Phil Crompton former Headteacher, CEO of a Multi-Academy Trust and
author of “In Search of My Alumni “suspects more and parents will be
paying to educate their children over the next 10 years.
In 2010 when I became the Headteacher at Rushcliffe School in West
Bridgford on the edge of Nottingham I had a mission. I wanted the school
to be so impressive that those living in the catchment would not have any
desire to chase places at the neighbouring school – a successful former
Grammar School- and neither would they  even consider sending their
children to a private school. I had been a Head for 10 years at this stage
and was pretty sure I knew which buttons to press in order to ensure
Rushcliffe’s reputation would take off. A high-quality free education for
all was essential if the country was to have genuine equal opportunity was
a belief that ran through me. It still does.
When I retired in 2018 Rushcliffe had been an “outstanding school” for 6
years, had made the short list for the TES Secondary School of the Year
award, buildings had been modernised   and it was oversubscribed every
year. There were many parents who lived in the area who might previously
have paid private school fees of around £15,000 per year but now didn’t
feel it was necessary. If things weren’t going so well, they could always
spend a little on private tuition. So, mission accomplished?
But I always had a nagging doubt about the future. In 2002 I had attended
a conference in Peterborough. One of the speakers was a university
lecturer who talked about an education system he admired in India. There
was a free state system- but that was pretty basic. And then there was an
option for parents to pay something for a higher standard of education.
And a third option gave a Premium education, but this was obviously more
expensive still. The speaker thought this should be brought to the UK.
Most of us thought he was a right-wing isolate.
Years passed. I visited some independent schools. There was supposed to
be a programme of sharing ideas and facilities. I have to say that some of
their facilities were remarkable. Little wonder that so many sports stars
seem to emerge form the private sector. Cricket pitches, all weather
surfaces, rugby pitches……. The performing arts   thrived with state-of-
the-art theatres and music studios leading to the inevitable arrival of more

and more big names in the acting and musical worlds with links to a well-
known private school. The teaching I saw was neither worse nor better
than what I saw in state schools and the leaders did not seem to be blessed
with greater wisdom that their state school equivalents. What they did
have was a lot of money to spend on the 7% of the population with which
they dealt.
A friend spent some time in Dubai. The UAE seems to have adopted the
system that I first heard about in 2002 with Premium Education on offer to
those who can afford it and a lesser service for the rest according to what a
parent could afford. Increasing numbers of people in the English education
system have experience of what is happening in the Middle East. Is it now
such a leap to see the UK moving from 93% of the population having a
free education to perhaps just 50%?
This could happen in a number of ways. The existing fee-paying sector
could expand after the impact of the pandemic as those with some spare
cash decide to spend it on the education of their children rather than bigger
mortgage payments, overseas holidays and new cars. They see private
schools staying open when state schools didn’t. They look at the facilities
at private schools, consider the examination results (now with algo
rhythms that seem to help achieve better A level results and secure places
at the top universities when examinations can’t actually be taken). New
private schools could pop up and start to offer places for a few thousand
pounds a year. Or could existing state academies freed from local
democracy start to charge for a place?  How difficult would it be for a
Multi-Academy Trust to offer run free Basic school provision and have a
Premium school at the heart of the empire which charged a significant fee
for a place? An Act of Parliament to extend the freedoms that some Heads
were so keen to acquire and the landscape changes dramatically. 7% in fee
paying schools rapidly becomes 50%.
I led Rushcliffe School to become an academy and later set up a multi-
academy trust. I’d been wary and had spoken to a senior Labour politician
who had told me that resisting the academy movement was pointless.
Academies seemed to be the future. The alternative was to run the school
with £700,000 less in the school budget than our neighbour whilst also
resisting a Conservative led local authority which was keen to off load its
schools to independent trust boards. I decided to swim with the tide but
always was the nagging memory of the speaker in 2002. Some state
schools could charge in the future. Surely not.

In 2010 almost all schools were run by local authorities and democratically
elected politicians had a say. A lot has changed since then. In 2020 most
are now academies with trustees emerging from who knows where to
influence the system? By 2030 will at least some trust boards have been
tempted to respond to seriously reduced funding by charging for places at
the best state schools.  I have little doubt that if that were the case there
would be plenty of parents eager to pay whilst many have no option but to
send  their children to a more basic provision with poorer facilities and less
well paid teachers. The already wide gap becomes a chasm.
The post-covid period will inevitably see even harsher austerity measures
than were experienced after the 2008 financial crash. Schools will not be
immune, and the government will be keen to encourage imaginative
solutions which don’t burden the taxpayer. Will the landscape stop change
over the next 10 years? I fear not. There will, I suspect, be more and more
children attending fee paying schools.