Whitehall “braced for private schools collapse” 4

[ICouldBeVioletSky]

Continuing the discussion about the impact of VAT on independent schools…

Of course it's not plus loads of schools already do it

That is absolutely insane
I was involved with a boy recently who could ONLY attend mainstream by being in a room alone with a 1 to 1 and nothing in the room that could be used as a weapon, including having his desk bolted to the floor - that was the advice from his former school.
The new school said there was no way they could provide that but had to take the boy anyway under the FAP and quite predictably it ended badly.
SEN kids who need such specialised provision are being let down by being forced into mainstream, very few schools can provide whats needed even with extra funding.

Clear out a broom cupboard and stick a couple of beanbags in there. Et voila, Bridget solves SEND!

FFS.

Ours has one. But DD says it's hardly a break-out space as it's always full of people. And what use is having a room full of kids wanting space if there's nothing to go with it?

There needs to be a programme of 1:1 or small group help for all the different SEN groups who ARE suitable for mainstream.

And it needs to be separated into Mental Health Support and Educational Support with appropriate crossover. Not the current big mix that provides for nobody.

Box of hankies optional...

While you do the online counselling provided by the AI Counsellor.

And Labour know that any parent who has child with SEN in independent school will do everything there can to prevent them going into a state school with this level of SEN "support" so they will cough up for VAT even if it bankrupt them, all the while Labour will continue to spin the lie of only "wealthy elites buying privilege" in Indy schools.

Unbelievable. What a statement with lack of insight or clue.

@Hoppinggreen annual reviews must be held at least every 12 months. Phase transfer reviews follow the same process as normal annual reviews, but have the added deadline of needing to be held in time to allow the LA to finalise by 15th Feb/31st March. Early annual reviews follow the same process as normal annual reviews. Except LAs don’t have to agree to an early review. Although they are going to have to in these cases and if they refuse, parents should threaten JR/go down the LBA route.

Coverage from The Times about the court case next week:

VAT on school fees ‘discriminates against vulnerable girls’

https://www.thetimes.com/article/498b8c23-cc1d-401a-af2e-e46f2b122def?shareToken=c93fa123959ef4476a286ea5bde05a7f

Screenshots in case the share link expires.

Final screenshots

We won't know the verdict for approx 4 weeks after the case is heard

Strange the article mentions the SEND claims only in passing, they seem the most compelling ones.

I imagine it is impossible to give a fair representation given that needs are so varied - they might argue it is a minority issue if they say specific needs?

I am so glad the all girls environment has been mentioned as a huge reason to go privately. Dd really struggled in co-ed and has come on so far with her confidence. Not only that but they do computer science, which she wouldn't have been taught at the local girls grammar as they only do "computing" - she's a massive coding and STEM whizz and those skills would never have been discovered. All girls schools really do make a massive difference.

Exactly. If any schools have any space at all that’s available to use for a quiet space, then they will be using it already for their kids with SEND.
The government spaffing the very limited funding that this will be, on a new wobble cushion or maybe a bean bag per school is a token gesture that is not going to make any difference to the many kids who need actual quiet spaces during the day, if those spaces aren’t already available at their schools. It’s the SEND version of ‘cornflakes for all’.

‘Let Them Eat Cornflakes’

Thanks - really appreciate the detail this is very helpful

As you’ve been predicting @Araminta1003

Record applications to top state sixth forms after VAT hike

www.thetimes.com/article/1716d4f5-c9e6-4a3f-bf9b-e05572b23734?shareToken=a9ac7bc535e7b9e2bc8e89956bc2d4ea

Absolutely terrible.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14549729/headteacher-closed-private-school-flees-dubai.html

'His actions speak so loudly. He is a coward.
'If the reason the school couldn't continue was purely down to VAT and rising costs, the man would be standing on the school's front steps, doing everything possible to help parents find new schools for their children.

She added: 'The children were denied basic educational tools and needs.
'The school had a poor infrastructure because Harrison has bullied and intimidated so many staff, who then left.

'It was a common occurrence that I would arrive at the school and see staff members in tears.

'The teachers who left were not replaced because no one wanted to work there because Jonathan had a reputation of being a bully. He ran the school as a dictatorship.

'Teaching standards then declined so parents began to withdraw their children and numbers dropped.

'The school closing has nothing to do with the imposing of VAT, it is because of how poorly he ran the school.

This was always going to happen — anyone who thought it wouldn’t given the current financial environment was living in cloud cuckoo land. As predicted, those kids are going to be crowding out other people’s kids for the best sixth form places, and underprivileged kids will be stuck with the less good choices, as was always bloody obvious. All those crowing about how state schools would love the extra places so it was great if there was an exodus into state, and anyway nobody would move their kids out of private anyway, are going to find that the impact on the average kid in state is not actually so great.

We’ve just got confirmation of next year’s fees for DD, and having thought we’d make the sacrifices to keep her in private until 16, we’re now thinking of selling our house and moving to a small flat to get her into the only outstanding state school near us for year 9.

No idea why Labour or anyone else thought this was a good idea and parents would just suck it up. In boom times, maybe; but these ain’t boom times. Obviously the very richest will, but a lot of us aren’t rich and will just look to move back into state. This policy will cause a lot of disruption for very little revenue or result. Exactly what happened in Greece.

I honestly don't know what is going to happen in August.

From everything I am hearing, it's going to be a bun fight for places in 6th form in September.

I am very interested to see what Labour do when they suddenly need thousands of extra A level places.

A lot of people getting extra tutoring from now till the exams if there is any risk of children not making the grades as internal applicants.

Quite a significant back story to this particular closure. It can be misleading just posting 'another closure' without context.

Every individual closure will have its own context, but it is important to note each and every closure in order to ensure it is tallied in the fallout. The government refuses to keep tally, so we must.

every school closure will have its own mix of factors, but the impact of vat will only be known when we look at them in total- the before and after macro landscape. Every individual closure may not be down to VAT, but if we see 2x closures vs. norm then statistically half of them are VAT related regardless of individual circumstances.

I was referring more to the announcements across various threads on here every time a school closes without any backdrop. That approach smacks of sensationalism, particularly when backstories such as this example follow.

As you like, but I read it as just flagging another closure. We need to note each closure, because again, the government refuses to track data on the impact of their policies.