Ranking Reflects Unsettling Times
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Top Independent Schools FINANCIAL TIMES SPECIAL REPORT | Saturday September 10 2011 www.ft.com/independentschools2011 | www.twitter.com/ftreports In this issue Charity inquiry A landmark judgment will determine the public benefits schools must provide Page 2 Value for money Parents may be better off opting for chains rather than the big name schools Page 4 Technology The independent sector has not been left behind in the IT race Page 5 Switching sectors Even the wealthy may consider sending their offspring to staterun schools at some point Page 6 Marketing Schools are increasingly turning to professional persuaders to make sure clients keep coming through the door Page 7 Rankings The FT’s Road to success: Magdalen College School in Oxford has taken first place in the independent school league table this year guide to the UK’s top independent establishments Pages 811 Ranking ref lects unsettling times Pupil development Rounded The different orget Buster private school has not just within England, an ment to compare qualifi- personalities are Douglas beating topped it. Does this mean extremely difficult task. cations. But these are cur- qualifications on Mike Tyson in Westminster has lost its What is the correct rently under review, and part of the offer have added 1990 or Wimble- killer instinct? Well, no. exchange rate to apply there is a suspicion that package Fdon beating Liverpool to Its decline (to sixth place) when comparing results the Pre-U is under- Page to the complexity win the FA Cup in 1988. coincides with its attained in the Interna- weighted in this metric. 12 of compiling the This year, the FT Top increased use of the tional Baccalaureate, the We will wait for the stew- Independent Schools “Pre-U” qualification. A-level and the Pre-U – ard’s inquiry to conclude. league tables, report contains a big Westminster is probably the subject-specific quali- It may turn out that writes Chris Cook upset: on our core meas- a victim of the increasing fication introduced last Westminster’s position ure, Westminster School complexity of post-16 year to supplement or has dropped solely is no longer first. qualifications. The variety replace A-levels? because it has increased For the first time since of qualifications sat at 16 The Financial Times its uptake of Pre-Us. the measure was intro- and 18 years old makes uses official weightings duced in 2006, the mixed comparing schools, even produced by the govern- Continued on Page 3 2 FINANCIAL TIMES SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 10 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 10 2011 3 Top Independent Schools Top Independent Schools Contributors Ranking ref lects unsettling times in education Chris Cook Fees could rise as Education Correspondent Continued from Page 1 compiled by the producers of The narrow world of work, those are Good Schools Guide, is not just for not the only things that employ- Michael J. Jacobs FT Statistician Last year, Stephen Spurr, West- the latest year, but for several ers value. minster’s head, told the Financial years. For a measure as volatile The difficulty in reading and Geraldine Hackett Times: “Neither the pupils nor the as entry to top universities, this compiling tables, however, is as Gerald Haigh result of charitycase staff think in terms of league multi-year metric is more power- nothing compared with the diffi- Merlin John table positions.” ful than taking a single year. culty in seeing what is coming in Jill Parkin the Independent Schools Westminster are £30,000 for p l a c e s The school chooses qualifica- At the top of the tree on this schooling. Not since the late Biddy Passmore Public benefit row Council, which represents boarders and £21,000 for day for a tions, he said, “that are going to measure, perhaps unsurprisingly, 1980s, when the National Curricu- FT Contributors the 1,000 schools that are pupils. Critics of the sector q u a r t e r be the most stimulating to learn is Westminster School in London. lum was introduced, has so much charities. This has been argue that in London and of the and to teach. In some cases that Some 98 per cent of its students been happening at once. A landmark Adam Jezard decision is due interpreted as requiring the south-east, relatively pupils he will be A-levels, in some cases attended a top university, with As Geraldine Hackett writes, Commissioning Editor schools to provide a affluent middle-class fami- takes in Pre-Us. Our choice is based on the about half going to the country’s the Charities Commission contin- soon, says number of free or subsi- lies have been priced out of September. intrinsic educational worth of the most elite institutions. ues to hover over the private Steven Bird Geraldine Hackett dised places in order to be private education. “The direct curriculum.” The table, however, continues sector. Since 2006, providing an Designer registered charities. The Charity Commis- g r a m m a r Magdalen College School in education has, on its own, not The stakes have been sion’s case was that inde- schools have Oxford has taken first place this been considered enough of a Andy Mears he dispute over raised by the attorney- pendent schools have to always seen year. South Hampstead High, League table redesign public benefit to justify charitable Damian OwenBoard whether and what general, Westminster- provide benefit to those the impor- North London Collegiate, Oxford will also push more status for a school. Picture Editors benefits independ- educated Dominic Grieve, who cannot pay. tance of High and Wycombe Abbey make Meanwhile, within the state ent schools should who has taken the unprece- Robert Pearce, the Com- access and up the rest of the top five – habit- state schools to sector, the school system is being Stimulating learning: Stephen For advertising details, contact: Pierre Abouchahla on: Tprovide for families that dented step of intervening mission’s QC, said if a have gone out ual high performers, all of them. torn apart and rebuilt. The lines Spurr, head of Westminster School offer independent cannot afford their fees is and has asked the tribunal school is run solely “for the to recruit ordi- The increasing difficulty of between private and public are +44 (0) 207 873 3002; expected to be resolved to clarify the nature and class of fee-paying chil- nary bright comparing schools is part of the schoolstyle curricula narrowing, as local authorities are Grammar School, which re-opened email: [email protected] this month. extent of public benefit. dren”, it is not operating for kids. We are reason why, this year, the FT’s withdrawn from their role as the as a state school this month, came or your usual representative The upper tier of the Mr Grieve’s office has the public benefit. not part of any league table of independent arbiters of state schools. in at 350th of 351 comparable inde- Charity Tribunal, an inde- submitted several alterna- Independent schools will financial elite,” schools contains a new element: to suffer from the reluctance of At the same time, league table pendent schools in 2010, its last All FT Reports are available on pendent review body, is to tive packages that the tribu- resent impositions such as he says. we have included a basket of new some schools to participate in the redesign will also push more state year as a private institution. FT.com. publish its judgment in its nal might consider as ways set levels of subsidised Some heads MEESON measures on university entrance. exercise. Increasing numbers of schools to offer independent This is a difficult time to be a Go to: www.ft.com/reports most important case for of providing public benefit. lay the blame for This metric is not intended to schools are refusing to release school-style curricula. Modern parent of a child heading to years. These include co-sponsoring high fees on gov- suggest university is the only their data to the Independent languages, history and geography secondary school: in some areas, Follow us on twitter at Most traditional public a state academy (with an ‘The direct ernments that have worthwhile route from school. Schools Council, which collates – always popular in the private particularly in London, a rising www.twitter.com/ft.reports schools have charitable sta- endowment of £1m); 40 per grammar schools not taken up offers However, broadly speaking, the statistics we use. sector – will grow in stature in population makes the task of find- tus but those without cent free places; or provid- from independent schools ex-pupils who have their pick of No table, however, can tell you the state sector. ing the ideal place for your All editorial content in this endowments may have to ing three lessons a week in have always seen to educate bright state the country’s elite universities everything. As Biddy Passmore At the same time, a smattering children, even in the private supplement is produced by introduce or increase fee A-level science to a state the importance schoolchildren. have their pick of other routes writes, there is a lot more to an of fee-paying schools has been sector, especially daunting. the FT. surcharges to foot the bill school class. Martin Stephen, who has too. education than qualifications and joining the state sector. These are But, as the tables show, there for subsidised places or In court, much was made of access’ just retired as high master The university entry measure, university entry. Even within the not all high performing. Batley are a lot of good schools out there.