Give private schools public funds to widen access, says commission

Independent schools should receive the pupil premium and a tax exemption for disadvantaged pupils to help them widen access, according to a report on the future of the sector.
State and private school partnerships should also be accredited in the long term, recommends a report being published by think tank Civitas that has been exclusively shared with Tes.
The report from the Commission on the Future of Independent Schools, due to be published on Monday, warns of a “one-size-fits-all approach to reform” and calls for “constructive relationships” between state and private schools.
The commission is funded by the Independent Schools Council (ISC).
Private schools are due to be charged VAT on fees from this month under a Labour government policy that has sparked debate among state and independent schools.
The commission’s report focuses on four themes: enhancing partnerships with state schools, schools as community hubs, “mid-market price” independent schooling and levelling the playing field for disadvantaged children.
Trial of pupil premium for private schools
It suggests that pupil premium funding should be made available on a trial basis for disadvantaged children attending independent schools.
The report recommends that this should be “conditional on increasing the proportion of disadvantaged children at independent schools”.
The pupil premium grant is government funding to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in state-funded schools in England.
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If the trial was successful in increasing the proportion of disadvantaged children at independent schools, the report says “it should be expanded such that independent school fees of disadvantaged children are VAT exempt”.
It is proposed that the trial would last for three years. The number of disadvantaged children in private schools would have to increase by at least 5 per cent for it to continue beyond that, the report suggests.
If the number increased by more than 10 per cent, this should incrementally lead to a point where all these pupils were exempt from VAT, says the commission.
The report also recommends that the private school sector could launch a new bursary charity that would take annual contributions from independent schools to increase the number of disadvantaged private school pupils.
In the long term, the report suggests that the government could extend the national funding formula entitlement for the most disadvantaged children so that it covers independent schools.
It suggests “extending their [national funding formula] entitlement, paid to schools, to include independent schools. Top-up fees would be prohibited such that this would mean that independent schools would have to charge complete bursaries to qualify for the disadvantaged pupil’s entitlements”.
State and private partnerships could be accredited
“A successful independent sector must have a constructive relationship with state education,” the report states.
The commission finds that a larger number of existing state school and private school partnerships are set out in the ISC annual census, but it says there are limits to accurate recording of these partnerships.
It calls for a partnership reporting template, which could eventually become an accreditation system.
The government should also join up teacher training and CPD, the report suggests.
It recommends a government commitment to “joining up across the sectors’ initial teacher training schemes with placements visits and shared CPD within each region”.
Private schools ‘should be community hubs’
Independent schools should act as “community anchoring hubs” to help provide local services, according to the commission.
This could include supporting the NHS as neighbourhood health centres for GP appointments, enabling on-site out-of-hours pharmaceutical services and supporting libraries, youth work and nursery provision in their local areas.
Partnerships could also be formed with family hubs to deliver the government’s school-based nursery scheme, the report recommends.
Specialist schools could get state funding
Independent schools that are specialist - which the report defines as innovating or preserving cultural heritage and religious freedom - could receive partial state funding, the commission suggests.
This could potentially extend to “mid-market price” private schools, conditional on their accessibility.
The report recommends that the sector commissions research into “exploring the viability and circumstances of specialist and mid-market independent schools”.
International examples of school sectors with partial state funding and partial independent funding include Australia, Denmark, Canada and New Zealand.
The Department for Education has been contacted for comment.
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