The cash shortage in UK education is no secret and anything short of increased government funding is unlikely to make a big difference. But could schools leaders be sitting on - or in - an untapped source of revenue that would, perhaps, ease the financial pressure?
Marcus Orlovsky thinks so. The director of education consultancy Bryanston Square says that if schools want to boost their coffers, they should start thinking commercially about the assets at their disposal. “I ask [school leaders] ‘What’s the value of the school estate?’” he explains. “Let’s say you’ve got a secondary school [estate] worth £20 million, how much should it be able to generate?”
He calculates that such an asset could expect to make some £200,000 per year. After all, he continues, students and staff only use the facilities for about 40 per cent of the time, which leaves a lot of vacant hours for generating extra income.
Orlovsky acknowledges that many schools do hire out facilities, but laments that they offer “the minimum service” and charge “peanuts” rather than taking a more comprehensive - and profitable - approach. He gives the example of conference hosting, claiming that schools are missing a trick by just offering an event space. “They [school leaders] think the wrong way,” he continues. “When you go to a hotel for a conference, you expect there to be an overall service, don’t you? You don’t expect it to just be a room that you somehow have to find your way through to, with only a caretaker around. So why does a school not give that full service?”
If only it were that easy. The sort of service Orlovsky describes requires people to staff it - and that increases not only the cost, but also management time. Balancing this requirement with the potential return can be tricky, says Hilary Goldsmith, director of finance and operations at Varndean secondary school in Brighton. The school regularly lets out its facilities - primarily for sports, music and drama - and the income brings in “a couple of salaries” worth per year, she explains. But it’s not without difficulties.
“There’s always a balance when it comes to having other people in your building,” she says. “In terms of cash, it looks worth it, but then you’ve got to factor in the costs of additional heating, lighting and caretaking, plus wear and tear.
“I think most schools, given the choice, would have no lets whatsoever because of the admin challenge that comes with it. But you can’t not have that income.”
Prepare for success
Varndean has developed ways to minimise the disruption. The school takes regular lets rather than one-offs, and will break ties if a partnership is having a negative effect on the school. The students and local community always come first, says Goldsmith, which is why the school only accepts outdoor lets during the potentially lucrative summer holiday, to allow for repairs and deep cleaning in the building.
Like Varndean, Marlborough College in Wiltshire also has a comprehensive business plan for its assets. John Blake is director of enterprise and spends his days overseeing the school’s significant commercial concerns. There’s the local shop that sells uniforms, sport supplies and stationery to students and the community for profit; a leisure arm that lets out the swimming pool and sports pitches; and venue hire for weddings, conferences and other events. But the biggest generator of income is Marlborough’s summer school, which has been running since 1974 and offers more than 500 courses over four weeks. It’s a huge undertaking, says Blake, with almost 200 tutors and 4,000 students to manage. But the effort is worth it, he adds, both financially and in other ways. The important thing, though, is preparation.
“You need to make sure you have the right business plan,” he says. “You’ve got to ensure that it’s worthwhile and you’re actually going to make a few bob. That comes down to proper financial planning and forecasting.”
Charging for breakfast clubs
Meanwhile, at the Spinney Primary School in Cambridge, headteacher Rae Snape offers facilities for sports and learning clubs, but has also opted for what is an increasingly popular option for schools: a “wraparound” childcare service, offering a breakfast club for an hour before school for a charge of £4 per student each day, as well as an after-school club until 6pm for £12 per student. The scheme is generating much-needed funds. But Snape has her doubts about whether chasing extra revenue streams is, in fact, a good idea.
“I have a reluctance about the expectation that we should all be looking to capitalise on our assets,” she says. “We are a school. I’m not sure we should have to find ways around the budget by trying to create additional funding.”
There is also the issue that, to make a real success of commercialising your assets, you need to, in Orlovsky’s words, think more like a bonus-driven salesperson. But the best approach may be for schools to find sustainable income streams. “It’s not about renting out the football field - it’s about forming a football club,” he says. “Or having the restaurant open at weekends, serving really great steak and chips to the local community. Or giving French lessons for £10 an hour with 20 people in the room. That’s the kind of thinking.”
This is not why teachers got into the job, and neither do they, arguably, have the skills for that. But Orlovsky suggests it is a mindset that teaching professionals may increasingly have to adopt. He adds: “This isn’t about creating profit and spending it on Champagne - it’s about creating income that we can use.”
Zofia Niemtus is a freelance writer
