate members.

This is unlikely to constitute bribery in itself, although it might show a serious lack of judgment and be a breach of good faith.

It is a defence to the corporate offence that the school had adequate procedures in place to prevent bribery. The Ministry of Justice has issued guidance specifically in relation to the corporate offence, which also helps to put other parts of the act into context (see www.justice.gov.uk/ downloads/guidance/making-reviewing-law/bribery-act2010-guidance.pdf).

As a minimum, schools should, if they have not already done so, take these steps: • carry out a risk assessment to establish the likelihood that bribery could occur • implement appropriate policies and procedures to counter any risk. Although policies and procedures are not a requirement under the act, they will help to demonstrate that the school has taken appropriate steps to prevent bribery • introduce an anti-bribery and corruption policy, including clear guidance for staff in relation to the acceptance of gifts, donations and hospitality. Keep a list of any such gifts, donations and hospitality • ensure that staff are aware that the governors and the head teacher will not tolerate bribery and train them to recognise the risks • introduce a whistle-blowing policy to further support staff • know who your suppliers are. Consider whether there could be any suggestion of bribery in any appointment • review the situation on a regular basis.

The act expects headteachers, bursars, senior staff and governors to carry out their duties in good faith and impartially

There is no evidence to suggest that bribery is rife within the independent school sector. However, the act does give schools an opportunity to consider their processes and to introduce the policies they need both to ensure that bribery is avoided and that the actions of the school are seen to be taken in good faith.  Henar Dyson is a senior associate at Thomson Snell and Passmore

INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012 41

ICT MATTERS > CASE STUDY

LITTLE SCHOOL,

BIG DIFFERENCE Ullens is the first school in Nepal to introduce interactive whiteboard technology to its classrooms and as such is paving the way for educational development across the region. Julia Dennison finds out what UK schools can learn from this pathfinder school

42 INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012

ICT MATTERS > CASE STUDY

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familiar classroom staple for going on two decades now, interactive whiteboards are old news for most British schools. While you probably can’t imagine working without it, there is much functionality that can be neglected by your average teacher and it’s important not to take the device for granted.

One school that is grateful to even have electricity, let alone a suite of whiteboards, is the Ullens School in Nepal. Established in Kathmandu in 2006, it is the first International Baccalaureate (IB) school in the country and the first to introduce interactive whiteboard technology and accessories to its classrooms, thanks to a donation from Promethean. As a result, Ullens School is paving the way for educational development across the region and holds a progressive approach to education, against all odds.

Founded by Belgian philanthropist Baron Guy Ullens and his wife Myriam, in a bid to help establish better education in Nepal, the school has successfully exhibited an exceptionally high standard of teaching and learning at an international level, while at the same time, welcoming children from deprived backgrounds to its mix. A quarter of the 420 pupils are either orphans or come from an underprivileged background on a scholarship basis, while the remaining 75% pay fees to attend the school and supplement the poorer children’s tuition. This sustainable approach to education allows for an educational opportunity that would otherwise be unattainable for the impoverished children and allows the school to grow its student base year on year. Furthermore, the school’s inclusive ethos, partnered with interactive technology in the school’s classrooms, has had a very positive effect on the pupils’ learning and development.

STEPPING UP TO THE CHALLENGES It hasn’t been all smooth sailing since Ullens School’s founding.

The school has to contend with electricity shortages, and frequent power cuts, which has led to a lack of technology in its schools.

Every organisation in the country that is reliant on electricity has little choice but to have its own back-up power system, which can be quite costly. However, the school felt that technology was so essential to creating an interactive learning environment and educating students to become globally aware, that it took the steps to invest in this.

