Would you consider a fee-paying school like this?

[bronya]

A school that had:

• no uniform
• handwriting practice for note taking but otherwise everything taught/recorded through tablets/laptops and practical work. Work saved and marked in a 'cloud' that parents can access to see how their children are doing at any time.
• parents supply lunch, tablet for first two years, then laptop with relevant software.
• Max ten in a class, with two classes per year (one girls, one boys)
• Low fees (£2500 per term) but fewer facilities. Use local park/pool etc rather than own.

An acquaintance of mine was raving about her new business idea over lunch today. In principle it sounds great, but would people go for it? I didn't think so - was I wrong?

The only way something like this would be at all attractive would be as an add-on to home-ed. Flexi-days filling in some academic gaps maybe. Not at that cost though.

Id have to say I wouldn't be interested - all the supposed positives would be negatives to me (whats good about no writing, no uniform? I don't get it.). I would be happy to make lunches on the plus side. But kind of sounds the opposite to a school Id chose. I wouldn't like that much technology dependence. Is it primary or secondary?

I wouldn't chose a school like that if it was free. I pay £7000 per year for school. Dinners are included, it has all the facilities except swimming onsite.

I would be horrified at the lack of focus on writing.

Uniform stops the competitiveness regarding labels with children. All I have to worry about is that I buy the right underwear. It has to be spiderman, he would not want to be seen in Thomas pants!

In all honesty, I suspect there would be very few people who couldn't afford the "full price" independents (round here around £3000) who would be able to afford her fees.
And the lack of facilities would put off those who could afford the higher fees.

I do think the having 2 forms, one boy one girl, is an interesting idea though.

The boy/girl split is interesting but for me 20 children max in a year is too small a social mix. Also proper team sports would be hard to cater.

The fees are only marginally less than we will be paying for DS from next month and that's for a school with plenty of facilities, a good academic record and free after school clubs / provision until 5.30pm. Your friend needs to make it properly niche in some way.

She would be directly competing with schools like this in London

newmodelschool.co.uk/

Does she offer the same or better than them.

Must be primary if class size of 10?! Tablets very OTT, then.

- no uniform

Fine.

- handwriting practice for note taking but otherwise everything taught/recorded through tablets/laptops and practical work. Work saved and marked in a 'cloud' that parents can access to see how their children are doing at any time.

What a lot of admin for the teachers, when will they have time to teach?

- parents supply lunch, tablet for first two years, then laptop with relevant software.

Lunch supplied by parent I'm used to but some kind of back up for when they forget lunch would be good. Meh to laptop.

- Max ten in a class, with two classes per year (one girls, one boys)

I don't understand why this would be so appealing in primary.

- Low fees (£2500 per term) but fewer facilities. Use local park/pool etc rather than own.

Sounds normal to me.

Well, I asked what sort of niche she was aiming at, and she said that her idea was a school to prepare children for the future. That after all, how often do adults write by hand unless they are taking notes? Everything is done on a computer now, and that being able to touch type large amounts of text quickly was far more useful for an adult life. Even books are becoming electronic now. She mentioned all the apps that teach spelling, times tables, basic maths etc and how well they do so, yet computers in schools are shared because they have x amount that rotate through the classes. She feels that a computer each would help them learn much faster.

I think she's a little idealistic. She went to an amazing private school then a mediocre grammar which put her off state education for life, and has homeschooled her DCs. I think she's trying to create the school she'd have liked to have available to her for her DCs, as they couldn't afford the £4k per term round here for two children. Her idea apparently is to start small and build it up gradually. She was a primary school teacher once (pre DC), I just don't think she's thought it through fully - seems v much just what she'd like...

I have been in a visit to school to see their use of ipads - every pupil has one. They do visits for people interested in it. Might be good for your friend to see.

That's interesting, virtually all the HEers I know are fairly anti technology (obviously HErs are all different).
I make handwritten lists a lot. Some forms can only be filled in by hand. DD still writes lots by hand. DSs wouldn't write any better on a Tablet.

How often do people (other than those with identified additional needs) need to write?

Well, several hours per examination topic at GCSE, AS level and A level for a start.

Teaching touch typing properly is something I'd want to see a school doing. I think it is an important life skill and needs to be done earlier/better. But that must not be at the expense of exam standard handwriting.

I would expect a private school to have ICT labs in which there were enough keyboards for pupils to have one each, plus terminals in classrooms, plus interactive whiteboards.

I believe a school similar to that described in the OP exists as an internet based school (for home education). I am not sure its fees are anywhere near those suggested though.

Several years ago I also explored a small school (similar model to that of AS Neil proposed originally for Summerhill) which used a lot of internet based specialist tuition with just a few teachers covering basic subjects.

I eventually sent my DC to a school which was faith based ( may not be everyones choice) . I chose it because of the paucity ofchoice in state schools and a lack of a close traditional privateone. It charged fees but was subsidised so fees were very low. I found that to be excellent. They do not exist widely though.

I dont think there would be any call forthe OP suggestion really - too expensive and the market isnt there.

Something I picked up whilst reading:

"Either way, my short answer is 'no' as you can only use keyboards in public exams if you have additional needs"

I found out earlier last year by accident that in fact the exam boards rule that if a student/pupil uses a computer in the course of their normal note taking and activities in lessons they are allowed to use a computer in exams. It isnt special needs only. But I suspectyou have to drive the case home as most schools do not have the facilities generally for a large influx of i pad based kids from class asking to use lap tops in exams. The school where I work discourage it and tell us as staff not to make it known to students or parents. Enough said?

The dispensation to use laptop isn't quite as simple as that. It arose because of the change of rules about level/type of additional need required to secure variation to exam conditions at all. It was to permit a loophole for those who qualified under the old rules, but not the new, to continue with the method they were accustomed to. It is not the case that any pupil can choose to use laptop and be sure they will be permitted to use it in an exam.

Now, there is a lot of discussion about whether all candidates should be allowed to opt for laptop. And the debate is probably moving in that direction.

But of course to prevent cheating, candidates own laptops are never permitted. So the exam centre has to provide them, and the assurance that no material which could assist in any exam is anywhere on it. I suspect that it is the cost/logistic issue that is inhibiting change in this area, rather than pedagogy.

I think it's an interesting idea, and there would definitely be a few parents who would be interested, but probably not enough to make it financially viable.

Realistically she is not going to get enough parental support to fill classes at least in the first few years, and she would not be able to make enough money to keep the school going.

class sizes are too small. My DD went to a all girls prep and in some years the classes were around 10, too small to develop friendships, they all tended to play together except when there was falling out, which happened quite often, and then you'd get one girl on her own. I think 15 is the minimum for good relationships to build and also builds a cushion for financial viability. With the level of fees proposed I think you would need additional numbers in the classes. I also think that parents prepared to pay for private education expect the facilities. It would be something that I would consider.

DS attended a poor private school who didn't have any of this tech stuff.