Last week, , a privately-owned school for children aged 3 to 17 in West Yorkshire, announced it was consulting on closure at the end of the academic year.
A letter to parents blamed VAT on fees reducing pupil numbers, increases to employers’ National Insurance contributions and the minimum wage, among other pressures.
Here, headteacher Kate Caryl, who has led the school for the past 27 years, reflects on government policy and the proposed closure of her school:
The addition of VAT has caused greater elitism than I have witnessed in my 54 years of teaching. Earlier in my career, I taught in the South of England in selective girls’ boarding schools with high fees. Life there bears no relation to the financial restrictions seen in small, low-fee independent schools such as ours, a place where children might have one ski trip in their school life, not one every year.
The result of so many school closures following this Labour policy is that the middle earner is being ignored and denied the opportunity to make choices. Our parents largely work in middle-income professions and pay fees from their monthly incomes. Some have extra jobs to support their children and also make sacrifices regarding the family car, the holidays they take, the lifestyle they lead, all to afford their children the opportunity to attend a school such as Wakefield Independent.
The middle earner is being ignored and denied the opportunity to make choices.
There are five selective independent schools with fees double ours within a 20-minute radius, but we are totally unique as a non-selective school. We provide private education for anyone, but often for children who need more than the state school can offer, and those who cannot afford the larger local independents.
Many of our pupils have special needs, some are fostered, some are school phobic, some have . They’ve had bad experiences in very large schools. Some children are gifted and talented but prefer to have the opportunity to stay in at playtime, play chess, read a book and not have to go out into vast, crowded and noisy playgrounds. We have a wellbeing centre, a dedicated SEN teacher and a “nest” to nurture children who need support with their emotional needs.
As the head of 27 years, I know every child in the school by name. I know all the families. Some families I’ve known for 20 years, some have had as many as six children in the school from one family, and several are ex-pupils I have taught personally and who now send their own children.
I know every child in the school by name.
. They enjoy seeing the school, meeting our children with their self-regulated behaviour in a small family environment, enjoying their time here and feeling safe. We have always achieved Outstanding for personal development and behaviour of the children, and good overall academically.
I have children who are happy in school. Some have been with me since they were three years of age. They’ve got one year before they do their GCSEs. I’ve got other children whose needs are being well catered for who will find it difficult in this area to find an alternative school as we are non-selective. It’s first come, first served and this has been recognised by Ofsted many times in the many assessments I have had whilst I’ve been head.
The school has been in existence for over 45 years and is run by a proprietor who doesn’t take a wage but wants to go the extra mile to support families who are lucky enough to take advantage of our affordable private educational offering. No one makes huge profits from the school, and all staff wages are well below the national average.
VAT has been added regardless of the size of your school and what it offers to whom.
We bear no relation to the big independent schools with swimming pools, concert halls, and so on. We are housed in three big old buildings, which we rent from the Nostel Estate and have one pitch that doubles up for football and rugby, plus a small tennis court. We don’t have the vast facilities of other schools because we strive to keep fees as low as we can to remain as financially accessible as possible.
The government hasn’t taken this into account. There has been no assessment done, and VAT has been added regardless of the size of your school and what it offers to whom. We can have a maximum of 200 pupils and operate comfortably with about 170.
I wrote to several members of the government and was told: ‘you’ve had it too good for too long’.
Since VAT has been added, we only have 120 enrolled for September and have seen much less uptake since the announcement than there has historically been over the course of the year. With increased business rates, employers’ National Insurance, minimum wage and utilities bills still rising, we have nowhere left to go. There is no fat left to trim. No further savings can be made. We have been on this very tight budget since Covid, when we got no handouts from anyone.
There should have been a two-tier system for independent schools. Before they made this decision to add 20 per cent VAT, I wrote to several members of the government and was told, “you’ve had it too good for too long”. More research should’ve been done to ensure they knew exactly the effect this was going to have on the small independent schools, so many of which have been forced into closure, while the larger, more expensive and elite independent schools haven’t been affected.
Rachel Reeves is reported to be rethinking the winter fuel payments, which have proven just as disastrous. Perhaps she should have thought through the VAT charge in more detail, or at least rolled it out with nuance, over time, in phases, to at least give us, our pupils and our parents a better chance.