Another challenge was teaching the teachers to use the interactive technology for the first time, though David FairbairnDay, head of education market development at Promethean, saw this as more of a positive. “In a way it was an advantage for the school because the teachers were fresh, enthusiastic and had no preconceptions about how technology could or couldn’t be used in education,” he says. “That allied with the school’s very strong commitment from a management perspective to invest in the teacher support training, which is a very key component.” This extends out into the wider community, as the school runs an outreach programme to train and support teachers in Nepalese government schools, as well as a centre for educational development centred on training managers and administrators in the country’s schools. “Part of their philanthropic activity is very much trying to drive the quality of education in Nepal generally as well as in their own school,” Fairbairn-Day adds. As a result of its hard work, the school has been nominated for the UNESCO Wenhui Award For Educational Innovation Nomination and is currently waiting to see if it has made the shortlist.

TECHNOLOGY AIDS INTEGRATION Not only have the interactive whiteboards improved the learning experience, but they’ve also helped to bridge the gap between the richer and poorer pupils, while allowing them to embrace their culture and learn Nepali. Children who are normally too shy to participate in class find it easier to do so by way of a digital pen and board. Meanwhile the boards provide a fun and inclusive atmosphere in the classroom, which allows for children of different backgrounds to work better together.

Teaching in Nepali is fundamental to the ethos of the school and ensuring students are confident in their mother tongue is an

important goal as English becomes the default language in most of the country’s schools. The interactive whiteboards help with this, as the pupils use the boards to learn dynamically with a host of colours, sounds and movements.

The lack of Nepali software content is sometimes a challenge, so teachers have used graphics that are customarily used in teaching English, such as storyboards and flip charts, and adapted them into Nepali. As a result of this dedication, Nepali is now taught at the school at the IB Diploma Programme level and the same content is being developed in Chinese – essential for the many pupils from the school who choose to go to university in China.

Teachers in languages, geography and mathematics have also reported that students are more attentive, focused and enthusiastic

I’m not sure the UK always leverages new ideas to better utilise technology. Ullens has made do with very little for longer periods of time when using the boards and there is more of a two-way communication in the classroom, allowing them to delve deeper into subjects. In addition, where there is a lot of information to absorb and if the subject is difficult for the children to visualise, such as learning about a different culture, the interactive whiteboards can be used to stimulate discussion, making students active participants in the lesson.

“The Ullens School’s approach has enabled the teachers at the school to educate pupils far beyond the borders of Nepal, bringing places and issues around the globe to life within the classroom and reinforcing international values,” comments JeanYves Chandler, chief executive of Promethean. “The results speak for themselves and demonstrate the value of the technology when used in conjunction with a learning environment cohesive to its key values.”

LEADING BY EXAMPLE There is much schools in the UK can learn from the Ullens School.

One element Chandler highlights is the line it straddles between public and private – as an independent school that actively reaches out to include a certain number of children from poorer backgrounds. “As we think about drivers for success in new educational systems, I think that more private/public partnerships are going to be crucial,” he predicts. The second area UK schools could learn from is the ability to make the most of the technology they have. “In the UK, whilst we’re much more advanced in terms of the usage of technology in the classroom, I’m not sure that we’re always leveraging new ideas to better utilise that technology and I think at Ullens they’ve [made do with] very little,” he continues. “There’s a lot of opportunity still to innovate around these technologies that are in the classroom and they shouldn’t be taken for granted at any time.” This is particularly essential as budgets become constrained.

“It’s a beautiful little palace,” says founder Guy Ullens of the school building. His future plans for the school include incorporating around 110 more pupils into a new Kindergarten and doubling pupil numbers. To accommodate this, he plans to enlist the help of celebrity Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas to build an extension. “If we want to advertise our schools, we can’t do that ourselves,” Ullens explains of the decision to recruit Koolhaas, “but if we have a top architect to talk about his efforts in Kathmandu, it’s going to be different.” Between a philanthropist, leading technology firm and famous architect, this little school in Nepal is set to make an impact that will be felt around the world.

INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012 43

TECHNO GEEK

ICT MATTERS > TECHNO GEEK

In the name of getting young people acquainted with technology, schools will be looking to provide students with the means to embrace ICT at a fundamental level. But this gets expensive for your school and parents, so should students be encouraged to bring their own devices to classes?

