Whitehall “braced for private schools collapse” 6

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Continuation of previous threads to discuss VAT on independent school fees.

The Beckenham Appreciation Society has just posted that Bishop Challenor in Beckenham is closing. This was a through school 3-18, Roman Catholic, one of the only ones in the much wider area. Lots of kids with SEND. That is going to be a lot of children the council has to find school places for. Not sure what happens to any year 10s or year 12s! Shocking.

@Araminta1003 and that’s an area with the v good Kent grammars, so the upshot will be that pressure on grammar places gets squeezed even more for poor bright kids, and the SEND resources in the local non-grammars get even more pressured too. And of course there’s all the staff made redundant, too.

What a win there for the local state pupils….or, resoundingly, not. Exactly as we’ve all been predicting.

66 people out of work and 200-300 children without a school.

Did the Labour posters who championed this policy want this to happen?

They either don’t care (not “their” children - literally or in the Rachel sense), or see it as acceptable collateral damage.

That said, there were posters on other threads on here who were positively gleeful about the prospect of posho private schools closing, and the “Hugos” of the world being taken down a few pegs when they reached the local comp. So yes, some definitely wanted this to happen.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2067517/Rachel-Reeves-VAT-private-school-fees?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target

So the decision will be handed down tomorrow?

Well I mentioned it because Rachel Reeves knows Greater South East London very well and so does her sister Ellie! Their neck of the woods.

Unfortunately, yes. This was the whole point of the policy.

I reckon whilst some of the public support the notion of taxing private schools or are indifferent to it, if a large private school like St Dunstan’s went bust in Ellie Reeves’ constituency, that would definitely cost her a lot politically. Because when it happens to a local school which is part of the community and people do use the facilities, then the MPs will get the blame for it.
So I doubt the many MPs in question would be happy if a big one actually went bust in their constituency. And that is the big paradox here.

Private schools close every single year. 1,102 private schools closed between 2010 and 2024, an average of about 80/annum. Most small private schools aren’t that viable and the one recently highlighted was probably a one form entry. There has been consolidation going on in the sector for years.

Each one is incredibly sad for the parents and pupils, but it is a corollary of a school being a commercial enterprise.

‘Excluding private special schools, around 50 private schools close each year. There are a range of reasons for closure, including financial viability and departmental action where schools are not meeting required standards. Some 1,102 private schools closed between 11 May 2010 and 5 July 2024. It is also worth noting that the number of pupils in private schools increased in 2023-24, and that there has been a net increase of 13 private schools over that period.’

hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2024-09-09/debates/255AFB5F-4F8A-4788-BB5D-C74C71FE7AC1/PrivateSchoolClosures

@Newbutoldfather - there are no coed state comprehensives in the wider area (which is affluent) so the demand would have been there for a reasonably priced school. So the fact that this school Bishop Challenor did not make it, is really bad news and forebodes a true bloodbath in private schools to come.

On the other hand, the Diocese of Southwark has wanted a state secondary RC school for ages so perhaps there is some hope this one can be turned into a state school, somehow.

That was meant to say no coed RC state comprehensives, there is a huge demand for this in the wider area.

Many of them did, yes. Many supporters of this policy openly admit that they think private schools should be abolished (although are unable to provide any coherent reasoning as to why this is a good idea).

The school in Bromley/Beckenham that announced closure has 94 out of 271 with SEND and 6 EHCPs as at their latest ISI inspection in September 2024. It’s exactly the kind of school catering to children with SEND that we have been discussing ad infinitum. In fact, I personally know a family going through the EHCP process right now that were considering it for year 7. Mass closures of these types of schools is really bad news. That family will likely now get funded transport plus a place in a comp of their choice locally. When they could have stretched to those fees. I am not sure how this is going to help anyone?

I think what frustrates me more than anything else with this is that Labour refuses to accept that there are students whose needs can’t be met in state schools. They could have blamed the Tories for it - in my son’s case, I certainly blame the Tories - but no, according to Labour, every child’s needs can be met in state schools. Whilst they take VAT from parents whose children went to private in the first place because the state couldn’t give them a basic education. And our VAT is - apparently - funding their children’s cornflakes. Although if these funds even get as far as the cornflakes remains to be seen. Certainly alarmingly little of use to schoolchildren seems to have been ringfenced.

Yes I’m sure it has nothing to do with recent Government policies or rhetoric.

I would really like to see a list of the private schools opening and closing to better understand what this really means. What is a private school classified as in these stats? The number of well established schools with a long heritage closing this year seems truly shocking. Everyone always quotes this 50 schools closing, but what does that mean in reality? How well established? How many students? What types of schools?

It’s really sad. It’s easy to appeal to base emotions rather than put in good policy, Labour politicians are reprehensible for this.

@CatkinToadflax - if only the big name private schools survive where all the mainly rich go, then kids with SEND may be forced into home education as the only viable option. Which I find really unpalatable. It’s ok as a choice but not if you are forced to do that and Labour just don’t seem to understand that many kids need small schools and small classes to flourish.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-school-registration. Found this so maybe this is the definition. Could be a huge range, could be a school for one pupil, or a very small number, could be quite experimental, so you can imagine these schools come and go very regularly. Ie in the case of an independent school with one child with an EHCP it would close when that child is no longer of compulsory school age. I don't know the circumstances of why this would be set up but I don't think it's just as easy as saying well loads of private schools close each year

One of my dcs is year 11. There are 120 in their (independent day school) year. Less than 50 now staying for 6th form. There’s usually a drop but this is pretty massive… Can’t be the only school where this is happening.. All will now be heading to local 6th form which is already very heavily subscribed and will no doubt push up its criteria for entry (you already need pretty high gcse grades for lots of the subjects on offer). Can’t see that helping anyone really (except the parents’ bank balances).

‘Worst-case scenario’ for schools as money promised to education funnelled into affordable housing

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/98833160419937f7

Labour should be making promising that the affordable housing will go to those doing the key jobs in society with families of those key workers getting priority (given low birth rate). Given they keep going on about being the party of actual workers.

Rather than harping on about immigrants again and trying to point score, when you are in opposition, you are meant to get the party in charge to make promises which serve the country best. Laura Trott is normally quite good though so perhaps this is a leading question type scenario.