School bought by company - repercussions?

[Cynical]

My children's school is one of several bought at the end of 2004 by Cognita, a company headed by Chris Woodhead and funded in turn by a private equity company. Anyone out there in the same boat? I'm worried about a number of issues, not least Woodhead's stated aim of some teaching materials being centrally generated, the profits sought by the backers, etc etc.

Anyone been through a similar situation? Or if not, do any of you have views on this ? One of my concerns is that unlike non-profit making charitable status schools, sooner or later the backers are going to want a return on their investment. How does this square with Woodhead's aim to provide "quality" private education, but at a "reasonable" price?

Wow I didn't know they had done this.

Not in the same boat, but I would be rather cynical too - for the same reasons as you but also because I think Chris Woodhead is a tw*t.

There was an article about this sort of thing in either the Guardian Weekend or Observer colour supplement last w/e. Gave some of the ramifications of these 'academies'.
I think it's a scandal. They can operate own terms and conditions for staff - no unions, set own curriculum, exclude according to own criteria....

Blu - very ignorant here - do private schools generally not do that then?

SP - why is Chris Woodhead a tw*t? Again, ignorance prompts the question.

flashingnose - I don't know - but I think cynical is talking about a state school that has been bought up and operates as an 'academy', and are not fee paying.
As far as I understand it companies can 'buy' a school - by which the gvt mean an investment of a mere £2million, and then take control. Even tho the local authority pays the running costs and the majority of capital investment.

Thanks for the replies - I should have made it clearer; the school is a private fee paying one. It is one of a batch bought by Cognita in December (the press covered it then). Private schools can be

1. charitable trusts, run by governors on a not for profit basis,ie, money goes back into the school to benefit the education of the pupils. This is crucial to the charitable status, or
2. privately owned and run, whether by an individual, a family, or, in this case, by a company.

Chris Woodhead obviously doesn't have that sort of money himself (Cognita has bought, I think, about 18 schools for somewhere between £60m and £100m depending on what paper you read!).

The company is funded by a separate private equity organisation. This is NOT a company, in the sense it is answerable to shareholders etc, BUT the people behind the whole venture are going to want some money back at some point.
Aren't they?

Maybe someone with a city background could explain this better!!

CW/Cognita surely can't provide a top quality education at a resonable price and at the same time keep the money flowing to his backers.

In a nutshell, those are my main worries.

flashingnose - I dislike woodhead because he was a media whore whilst he was chief inspector of schools and I really don´t think the two things mix. He had very rigid ideas of good teaching and was forever slagging teachers off.

And as for his comment that sexual relationships between pupils and teachers (albeit 18 yr old pupils) can be "educative"...

sorry bit off-thread - but I read the same article Blu and was kind of shocked but not suprised (if that makes any sense). I live in a area with a large amount of church schools and they are run on a similar basis - the church only has to own about 10 per cent of the capital assets of the school, the tax payer owns (iyswim)the rest, and pays the running costs but the church gets to appoint the governors and set the admission criteria. Which means dd can't go to her local school coz we don't go to church. Out bloody rageous

hatstand - you´re right, that is outrageous.

I was annoyed when they introduced grant-maintained muslim schools a few years ago - they should have used the discrimination thing as an excuse to abolish the lot of them. I´ve half a mind to start a special "atheist" school.

Cynical: sorry for spouting off on the wrong track

Blu - no need to apologise ! What you are saying about parts of the state sector is worrying too...

Cynical - you still around? Am now in the same boat and wondering what the outcome was for you? Not sure this thread enlightened me much. Anybody else experienced this?

Has Cognita bought the school anyone else's DC are at?

bump

Hi not sure if this is relevant to what you are asking but Cognita have purchased the school that DS1 and DS2 are going to in September. TBH I am much happier with the school now I know they have this backing. I went to a local prep school with a really good reputation first and had a really good chat with the head (who has a really credible reputation locally). He was very enthusiastic about CW's involvement and believes that in our case he will really work wonders with the schools under his control. I feel more secure knowing that the school is under close scrutinity (sp?)and has to succeed. I do believe however that the school we are going to will become selective as time goes on, particularly in senior school. One of the reasons we have decided to 'jump ship' now.

running for profit is not a bad thing. If you look at the things that actually work well in this country they are typically run by private firms.
Outside the Guardian readership private equity isn't bad either, but there is a certain "style" to PE takeovers.
They are not passive shareholders, although the aim will usually be to grow the business, it often starts with quite brutal cost cutting.
Also, the consensus I observe is that most schools do not set their fees at a level that maximises income. I'd bet money fees go up quite hard.
Certainly there are some economies of scale in materials, purchasing and occasionally sharing of staff that could benefit a group of private schools over the more common stand alone ones.

But the bugger (technical accounting term) is staff, which usually wholly dominates costs in education. Only way to lower that is a combination of cheaper ones and/or fewer.

But the thing I'd be worried about in the mid term is that most gangs who run a school be it a church, self appointing governors or whatever, do it because they want to run a school, and will keep it going until it's prised out of their cold, dead hands.

Schools represent a decent block of land that can be developed into a nice cash flow from homes quite quickly. If the school business hits a rough patch they can be expected to bail out and liquidate far earlier than most other "owners" of such a business.

Ds2 is at a Cognita school. He's only at the nursery but it's likely we'll move him for reception or year 1 because I must admit we're worried about what could happen in 4-5 years' time. It's a busy successful school, but not the most sought after in the area. If it were sold to another school business, that could be OK, but might not. If it were sold to, eg., property developers, obviously a disaster.

It's the uncertainties that are worrying us, not the current standards, which I think are high.

Major problems with private schools that are privately run (either by owners or company rather than as a non profit making charity) include:
The proportion of revenue they are willing to put into staff i.e. teachers. On other threads there have been comments that some private schools pay their teachers less than state schools. Peanuts and monkeys;
The possibility that the business will decide to sell the school/land for redevelopment - either parts or whole of the property.
The possibility that the school will be closed at short notice
I would be very worried

Thank you for your thoughts. Is a waiting game really. CW is coming to school next week to meet the parents. Will be interesting to see what is said.

"Cognita" sets off big flashing lights for me. It's like when they tried to rebrand the Post Office "Consignia". My first question would be "what agenda does this company have to push?"

I didn't know about that link, are you thinking of Capita ?

Cognita website (not Crapita )

I work in a Cognita school. What do you want to know? I can answer specific qus. Teaching materials are all according to NC at my school.

snuffy,

NC = ?

Main worries are fees increasing, and any major changes (ie class size, staff numbers). Also wondering how much power individual schools have on their ability to purchase what they think they need, etc.

Did your school change hands, whilst you were there? Were you aware of any major changes in the running?

Cynical, my sister's chidlren are at a Gems school which I think is similar with middle eastern backing.

Chris W thinks he can run cheap and cheerful middle of the road schools without too many expensive facilities and catch a market for fairly los private fees in the middle between free and very expensive but I don't see how you can do that and take profits out too when all the better relatively cheap private day schools like those run by City livery companies and Manchester Grammer, GPDT schools etc don't take profits at all.

snuffy, not sure parents want the national curriculum - one of the things we pay to avoid in the private sector!