FYI on BYOD W

ith the new direction of technology in education and the increasing percolation of technology in young people’s lives, allowing external devices into the classroom for education is becoming more realistic with every passing year.

The most obvious, and to many headteachers most important factor, is the cost savings involved in such a scheme.

Schools could save on upfront costs for hardware if students have their own device available for use with their studies. Just as schools insist on pupils wearing uniforms or providing educational literature, having students bring their own devices may become normative practice. However, although it might seem like more and more young people have the most expensive phone or tablet on the market, there are many who cannot afford such luxury.

However, educational technology is becoming more affordable for every student each year. IT managers should think of hardware that every child in their school can afford and be aware of the potential strain this could put on parents, as it could see them thinking twice about private education.

Device compatibility is another issue that schools will have to contend with.

Software can’t always be used on every device and the market remains segregated.

Schools can’t ask students to do work in specific software on their device if it’s not compatible. Furthermore, there are so many different devices and platforms that each child may prefer – a basic example of this would be Mac users who have to use PCs, or vice versa, or even the difference between the Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich Android operating systems.

The concept of BYOD is sound, affordable and tempting and views of its relevancy within the classroom are changing. Issues of behavioural problems that would have restricted the introduction of technology into the classroom in the past are waning and technology is fast becoming a means to teach even the most mundane and previously incompatible subjects in an engaging way. 

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The problem arising from this technological conundrum is how BYOD devices are to be supported

NEC ultra-short-throw projectors earn TCO certification

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44 INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012

INSPIRED MINDS > INTERVIEW

46 INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012

INSPIRED MINDS > INTERVIEW

THE GIRLS’ GUIDE Jane Prescott, the new headmistress of Portsmouth High School, has high hopes for her new role and what she can bring to the all-girls’ day school – from bringing in new bursary schemes to partnering with the local community. Julia Dennison visits this champion for the all-girls cause

ane Prescott, the newly appointed headmistress of Portsmouth High School, is an inspiring leader with a clear vision for what she wants from her new school. This includes being an advocate of all-girls education and ambitious plans for a bursary fund appeal to provide free and assisted places at the high school to enable talented girls whose backgrounds would not otherwise allow it to study at the school.

She is also very keen to partner and build relationships with local businesses in the communities of West Sussex and Hampshire and the high school will very shortly be launching a corporate bursary fund appeal to allow businesses to partner with the school and engage with its communities, to mutual benefit.

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SETTLING IN NICELY When I visit her, Prescott is just settling into her new office after being in her role for a term and on a mission to get to know each girl at the school personally. She’s clearly proud to be working at the school, part of the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST), after a background in working in girls’ day schools – with her previous role at the girls’ part of a foundation of schools in Loughborough.

“It’s an inspiring environment in which to work,” she says. “The girls are hardworking and quite aspirational. They’re good girls to teach.”

Prescott’s office has big picture windows that look out onto the school’s urban campus, which means she always has her eye on the girls – in a nice way. “They watch me too,” she says. “Some of them wave at me, which is quite sweet.” Although she’s only been in the job for a few months, she admits to feeling like she’s been there forever. “I keep forgetting I haven’t done an academic year yet,” she quips, which is something even her colleagues seem to forget: “I feel I’ve slotted in very well and I think that they think I’ve been here for quite a while too, so that’s nice.”

Caring for the girls as individuals lies central to the ethos of the school. “We say we care for the individual and I think we do that very well,” she says. “Even though I’ve only been here since September, I know a huge proportion of the girls,” particularly the girls in the junior school, where she teaches some classes. Those girls, in turn, know each other across forms as well, as encouraging vertical relationships between year groups is important at the school. “It’s not just the top of the school that has the leadership roles,” she hastens to add. “We have head girls, deputy head girls, prefects and all of that, but also in the lower part of the school, they feel that they can take on other forms of leadership.” The school’s fairly small size of 500 pupils has other benefits. For example, four girls in Year 10 came to see Prescott recently to ask if they could put on a play

INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012 47

INSPIRED MINDS > INTERVIEW

they’d written. “You can say yes to that and encourage that kind of challenge or initiative which you might not get in a school that’s much larger,” she comments.

