Private Education Policy Forum

Fee cuts, mergers and daycare: How private schools are adapting to stay afloat The introduction of VAT on school fees is prompting more and more families to turn their back on private schools

"If they can’t afford private education long term, they’ll opt for a window of it – the GCSE years, for example, or sixth form," claims the headteacher of Sherborne Boys School

Anna Tyzack in @theipaper.com

How would this trend impact the private sector?

inews.co.uk/inews-lifest...

If you missed our report last week, this podcast is a great opportunity to catch up with the authors:

Listen to this fascinating discussion of the history and experiences of converting private schools with authors Tom Richmond and Tilly Clough here:

Inside Your Ed podcast - www.insideyoured.com

1. A permanent conversion route should be established by the Department for Education, with the final decision taken by government

2. A ‘peer mentoring network’ for schools should be set up

3. The proposed permanent route should be based on the processes previously used by independent schools.

Our new report is out! State Expectations: The history and experiences of fee-paying independent schools converting into state schools.

After VAT, will more private schools want to become state schools?

The THREE recommendations are:

www.pepf.co.uk/publication/

"An analysis by The Times has revealed how private equity funds have gained a footing, controlling close to a third of the private market through 15 companies that run independent special schools."

To what extent can this be read as anything beyond a profit-driven approach?

‘Cash cow’ Send schools backed by firms linked to Bono and Sheikh Mansour Analysis shows private equity funds, including offshore entities, are making millions while councils struggle to meet Send demand

"Private equity companies linked to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the billionaire Manchester City owner, and Bono are making millions in profit through taxpayer-funded special needs schools"

Mario Ledwith in @thetimes.com [PAYWALL]

Scandalous?

www.thetimes.com/uk/education...

Tonight!

State Expectations: The independent schools which switched sectors A panel and audience Q&A discuss the history and experiences of English private schools that converted to academies and free schools.

📢 Final tickets for tonight!

Should we make it easier for private schools to become state schools?

What happened to the private schools which decided to scrap their fees?

Come and swing by, Westminster, 6pm! We're headed to the pub after... Tickets 👇

www.eventbrite.com/e/state-expe...

"Matt Wrack, of teaching union NASUWT, said some private school teachers faced the “impossible choice” between remaining in the scheme or taking a paycut"

Rob White in @telegraph.co.uk [PAYWALL]

Should there be a focus on wider financial issues aside from VAT?

www.telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/ne...

What is SEND and how might the system change in England? The government is due to publish plans to reform the special educational needs system in early 2026.

'Councils also pay independent special school fees for around 38,000 pupils, partly because of a lack of specialist places in the state sector,' as in BBC News.

What role might private schools play in SEND reforms, considering their extortionately high fees?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

State Expectations: The independent schools which switched sectors A panel and audience Q&A discuss the history and experiences of English private schools that converted to academies and free schools.

Following a presentation, a panel will discuss and debate the findings, witH audience Q & A to follow.

Book your ticket and come along! Thursday 26 Feb, 6pm, St Matthew's Conference Centre, 20 Great Peter Street, SW1P 2BU.

www.eventbrite.com/e/state-expe...

Co-authored by Tom Richmond (former DfE adviser and EDSK thintank founder) and Tilly Clough (Queen's University Belfast
academic and specialist in schools and charity law), this report launches some meaty policy ideas for the Department for Education.

Published by Private Education Policy Forum!

Twenty-seven independent schools in England have moved into the state sector since 2000.

What were their experiences? Did it go well, or turn out wrong? Should more schools do that same? What policy recommendations are there for government?

Since the election, private schools have found themselves facing headwinds - from the introduction of VAT to increases in national insurance contributions. Noises on the ground suggest some private schools find the idea of becoming a state-funded academy increasingly appealing...

State Expectations: The independent schools which switched sectors A panel and audience Q&A discuss the history and experiences of English private schools that converted to academies and free schools.

We're launching a report we're excited about - on the experiences of English private schools that converted to academies!

Come and join the panel chat and audience Q & A in Westminster, Thursday 26 Feb, 6pm onwards...🧵

www.eventbrite.com/e/state-expe...

How convincing is this comparison?

Private schools are profiting from SEND children Children should be far more than sources of cash, their vulnerabilities viewed as multipliers

Authorities pay private schools "£62k [for SEND places] compared to £24k in the state sector – the Observer investigation revealing that some schools are charging as much as £250k per pupil."

