Smoke and Mirrors

As an aide memoire, here is the Charity Commission’s timetable for its public benefit guidance.

I think not.  And I would like to try to redress the balance.

This article - Private school pupil numbers in decline | Schools special reports | EducationGuardian.co.uk - must be read very carefully.  And even the Guardian’s own analysis suggests quite the opposite.

Take these quotes:

…demographic factors mean the 431,650 fee-paying pupils are a marginally higher proportion of the school population than they were in 2004.

 So are numbers at Independent Schools in decline?  In real terms yes but just because there are fewer school-age children in the population doesn’t mean that independent schools are under any kind of threat.  In actual fact our “market share” has risen.  This article from the BBC - Private Schools’ Market Share Up - is an excellent counterpoint.  However:

 …stability among families able to afford private education means that independent secondary school numbers have remained almost constant, while there has been a fall of about 6,000 in primary.

There in lies the rub.  We have known for sometime that the next 10 years will see a marked demographic shift, with proportionally fewer children being born, which will impinge up the Primary Independent schools first.

I posted an item on this in May 2005, when the Guardian was then on about rising school fees.  Back then, the link between fees and falling numbers was again a tenuous one as the Maintained Sector was experiencing a greater drop in numbers relative to the Independent Sector.

So the point is?  While the statistics appear threatening, it is articles such as this that are potentially damaging to the stability of the relationship between schools and their parent bodies and prospective parents.  We don’t need headlines like this.  It patently does not give the real picture.

The ISC’s blog has a post on the proposed regualtory changes that would essentially put independent schools’ inspections in the hands of OfSTED.  To quote the blog:

In essence, the proposals will mean that Ofsted, rather than the Secretary of State, becomes accountable for regulating the whole independent sector. That doesn’t mean inspecting schools directly. That area will remain with The Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI). But it would mean that Ofsted would become the interpreter of regulation for the ISI and therefore dictate the inspection agenda.  

 However, if you take a moment to read through the proposals, what is on the table is a system whereby independent schools have the opportunity to prove the quality of there provision on a far more regular basis.  We are, at present, inspected every 6 years by ISI.  Under the new proposals we will be inspected every 3 years for a shorter period of time (the 2-3 day model: the light touch, critical friend approach), following the guidelines set out for maintained sector schools. 

As a governor of a small mainatined sector school and a deputy head at a large independent prep I have experienced both forms of inspection.  The streamlined model used by OfSTED lasts 3 days and is customised through the use of self-evaluation data.  This opportunity to regulary go through a self-evaluation process is a far more professional tool for school management in the 21st century.  It ensures that staff are continually aware of development goals and focused on maintaining standards in learning and teaching.

Centralised control is anathema to Independent Education.  However, by ensuring that we have an effective and efficient process of inspection and review then we can become far more confident of our standards in the wider educational world. 

This is an event that, if it hasn’t already begun its descent, will surely get the ball rolling.

The Symposium on Public Benefit on March 6th 2008 will hopefully all bring us up to speed on the guidance for fee-charging chaities.  Hopefully it will also give independent school managers a chance to network & find out just what each other is up to & share some good ideas!

The ever watchful Andy Ross has written about the contradictory reports emerging from the Press & the Government.  From Andy’s Blog:

Newspapers: One in seven children are unable to write their own name or recite the letters of the alphabet by the age of five, according to government figures.  The results, based on teachers’ observations of more than 500,000 children throughout England as they start their formal schooling, also concluded that a third failed to recognise simple words such as “dog” or “pen”, while 15% could not write “mum” or “dad” or their own name from memory.

Government: This year’s Foundation Stage Profile (FSP) results show an upturn in the number of children reaching a good level of development in communication, language and literacy and personal, social and emotional development (PSED). The total has increased by one percentage point from last year to 45%, meaning that an additional 7,500 children achieved a good level of development this year.

So what is reality?  How is a school to respond when parents, Governors & teachers are being fed such contradictory & inflamatory information?   For me it is down to clear communication about the situation on the ground.  That all agents within the community are clear about how its own children are coping under the weight of expectation with which they are saddled today.  So it is a case of being aware of the spin from both Government and the press and providing a transparent window on what the school is up to.

This article from the Guardian - How To Ride Out A Media Storm - caught my attention.  Is there really anything more difficult to cope with as a school manager than the day that a serious incident at your school precipates a feeding frenzy by the news media?

How to cope?  Well, as Mike Baker sums up in the article:

The lesson from these cases is that, however unfair a story may be, it’s not a good idea to try to shut the media out and that, in the 24-hour media age, early impressions are vital.

Well he would, wouldn’t he?  We just have to hope that we are not caught by a media snooping around for a scoop.  Then that would be unfair.

As an aide memoire when I get back to the UK I’m posting this link to an article about the walk-to-school efforts of Millfield Primary School. I’m the governor of a small village school where a very large percentage of the children walk evryday. However there still remains the potential for an accident outside the school & the need to reduce the car journeys into and out of the village is very important. The efforts of schools such as Millfield are inspirational and demonstrate that motivated staff and pupils can make a real difference.

Read in conjunction with this article, Schools Should Be Free Of Cars, there are clearly real reasons, other than road safety, to reduce our reliance on cars for the school run.
Here are a summary of points emerging from a study by the Institute for European Environmental Policy:

• If people walk one more hour a week it could equate to the loss of 2 stones in a decade.
• This would result in the displacement of 11 million tonnes of CO2.
• 40% of all journeys are under 2 miles.

Finally, with the statistic that the average Briton walks for just 67 hours a year, it is no wonder that by getting our children out of their cars we will be making a massive contribution to their general well being.

As a governor at Flamstead Village School I have become involved in the development of our travel plan.  To this end our Deputy Head has sought to introduce a Walking Bus.  Below is a map of the process to get the project of the ground & hopefully sustaining it.

It intrigues me, the process of getting projects up & running.  I am used to the process within school: working with teachers, persuading senior management, etc.  However, this project crosses the boundary between teacher & parent.  It is an initiative devised by the school yet one which can only be implemented and made sustainable through the activity of the parent body.

Now I know, as a teacher, that parents can be very reluctant to become involved in school-based projects which require the sharing of a vision and change in habit.  So I will try to follow the following guidelines:

1. Recruit the right support
2. Make sure the parent body see that the project works
3. Keep a low profile!

I don’t believe that any project can be sustainable for the whole school if only one person is seen to be the lynch pin.  And it is this aspect that will be the most challenging & interesting to report back upon.