IN GIRLS WE TRUST The footprint of Portsmouth High School is deceptively larger than it appears from the outset, within the confines of Old Portsmouth. “It’s like a tardis,” jokes Prescott. The school was started in 1882 as a girls’ grammar school on the same spot and has been a champion of all girls’ education from the beginning. It opened ten years after the founding of the GSDT, which looks after various administrative and strategic functions for the school. “Being part of the Girls’ Day School Trust means that we have the best of both worlds because we’re an independent school in our own right, but we have this network of other schools,” says Prescott. It means that functions like HR, health and safety and finance can be arranged centrally and it allows the school to keep its fees competitive. She’s happy with the structure too, as she feels it would be expensive to control those services as an individual school. Furthermore, she finds having access to a network of heads in similar schools in the country helpful when she needs advice or guidance.

THE MATTER OF SINGLE-SEX ED When I ask her what sets Portsmouth High School apart from other all-girls’ day schools, she reminds that it is one of a kind in the area and having only girls distinguishes it from other independent schools.

As a result, it has no problem recruiting new pupils. “Whilst I appreciate that it’s not for everyone,” she says of all girls’ education, “I do think that girls do better in an all-girl environment, particularly through their teenage years. I think that means that we can gear our teaching to teaching girls.” She believes girls’ learning needs are different: “I’ve taught in a co-ed environment; I have sons. I know how different boys are and their learning needs are very different – they’re boisterous; they’re noisy; they want to show off much more than girls naturally do, so when they are in a classroom you inevitably teach to the boys, which means that boys do just as well in a co-ed environment, possibly even better, than they do in a single-sex [environment], whereas girls do much better [on their own].” She also believes it means there are no “male-dominated subjects”. “All of our girls will consider engineering alongside fashion design they wouldn’t think that there was anything they couldn’t or wouldn’t do.”

Although Portsmouth’s old girls network is strong, Prescott hopes it will become even stronger. “Traditionally, girls have not been good about staying in touch in the same ways that boys have with their old school and that’s very much changing,” she says.

“Girls now think exactly the same as the men always have about staying in touch.”

It’s fair to say the girls at Portsmouth form long-lasting friendships with each other, as Prescott says “they meet spirits of a similar type”, which means it’s easy for them to stay in touch. “It’s now just a case that we make sure we stay in touch with those girls who

48 INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012

keep in touch with each other – we’re trying to develop that very much.”

Through the alumnae network, Prescott is launching a bursary fund appeal following a particularly big reunion planned for May. She is also taking up a corporate bursary appeal whereby businesses could sponsor a girl at the school. HSBC sponsors a number of bursaries through the GDST and from 2013 Portsmouth High School will be able to bid for some bursaries funded by the bank for girls coming into independent education in the sixth form.

Boys are boisterous, noisy and they want to show off much more than girls naturally do, so when they are in a classroom you inevitably teach to the boys, which means girls do much better in a single-sex environment TRADITIONS OLD AND NEW Prescott is ensuring the school, deeply rooted in tradition, continues to modernise.

This includes sourcing the right technology.

The school is contemplating tablets for its pupils and has a number of building projects planned, including a food technology room to go with its design and technology department. This will be funded by the school’s reserves, as well as those of the GDST (another benefit of being owned by the group).

Portsmouth High School is also part of the Connecting Classrooms project with the British Council, which encourages partnerships between schools in the UK and others around the world. One of the schools it partners with is in Senegal. Portsmouth has International School Status and, thanks to Connecting Classrooms, the girls are able to improve their French by holding conversations with pupils from the Senegalese school over Skype, inviting a local primary school to join in on these conversations. Also as part of its International School Status, the school is planning a classroom-building trip to Tanzania for this summer.