Terri White in @theipaper.com

How should the govt tackle this?

inews.co.uk/opinion/priv...

"If the state is to invest in the education of all children, then asking the families who purchase a premium tier of schooling to contribute a little more is not radical. It is common sense."

Will this be the defining legacy of the VAT policy?

Stop bashing private schools - they make the UK millions What is wrong with profits if they create employment at home and abroad?

Britain is unique due to the 'rigid boundary between the two sectors', as opposed to countries where 'some state funding' is available for private education.

Hamish McRae in @theipaper.com

Is the reliance of the private sector on the state overstated?

inews.co.uk/opinion/stop...

Racism claims against Nigel Farage are no surprise to us | Letters Letters: Readers describe the ubiquity of racist attitudes and behaviours at British public schools at the time the Reform UK leader attended Dulwich College

"Striking, but unsurprising: the private schools which were built to train young Englishmen for empire-building were deeply racist even in the 1980s."

Letters in @theguardian.com

How fair is this reading of the role of private schools in British history?

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Budget 2025: what schools need to know Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Budget sparks warnings about a real-terms drop in school funding but includes spending on school libraries and books. Here are all the key details for the sector

"The government’s introduction of VAT on private school fees will raise £40 million a year more than expected, the OBR also states."

Jabed Ahmed in @tesmagazine.bsky.social

Approaching a year on, how much weight does this give to arguments in favour of the policy?

www.tes.com/magazine/new...

It "made rich students exhibit more egalitarian preferences, and be substantially more generous towards other students"

How much relevance could this have for future reform to British private schools?

A PEPF research explainer by Prof. Francis Green 👇

www.pepf.co.uk/research/gen...

Performance Tracker 2025: Schools | Institute for Government It will be extremely difficult for the government to meet its education priorities within the budget it has set for the coming parliament.

"Rather than causing parents to pull children out of private schools midstream [...] the tax may primarily deter would-be new entrants to the sector."

@amberdellar.bsky.social in @instituteforgovernment.org.uk

How does this change the VAT debate?

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

Smart money: family offers £180,000 a year for tutor to get one-year-old into Eton Family seeks tutor from ‘socially appropriate background’ who can provide infant with ‘comprehensive British cultural environment’

"It is important that [his] education, even at the early years stage, starts to prepare him for this kind of life"

@richada.bsky.social in @theguardian.com

How much does this reveal how private education is used to provide a 'kind of life', beyond education?

www.theguardian.com/education/20...

'Double disadvantage': Poorer pupils less likely to get EHCP Sutton Trust warns of 'double disadvantage' with poorer families 'less able to navigate the system'

The @suttontrust.bsky.social "has warned of a "double disadvantage" for children with SEND from poorer families, who are "less able to navigate the system than more affluent parents"."

Samantha Booth in @schoolsweek.bsky.social

How do we bridge this divide?

schoolsweek.co.uk/double-disad...

Private school singled out in debate over contentious traffic measure An Oxford City councillor has sparked a debate with a private school near Magdalen Bridge in the city.

“Parents who are driving to the private schools are going to be people who can afford to pay”

Labour councillor James Taylor labels Oxford's proposed congestion charge 'elitist' as it wouldn't limit private school traffic

Is he right?

www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/news/2533504...

Places found for children following closure of independent Wakefield school over VAT fees State school places have been found for 88 children following the closure of a fee-paying independent school, a meeting heard.

"Those children have been found places within the district"

State school places have been found for 88 children following the closure of Wakefield Independent School after the addition of VAT to fees

Encouraging news that these places could be found?

www.wakefieldexpress.co.uk/education/pl...

New 'digital divide' emerges as private schools take AI lead Private schools are three times more likely to have an AI strategy than state, research from the Sutton Trust has found

Private schools are three times more likely than state ones to have a clear strategy on AI, new @suttontrust.bsky.social research suggests

@ruthlucas.bsky.social for @schoolsweek.bsky.social

How might this new form of inequality be addressed?

schoolsweek.co.uk/new-digital-...

Row over reasons behind Bromley private school closure Bromley councillors descended into a row over the reasons behind a private school’s closure, as the borough faces making a number of classes oversubscribed to accommodate pupils into state schools.

"How does that make any sense at all?"

@1jeremyadams.bsky.social questions the blaming of VAT for the closure of a private school in Bromley, pointing to financial losses going back to 2019

Is this tax being used as a scapegoat for failing businesses?

uk.news.yahoo.com/row-over-rea...