Sevenoaks School for sale

[AnonymousStudentParent]

Has anyone any more information about this? Apparently Sevenoaks School is in deep financial trouble and looking for a buyer.

News to me - how did you find out?

Are you mixing this up with the merger with the prep school Solefield School?

That’s news to me too. Any links @AnonymousStudentParent

Heard it at a dinner party from people in private equity.

Well that’s a shame if true - I heard it’s a really great school.

Did you not think to google this before starting a gossipy thread about it?

www.kentonline.co.uk/sevenoaks/news/historic-schools-to-merge-319660/

I know all about Solefields being taken over by Sevenoaks. That's not a new story.

As someone who works for a completely different independent school-

Schools are trying quite hard to keep a lid on this kind of speculation. A rumour turns into nervous prospective parents turns into reduce intake in key year groups turns into job losses.

Not helpful to spread dinner party rumours.

Lots of UK schools are in difficulty, for sure. It's hardly a secret that VAT + NI + property prices (because teachers also require local accommodation and in expensive areas that's a real issue) + ambiguous messaging from the UK about visas for students + the decline of the IB are a toxic mix.

Given the area it’s in and the demographic it attracts I think this is highly unlikely. Lots of smaller schools in less affluent areas about to go to the wall but on the balance of probabilities I’d say Sevenoaks would not be in this situation. Do remember that after a few glasses of Sauvignon/Merlot lots of people talk 💩!

….although I have heard chat about Private Equity firms taking an interest in the education sector….

I'm not sure that being in an affluent area is necessarily helpful. Sure, there are parents to pay the fees but teachers also need to be accommodated and property in Sevenoaks and the surrounding area is eye watering.

It's more than chat. Plenty of info online about which PE firms are investing in education.

Of course the private equity hounds are out on the prowl. The real estate value in some of these schools is mind boggling,
especially in a prime area like Sevenoaks where prices have risen sharply and it keeps going up!

Are you starting a rumour because you are interested in getting your hands on valuable real estate?

Teachers in schools like this can live 30-45 away by car and drive in and park locally and lots of schools like this have also got accommodation for staff. Plus they have some parents who are wealthy overseas billionaires or non doms so I doubt they would be tapping a vulture fund, unless there is a tax reason. Like sell off some of the land only to invest in other parts of the school. That would be more plausible. Some of the Home Counties schools may do stuff like this or do a build/rent contract for future staff/tap commercial income streams. The Government is trying to turn old charitable pricked schools into businesses.

It seems an unlikely one to me to be trouble but perhaps the school simply wants new investment.

Unlike lots of big name schools, Sevenoaks hasn't developed new income streams from brand extension and development of overseas campuses. Hence it might be more susceptible to the recent fiscal shocks to private schooling.

It could also be that there is an interested buyer rather than the school actively looking to sell. Remember PE firms are divesters and resellers most of the time. Maybe an international educational institution group is interested in the school specifically - it doesn't mean it's looking to sell. Several such groups have already bought out schools in central London.

The point I wanted to make was that having a conversation with a PE firm isn't necessarily a sign of trouble or wanting to sell. I also don't agree with a lot of the points above - teachers don't reside in the middle of Sevenoaks town centre, they live in Orpington or Bromley or Tunbridge Wells and drive in. So that's not a cost issue. Visa rules for school students haven't changed in decades, only the rules for post study work visa after university have changed (and are changing). There's also no decline of the IB, more and more grammar schools are now taking on the IB. It was never a 'hot' option compared to A levels in the UK at any point of time. As a parent, I picked the IB for DC for reasons that are still valid. The only recent impact on schools as we all know is VAT and insurance/pension costs.

Since the return to linear A-levels, alternative secondary school leaving diplomas (Pre-U and IB principally) have lost in attractivity in the UK. Fewer and fewer state school are offering the IB (it is much more expensive to deliver than A-levels) and those that do are suffering (compare Tonbridge Grammar School (IB) and Judd (A-level) student numbers).

Teachers needing to live a long way from school but still in increasingly expensive areas, as you describe for Sevenoaks School, is a recruitment problem.

Dartford Grammar does IB and they are doing really well. Lots of girls move to boys schools in the Sixth Form and the boys’ schools cream off the best girls, hardly “news”. Same happens at St Olave’s/Newstead Wood in Orpington. It is quite unfair really as parents then look at A level results and often the boys’ schools benefit from that and then the competition at 11 plus is even stronger. TOGs, for example, is a truly great school. IB is simply more work and the issue is not with the schools, it is with the universities not acknowledging the extra effort and work that has to go in and insisting on 3x7 at Higher Level.

“It could also be that there is an interested buyer rather than the school actively looking to sell.”

Well precisely. There would be all sort of Dubai and India educational groups desperate to purchase the Sevenoaks brand to run their schools under in those areas, potentially also Singapore etc.

Despite the Labour Government’s best effort to destroy private schools, hopefully all the big traditional names like Eton, Winchester and Westminster won’t have to sell out their brands as they have endowment funds, at least for the former two and strong alumni backing. And Westminster probably has some political clout given its location.

If there is a Sevenoaks Delhi and a Sevenoaks Dubai and those kids then board in the UK for Sixth Form after starting in those schools at 3/4, that may well make sense for a school like Sevenoaks and also those families.

I am not arguing with you OP but confused by the point of recruitment - it's far, far cheaper to live outside London than in central London. Central London prep and senior schools have teachers commuting for an hour or more into school. How is a 15 minute commute into Sevenoaks from Orpington a bad deal? It seems like a much better quality of life to me personally and teachers from other public schools must be falling over themselves to move to Sevenoaks!

Of course there are other schools in expensive areas that are an issue for teacher recruitment. Public transport from a wide range of areas is much better in London than in Kent however.

The reason Sevenoaks is so expensive is because the train line is so good and it is close to the M25 so best of both worlds. So easy to commute in or out or drive there and it has close airport links. So I highly doubt this kind of school is bust. Selling the brand abroad or getting investors to take a small stake to revenue raise for business purposes, is an entirely separate matter and probably quite business savvy logical for schools that do not have vast endowment funds but are progressive and forward thinking. Which I suspect this school may be if they do IB and are quite international.

If you look at the financials on line they aren't promising (2023 latest figures).