Portsmouth High School also holds a relationship with The City of Portsmouth Girls' School, a maintained school, collaborating through various music and arts projects. “We hope in the future to have some [more] collaborative projects and promote girls’ education generally,” says Prescott of the informal partnership. In the meantime, she hopes her bursary appeal will give more girls the chance to attend Portsmouth High School. “We are very much formed on the basis of a traditional grammar school and it would be good for children for whom this kind of education would suit to have this kind of opportunity,” she concludes. “An awful lot of the academies and free schools are very large and that’s not for everyone.

You won’t be known as an individual as you are known here.” 

SCHOOL PORTSMOUTH HIGH SCHOOL PARENT ORGANISATION GIRLS’ DAY SCHOOL TRUST TYPE ALL GIRLS’ 3 TO 18 DAY SCHOOL PUPILS 500 STAFF 80

INSPIRED MINDS > DIARY

THE WORD ON THE STREET Relatively small, Talbot House Preparatory has a limited budget for marketing, yet it remains oversubscribed. Headteacher Charlotte Oosthuizen puts this down to word of mouth

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ore than ever, with much in the media about the demand for places at perceived ‘good’ schools, as well as sensational articles about ‘failing’ schools, there is a need for educational establishments to ensure there is a positive perception of them in the wider community. Schools should be working to place themselves at the heart of society and there is certainly great scope to link with the wider community to promote the school without having to scratch around in the pockets of dwindling budgets.

Making the most of opportunities to promote the image of the school positively may be easier and less costly than imagined.

HERE ARE SOME TIPS: • Tell others what you are doing – always send out a press release mentioning any successes small or large – local papers are always keen to hear about local initiatives and if something extra special happens, shout it from the rooftops!

• Correspond regularly with editors of publications relevant to your circle. Take note of publications sent to you and send them information about your school.

• Use opportunities to ‘piggy back’ success stories. If someone in your school community achieves something noteworthy – even if it wasn’t a school event – declare your association with that individual at every opportunity, using the media, newsletters and your website.

• Have an effective ‘news’ and photo gallery section on your website and update this regularly.

• Send out regular newsletters – not just to the parent body of the school, but other interested partners and even and wider family members who support the school.

• Make the most of resources in local businesses and the council – say yes to invitations and become involved in local initiatives – then tell others about it.

• Actively pursue opportunities to do good

50 INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE | MAR/APR 2012

in the wider community. You will have to make choices in this regard, as there is a steady stream of requests from charitable organisations. We tend to choose events based on certain associations within the school, as this in turn ensures a stronger commitment to support the initiative from within the school community.

• Every link with those in the wider community is a networking opportunity and you never know when you will reap that payback from being open and amenable. Word of mouth is very powerful: ensure that anyone who associates with your establishment receives a warm welcome. Individuals who deliver post or pop in for various reasons whether out of choice or necessity should leave with a positive impression to disperse in the wider community.

(For example, we had a visitor from a secondary school who regularly visits primary schools to meet with children enrolled at the secondary school she represents. When she arrived, I offered her a cup of tea and she was pleasantly surprised, remarking that in all the years she has visited various schools – we are the first to have offered her a cup of tea!)

• As far as possible, say yes to students and work experience – in a matter of a few years they are potential customers or partners and they too should have as positive experience as possible to share with the wider community.

Weave the above into the fabric of the school so that it permeates all aspects of day to day operation, as well as strategic planning and management. Remind all those involved in the life of the school about their responsibility to ensure that it is promoted positively in the environment and keep encouraging individuals to contribute ideas and feedback to share with the wider community. Make it everyone’s responsibility and don’t make it solely the ‘job’ of those tasked with marketing the school. 

CHARLOTTE OOSTHUIZEN HAS BEEN HEADTEACHER OF TALBOT HOUSE PREPARATORY, A THRIVING INDEPENDENT SCHOOL IN THE SOUTHWEST, FOR OVER 10 YEARS

Remind all those involved in the life of the school about their responsibility to ensure that the school is promoted positively in the environment and keep encouraging individuals to contribute ideas and feedback to share with the wider community

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