Defence CommitteeWritten evidence from the State Boarding Schools’ Association
This submission is made on behalf of the State Boarding Schools’ Association (SBSA), a members’ association for the 38 state boarding schools in England and Wales, and a sub-set of the Boarding Schools’ Association (BSA), which represents the interests of 484 boarding schools in the UK, the majority of which are independent schools in membership of the Independent Schools Council’s constituent associations.
I am Hilary Moriarty, National Director of the BSA and SBSA
Summary
1. By September 2013, there will be 37 state boarding schools.
2. Three (Royal Alexandra and Albert School near Guildford, Gordon’s in Woking, Sexey’s in Somerset) have more than 40 CEA recipient boarders.
3. Nine of the state boarding schools are grammar schools, with selective entrance exams at 11 or (in one case) 13. These schools have no CEA boarders.
4. All state boarding schools may interview for suitability for boarding.
5. The Admissions Code dictates that no place, not even a boarding place, may be confirmed until “national offer day,” 1 March before the September of entry into Year 7.
6. The immediacy and certainty of an offer well before Christmas of a boarding place in an independent boarding school for the following September is likely to be very attractive to Forces personnel, militating against pursuing a state boarding place.
7. In state boarding schools as in independent boarding schools, it appears that there are large concentrations of CEA pupils in particular parts of the country (eg the South West and Yorkshire) which presumably follow Forces location patterns. State boarding schools which are outside these “hot spots” will be less attractive to Forces parents.
8. State boarding schools themselves are suffering from uncertainty because of the lack of any government strategy statement concerning their future capital funding. Since the schools are legally unable to make surpluses on boarding income, maintaining high standards of boarding accommodation depends upon government financial support which is not even in prospect at the moment. 23 have had no major funding in the last 10 years. This may well make them unattractive to Forces parents.
9. State boarding schools cannot offer reductions in fees for Forces personnel because their boarding fee must cover the cost of providing a boarding place. Cross-subsidy is illegal.
State Boarding Schools
10. There are 38 state boarding schools, soon to be 37. The Westgate School in Winchester will close its boarding in the summer of 2013 following the LA’s decision to take over the premises for a new primary school. The majority of the schools are academies.
11. Three of the schools have brand new boarding facilities and opened for boarding in September 2011. Two of these—The Priory LSST in Lincoln, which actually has boarding only for sixth formers, and The Wellington Academy in Wiltshire—specifically quoted demand for places from Services Personnel in their bids for funding to build the boarding accommodation.
12. The Admission Code under which all these schools operate provides that boarding schools must give priority (after looked after children) for boarding places to:
(a)
(b)
13. At the time of writing, the schools have in the region of 5,000 boarding places. We do not have exact figures, but when this Association was given sight of numbers of pupils in receipt of CEA in a list of all schools involved in 2009–10, there were only 367 such children. It appears, therefore, that less than 10% of boarders at state boarding schools were Forces children in receipt of CEA. The question arises, why so few?
Possible Reasons
14. Nine of the state boarding schools are grammar schools, with entrance examinations, mostly at 11, but for Cranbrook at 13. It appears none of these academic schools have CEA recipients. It may be that entering a child for a selective examination when the family may be nowhere near the school at the time of the test is too difficult. If a child were to take the test, there is then a delay waiting for the results. During that time the family may decide to proceed down what appears to be an easier route into a non-selective school.
15. All state boarding schools are permitted to interview a prospective pupil to judge a child’s suitability for boarding. This interview must not constitute covert selection in a non-selective school. It is strictly to do with suitability to board.
16. Most parents of boarders are likely to be seeking a school for their child a year ahead of entry. This allows for the process—examination for a selective school, interview for any boarder—and for the family to make a considered decision.
17. An application to an independent boarding school is likely to result in an offer of a place, or a refusal, reasonably quickly, certainly before Christmas in the year before entry.
18. However, admission into a UK state school, including state boarding schools, is governed by the Admissions Code. This dictates that no child may be told they have a place at a school ahead of “the national offer day”—usually 1 March in the year of entry to Year 7. This rule applies to boarders as well as day pupils.
19. Even a parent who would like to send a child to a state boarding school may decide to accept a place at an independent school because it is allowed to offer a place immediately. Parents and child have the next step of the child’s education sorted by Christmas. To turn down an independent school place, on the chance of admission to a state boarding school being given in March, is to risk the independent school having filled all its places. No wonder independent schools are more attractive, even if they are more expensive.
