Cotswolds Lifestyle Jan - Feb 2020

Time to trust in the future of prep schools
It can’t be easy being a prospective
parent of a prep school child. If you fall
into this category you might be forgiven
for thinking that there’s not much point as
the whole fee paying independent school
sector could be abolished in the near
future if certain politically minded people
get their way.
Anything is possible, of course, but for
this extremely vindictive approach to
become a reality the Labour Party would
need to adopt it formally as a policy which
it has not yet done as well as achieve
a working majority to pass legislation
to make it happen. If all this does take
place, however, don’t underestimate the
independent school sector’s determination
to fight for its existence with every legal
pathway being followed to test the
legitimacy of such a policy. There could
even be a remarkable irony that should
the UK still be in the EU at the time such
legislation is brought forward it could be
the European courts who stop the move in
its tracks. As I said anything is possible.
In the meantime, there is every reason to
have confidence in prep schools and their
future. IAPS (the Independent Association
of Prep Schools) has over 600 of the top
prep and fee-charging junior schools in the
UK. The first step in your search for quality
is to check if your possible short list of
schools for your son or daughter carries
the mark of quality by being a member of
the heads’ association known as IAPS.
This association has a history extending
back over 126 years and the criteria
for membership is strictly monitored to
ensure both the head, and the school they
work at, maintain the highest standards.
School inspection reports are received
by IAPS, for example, and any failings
identified have to be rectified in good time
to maintain membership. In one sense,
therefore, the first level of due diligence a
parent might feel it necessary to undertake
is already done for them if the school can
demonstrate they are members of IAPS
and, better still, have been a member for
many years.
What should you do next as you are
feeling your way through the maze of
glossy publications and enticing web sites
placed in front of you. The temptation is
to look for a ‘brand’ name and, to some
extent, this has merit as it will more often
than not lead you to a school with a fine
reputation polished over many years of
conspicuous achievement. The question
to ask, of course, is has the school a
reputation for success in the areas which
co-incide with the talents and interests
of your child. A fine school’s sporting
tradition is of little relevance if your child is
a talented and developing musician – not
that those two areas have to be mutually
exclusive.
The resort to social media and discussion
forums is a likely step many will take but
if your chosen pathway takes you in this
direction then, at the risk of patronising
you, the reader, beware. Do you use
Tripadvisor when planning a stay away?
Do you believe all the messages posted
there and would you base your whole view
of a school on the postings of a few with
most likely a pro- or anti-line to promote
for their own reasons. There might be
themes to pick up on but it really needs
each parent to seek out the things that are
most important to you and your child.
That brings me then to what you should
do. The most important thing is to visit the
school and not just on an official Open
Day. If a school can’t buff itself up to look
good on an official Open Day it really is
a poor do. However, choose a day and
time to suit you, though be reasonable
when negotiating this. Nothing much is
likely to be gained from a visit if a good
proportion of the school is off their normal
timetable or routine because it’s the day
of the annual whole school cross country
event. Ask to see the class your child
would likely join at work and then visit
older age groups, looking for obvious
positive progression as revealed by the
work displayed on the wall displays. Find
out the answers to the questions you have
about the areas important to you and
judge how open and direct you find the
responses from the school. In short trust
your instincts and not wholly what others
tell you.
If you follow this advice you won’t go far
wrong and then don’t lose any sleep over
the long term future of your prep school.
Let IAPS do that bit for you whilst you
concentrate on finding the right school for
your child.
Christopher King
CEO, IAPS
46 | www.northcotswoldslifestyle.co.uk