An introduction
Most independent schools across the country are run as registered charities, rather than businesses operating for profit. ‘Charity’ is not usually the first word that comes to mind when talking about the private school system – Privileged? Prestigious? Unfair? Unnecessary? – Perhaps! But not Charity! However, according to the most recent Charities Act 2011, a charity is ‘an institution which is established for a charitable purpose and provides benefit to the public’; and as the ‘advancement of education’ is considered one of a recognised list of ‘charitable purposes’, independent schools do in fact qualify for charitable status! As charitable institutions they are also entitled to a whole range of tax exemptions and reliefs. This coupled with the fact that the independent schools system is only accessed by a tiny minority of students – less than 7% of all UK children – has meant that it has met with harsh criticism over the years, with many even calling for its total abolition! After all ‘Charity’, in most people’s understanding, is supposed to be what the wealthy give to the poor, rather than what society gives to the already wealthy!
In days gone by schools could acquire charitable status purely by virtue of the fact that they were educational institutions, and it was generally presumed that just by being a charity they would be automatically providing the public benefit side of things. Guidance from the Charity Commission viewed bursaries for free or subsidised places as an obvious and, in many cases, the simplest way in which independent schools could provide public benefit. But this is no longer the case. Since 2006 it has become increasingly more difficult for independent schools to gain charitable status, as now it comes with certain conditions. Schools that are charities are accountable to the Charities Commission, and must clearly demonstrate through annual reporting how their operations and activities benefit their communities. But matters eventually came to a head in 2016 under Teresa May’s government, when new proposals were set out to make independent schools do MORE to contribute to public benefit if they wanted to retain their charitable status. If they failed to do so, they could run the risk of having their tax exemptions removed. The proposals included the need for partnerships to be created between private schools and state schools to support the raising of educational standards in the maintained sector. To this end the Department for Education even set up a System Partnership Unit to help independent schools to broker these relationships with their state sector counterparts.
The idea of partnerships between state and private schools, however, is nothing new. They have existed informally for years but were given their first formalised government backing in 1998 when funding was provided, and they have gone in and out of vogue ever since. But as we well know, independent schools vary considerably and each has their own capacity and capability, so as far back as 2011 it was confirmed by a judicial review that they should be responsible for setting the scope of their own charitable activities. Again in 2016, it was acknowledged that if the newly proposed educational partnerships were to flourish, schools would need the freedom to focus on what they did best and work in ways appropriate to their circumstances and according to their local situation and need. However, the larger independent schools were encouraged, to sponsor academies, set up new free schools in the state sector, or offer a considerably higher proportion of places as fully-funded bursaries to children from low income families. In the case of smaller independent schools, it was proposed that they still had a role to play for example, by supporting teaching in minority subjects which state schools struggle to make viable and providing greater expertise and access to their sports facilities, forest schools, performance centres for art, drama and music lessons; laboratories for science lessons and so on. Even during the pandemic, schools continued to collaborate in the interests of pupils offering online tuition, sharing remote learning expertise and resources, running summer holiday programmes and developing ongoing ‘catch-up’ initiatives. Community partnerships also emerged at this time with independent schools playing their part in producing PPE, providing beds for key workers who needed accommodation away from their families, donating to food banks and running food deliveries for those sheltering or isolating.
Now tens of thousands of pupils benefit from these partnerships between independent schools and state schools every year and the number is increasing annually. 85% of Independent Schools Council (ISC) schools are in mutually beneficial partnerships with state schools (ISC 2020 Census), sharing expertise, best practice and facilities to the mutual benefit of staff and children in all the schools involved. The Schools Together website showcases more than 5,800 of these cross- sector partnerships.
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