How do you know a school is financially stable?

[Exhaustedtiredneedabreak]

My ds is having huge problems in school. The recent budget issues with the unfunded teachers pay rise means there is no longer a ta in class.
He is dyslexic and was relying on support to engage with lessons. His state school is unlikely to get any better and he's already behind so we're thinking about to move to private.
There are 3 schools we're considering. He doesn't cope well with change and if we move him I don't want to have to move again because the school has closed suddenly. The schools are unlikely to tell us if they are at risk. Is there any way of checking? This is a huge change for him which will upset him and a massive commitment from us and I don't want to make the wrong choice.

I imagine you can look up their accounts on Companies House?

Look at their accounts at Companies House. Are they advertising vacancies? Anyone you can speak to re:redundancies etc.
The sad fact is that VAT is having a huge impact and 55 independent schools closed last academic year. Many schools are looking at merging etc.

I've had a quick look on companies house but I don't really understand what I'm looking for on there. One has charges listed against them which I'm guessing is a bad thing? I don't think labour realised the amount of children that their policy is negatively impacting. I am a governor at another school and the finances have definitely become much tighter since the unfunded pay rise. We're not seeing any benefit in the state sector but there are a lot of children suffering.

Yes Labour completely knew the impact. They just don't care.

Look up on companies house. Also the biggest reason indicator is often how full the school is. Small schools are the most vulnerable so I’d definitely be digging deeper if it’s a 1 form entry and ask what their max class size is when you view. If they say it’s 20 but you’re seeing classes for 12/13 then that would ring alarm bells for me. And I’d ask about locally and also on here perhaps about the specific schools to see if anyone has any insights.

What area of the country are you in, OP?

I would actively be looking to find schools that have just merged, for instance. Or else one of the bigger, economocially safer ones.

I'm surrey/ hampshire border so looking at Lyndhurst, yateley manor and hall grove. None of them have full classes and they are all small which worries me a lot but all look like the kind of calm and caring environment that ds needs. We only have one chance to educate our children. Why are the government making it harder? It makes me so sad to see not just my child but all the children in the schools I'm involved with having a harder time than they need to.
Also how much talent are we missing. By investing so badly in our education system how many wonderful young minds aren't supported to reach their full potential. That's bad for society too. We do all we can and volunteer our time to help but it will never be enough whilst we have a government that seems to be targeting young people.

I grew up in that neck of the woods but the only one I know is Yateley Manor which is part of a big private equity backed group and they expanded v recently (last year?) to add a senior school going to 16… so I think you’re probably as safe as you can be with that one since it has money behind it and the group are investing in it and expanding. Not to say it’s necessarily the right choice for your DC but I wouldn’t be too worried about imminent closure.

We had our school close.

Ask about:

• have they been through a round of staff redundancies
• are they a member of the TPS (teacher's pension scheme) or have they withdrawn
• are they part of any larger foundation or looking to be
• fee rises (are they sustainable) both before and after the VAT increase
• are they maximising the use of their facilities - e.g. do they host holiday clubs and the like. If so they are more likely to be commercially savvy than a school sitting on assets that they could be earning from
• have they pulled bursaries as a cost cutting measure
• class sizes and how full they are - and what is the breakeven number of pupils for the school to remain viable
• how many children are entering the school (safer if there is a healthy flow through from the start)
• how many left following the imposition of VAT
• do they have any capital projects planned (if they are investing, then the outlook may be brighter)

Ask to speak to the Bursar as well as the Head. They shouldn't mind you questioning this kind of thing as they will be well aware what is happening to smaller schools. If they do tell you it is fine and you decide to go with them, try to get something in writing (even an email), so that if the worst does happen you have something to hold them to (this happened at our school - the family affected got a term's fees back when it closed).

Thank you all, these are excellent points. I will email bursars so I can make a more informed choice.

They won’t be surprised at all by the question if that helps - the small schools we looked at all volunteered to show us their financial
syagements and talk through their position, it’s a totally normal thing to ask about especially these days.

Eek sounds like Maidwell... hope you've found a safe port for this year!

Charges on Companies House are not necessarily a bad thing. It’s possibly security held by a bank which is normal.
Red flags would be overdue accounts…. Which generally indicates some underlying issue.
In general you want to look at their most recent accounts. There should be a section addressing going concern. Also look at the balance sheet value, cash figure etc.

Yateley Manor is 45% full https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Establishments/Establishment/Details/116553

Lyndhurst is 51% full https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Establishments/Establishment/Details/125370

Hall Grove is 85% full https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Establishments/Establishment/Details/125407

Yateley is owned by Inspired Learning, which are pretty mercenary in their approach to closing or selling underperforming schools, so I’d probably be careful with that one.

Thank you, that's exactly the sort of information I was after.

Do you by any chance know where that gov website gets its data from? I looked up my DC’s school and the numbers are significantly (like a third) lower than the ISI report at the end of summer term and I can’t imagine it’s accurate that they had a drop that big over the summer because I know the nursery class significantly expanded and that my older DC’s year is full… Also, worth keeping in mind in the case of Yateley if they just opened a senior school it’ll be a couple of years before they have a full class of Y11s even if they have the space for them now. So that could explain why not at capacity. OP if you tour I’d ask about numbers in Y7-9 to gauge how well the expansion is going. Good luck, it’s a lot to decipher!

What year is he in? Have you looked at More House School near Farnham? It's a specialist independent for boys with SPLDs such as dyslexia. Boys travel there from a wide area.

I hadn't heard of it. I will take a look thank you

The gov website should get its info from the school itself so pupil numbers will be accurate.

I’d be very wary of a school that has below 50% pupil numbers vs capacity and is owned by a private equity group as seems to be the case with Yately. The weakest members of a group are at high risk of just being cut out so as not to bring the rest down. It’s ruthless.

Although, having said that, if they only expanded to 16 in the last year, they won’t be at published capacity for some time until the prep age filter through to 16, so that one might just look worse than it is.

Honestly I would look at a specialist private dyslexia school and travel a bit more to get there. Presuming child already has a dyslexia tutor outwith school following a structured dyslexia programme. Also with private school and dyslexia - ask specifically about what and how - detail is key. You will most likely have to pay for any further in school tutoring as well and it will take them out of class. You want true understanding of dyslexia and learning styles not just ND. A school that is good for high achieving autism will not be for twice exceptional dyslexic kids.
We went private at first and child ended up severely anxious and much more behind because although the school looked like they were doing it right they weren't. (Eg reading intervention - doing more of the same stuff , not changing how they were teaching it)
So now at state with tutor and may switch again when older which gives time to anticipate cost a bit more and work out if we go private or dyslexia specialist private.

Sorry I know that wasn't your question but also felt it was important to point out that if the reason you are looking at private schools is dyslexia this is also important.

Unless they’ve gone for a big bang and taken several new years at once, the capacity will increase each year, rather than them adding it all at once. So if it’s 50% full now, that means it’s half full at current capacity, not what any future capacity of a full up to 16 school.

They will also be registered as charities so you can see full accounts on the charities commission website

register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search