The fee rises, revealed last week, have been described as “ludicrous”. But they will not be enough to stop schools planning a further squeeze and cutting what they provide in return for their rocketing charges.
A third of these expensive schools are planning to remove whole subjects – like music, drama, computer science, and German – from their GCSE and A-level curricula.
On top of all this, private schools are concerned that the teachers they do keep on are becoming stressed and may be more prone to absences.
Private schools fear their teachers will be more prone to stress and absences (Photo: PA)Many schools are passing on the full 20 per cent VAT to parents through large fee increases.
Fee rises not enough to balance the books
However, the cuts private schools are now planning suggest that this succession of price increases has not been enough to balance their books.
And schools are also paying to expand their bursary provision to support parents who are struggling to pay increased fees.
square PRIVATE SCHOOLS ExclusivePrivate schools blame VAT and Reeves for fee rises of 20 per cent and higher
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Last year, The i Paper revealed that private schools were set to go without “frills” like embossed stationery and “nice-to-haves” like new swimming pools and AstroTurf pitches, to cope with VAT on fees. But their cost-cutting drive is now hitting much more fundamental parts of school life.
“Catering companies that would previously have only worked with state schools – and a private school would have never touched – are now getting those contracts because they are cost-driven rather than quality-driven,” the source said.
Private schools are looking at saving money on school dinners (Photo by Matthew Horwood/Getty)
Private schools consultant Neil Roskilly, who ran the Independent Schools Association from 2010 to 2021, agreed that schools were cutting costs by moving away from pricey catering contracts.
“Catering companies often come in with a low quote, but food quality can deteriorate over time,” he said. “Those companies also insist on schools using the companies’ ingredients. Schools realise that they aren’t always getting fresh local ingredients.”
Widespread teacher redundancies
The survey also showed that a further quarter are not making redundancies but are cutting staff numbers by deciding not to fill vacant roles.
The HMC survey also found that just over a third of heads were concerned about the stress their staff are experiencing due to increased financial pressures, which could potentially lead to absence.
Julie Robinson, general secretary of the ISC, also warned that schools were cutting staff numbers.
The GCSEs and A levels facing the chop
Private schools are also slimming down the subjects they have on offer at GCSE and A-level, with courses such as music and computer science at risk of disappearing from the curricula at some schools.
Mr Fairbank said: “We know that our schools are looking at the subjects that they offer. Where they’ve previously been able to run certain subjects at GCSE or A-level, which haven’t traditionally had a lot of student interest, maybe four or five students doing a certain A-level course, this course now isn’t financially viable.
Some schools will cut subjects such as music from exam curricula, says the HMC (Photo: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty)Ms Robinson, of the ISC, also said schools would be reviewing the subjects and extra-curricular activities they can provide.
“But of course, they’re going to balance making cost efficiencies against what they know is really, really important as part of the educational offer.”
“It will be a commercial decision for individual private schools as to how they manage their finances in the same way as any other private business.”
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