20. It is possible that Forces families do not find state boarding schools attractive in a highly competitive market. This may be because of under-funding for capital investment in these schools. Under the Labour government, 12 schools received funding for major building or improvement in boarding accommodation. New-build boarding was provided in three academies with no previous experience of boarding. 23 existing state boarding schools received nothing. State boarding schools may charge boarding fees only to cover the cost of providing boarding; they may not store up reserves for future projects; they may not borrow against assets. How are they to continue to provide what modern parents want from boarding?
Since the last General Election, there has been no government spending on state boarding, and no statement of strategy or intent for the future of state boarding schools despite repeated requests to Ministers for clarity on this matter. Without financial support, boarding at these schools will wither and die. That may be their own problem. But without recognition of the problem, without reasonable capital investment, the boarding accommodation currently available in state schools will fall into disrepair and the appeal of these schools to any parent or child will weaken. No Forces family should feel they are choosing a second rate school for their child.
Location
21. It is interesting to note that a few schools have large numbers of Forces children: in 2009–10, The Royal Alexandra and Albert School, near Guildford, had 162; Gordon’s near Woking had 69; Sexey’s in Somerset, 40. This is of a piece with regional concentrations of CEA recipient children in independent schools, presumably matching the distribution of Forces personnel throughout the country. Many Forces children are in schools in the West Country, but also in Yorkshire—Queen Ethelburga’s College in York had 168 such pupils. Clayesmore in Dorset had 121, Chilton Cantelo in Yeovil 135. (An indication of the decline in numbers of CEA children in boarding is that at Chilton Cantelo now, there are only 55 youngsters in receipt of CEA).
22. It should be noted that The Royal Alexandra and Albert School is able to take boarders from the age of 8, which might be a factor in so many Forces children attending it. Parents may see it as a useful school for real continuity of education, with progression from junior to senior school virtually assured.
23. There may also be an effect influencing school choice arising from Forces personnel knowing people who have already chosen a school and whose children are happy there. The large concentration of Forces children in some schools suggests that word of mouth may also be a factor for parents. In effect, Forces children constitute a strong and mutually supportive sub-set of boarders in a school. Schools might well profess experience and success in dealing with the particular problems the children of serving Forces personnel might present; parents might see a school with a high proportion of Forces children and a good track record as suitably experienced and reliable.
24. The written evidence of the Duke of York’s Royal Military School offers detailed analysis of the problems for a school when it is actually, specifically a school for the children of Forces personnel, now made into an academy becoming increasingly attractive to other parents and therefore unable to hold places for possible Forces applicants because of the Admissions Code.
In Defence of the Principle of Boarding Places being Available for Forces Children
25. Children moving from school to school is highly disruptive and unsettling (for them and others).
26. Service children are more like to have gaps in their knowledge and to repeat areas of the curriculum, as no two schools cover the same topics in the same order at the same time.
27. Socially, service children are at risk of not being able to develop meaningful relationships with their peers or teachers, for fear of not being there tomorrow.
28. Even where there are good state schools available near to a base, the amount of churn created in the whole of the school community by postings and deployments is unsettling and disruptive, both of which reduce student progress.
29. Where children believe they are likely to move from one school to another it is less likely that they will “buy in” to the school’s values and culture or to have a sense of belonging (something that is very important in the military psyche). It would be useful if the MoD were able to conduct research on the long term emotional impact of parental mobility on service children, related to mental health, feeling valued and being a part of society.
Last Comments
30. It is understandable that the MoD should wish to encourage Forces parents to choose a state boarding school for their children, given that in these schools the state already pays for education. The cost of a boarding place is therefore approximately half the cost of boarding at an independent school.
31. Admission to the most academic state boarding schools, the grammar schools, is complicated by the demands of the 11+ or the 13+ tests which must be taken at a particular time in the year.
32. The mechanisms for admission to a state boarding school, as dictated by the Admissions Code which is not designed for boarding applicants, actively militate against any parent choosing a state boarding school, but the difficulties it causes are particularly acute for Forces personnel. For Year 7 entry, parents will not know if their application is successful until March 1. The most successful and therefore popular state boarding schools are likely to be the most over-subscribed. Places cannot be held in case a Forces child appears later in the year. The Admissions Code, designed for fair entry for day pupils, is a crucial obstacle to more Forces families choosing a state boarding school for their child.
33. Without clarity from Government about its strategy to support state boarding, and investment in their infrastructure, the state boarding schools will cease to be attractive to Forces families and many of them will be forced to abandon their boarding completely.
Hilary Moriarty
State Boarding Schools’ Association
February 2013