Am considering private primary education for DCs and finding it difficult to assess the risk of school closure / problems with financial and class-size viability for local private schools.
Threads on here give insight into how awful school closures are for all concerned.
I would personally be worried about falling pupil numbers and year-group sizes under, say, 15, for social (friendship group) and employment relations reasons (redundancies, pay freezes, morale), and likely fee increases, in addition to financial viability.
Has anyone got experience with assessing risk in this area?
Is it deemed rude to ask schools for information?
(1) Latest accounts (if not yet available from the Charity Commission or Companies House)
(2) Pupil number / gender breakdown per year group
(3) How many pupils are enrolled for reception for September? (since in many schools after the start of easter term, families would stand to lose a term's fees if they pulled out)
Any tips would be appreciated.
Also thought others may be interested in some sources of (limited) information have come across:
- Independent Schools Council: census data (gives general trend, eg smallest pupil numbers and biggest fall in numbershave been at reception age) and brief info on individual schools, eg total pupil numbers.
- For some schools, accounts on Charity Commission website (don't give pupil numbers. for example, the school could be making good money from a nursery, but not be viable for higher year groups)
-Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), info about recent school closures. ATL say that information from their members suggests that there are likely to be further closures, and are arguing for better information for staff and parents.