Parents with children at private schools should brace themselves for an increase in fees because of a big rise in the cost of teachers’ pensions.

Independent schools need to raise as much as £191m a year to fund a 43% increase in the amount they pay into the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.

More than 600,000 children in the UK go to a private school.

From September all schools and universities are being asked to raise employer contributions to the pension scheme from 16.48% of salary to 23.6%. The increase is being blamed on a hole in the scheme of about £15bn.

The government has said it will fund the estimated £830m needed to pay for the increases in pension contributions by state schools for the 2019-20 academic year but told private schools they must pick up the bill themselves.

Chris King, chief executive of the Independent Association of Prep Schools, said: “Schools really do not want to put up fees because that is bad for parents and probably bad for business.”

Neil Roskilly, chief executive of the Independent Schools Association, said: “Independent schools are very tightly run. They don’t want to put fees up, but they just can’t swallow this big increase in costs.”

Read more at: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/fees-must-leap-to-fill-black-hole-in-teachers-pensions-hprlspc6t

Headmaster of Abingdon School, says his pupils do not develop ‘swagger’ but a sense of inner confidence

Michael Windsor says there’s no such thing as a typical Abingdon boy as there are many different pathways for pupils to follow, all of which are equally valid and respected.

He explains “it is true that for a long time the independent sector has prided itself on the range of activities that its schools offer to develop confidence and character. Abingdon is renowned for its Other Half, a term that reflects our commitment to the importance of extra-curricular activities that extend beyond the classroom.

The phrase ‘public school swagger’ does grate though. Confidence has nothing to do with ‘swagger’ or arrogance, but rather comes from encouraging young people to be at ease with themselves and simply to be the person they want to be. In preparing pupils for the future, we need to help pupils grow the resilience to ride out tough times by fostering fundamental values such as integrity, resourcefulness and kindness, rather than nurturing an unwarranted and false sense of entitlement.”

Read more at: https://ie-today.co.uk/Blog/confidence-not-swagger/