2 minute read
From the head
CALLum BAyLIS (uppER SIxTH) modELLEd LIAm HodGES’ LATEST pIECES AT London FASHIon wEEk. pHoToGRApHS CouRTESy oF LIAm HodGES.
In its 404 year history The Perse has seen some challenging times. The School navigated its way through the English Civil War and the Restoration, survived bubonic plague, endured years of economic mismanagement in the eighteenth century, took some direct hits from the Luftwaffe, and coped with the loss of government funding with the end of Direct
Grant status. In doing so The Perse has shown itself to be a great survivor because it is good at what it does. This is self-evident from the articles in this edition of OP News which document the value of a
Perse education and where it has taken alumni, from fashion and medical research to cold war missions and award winning natural history documentaries. Now in 2019 The Perse, along with other independent schools, faces a new wave of political and economic threats. Politicians of all parties are turning against independent schools which are increasingly seen not as the centres of educational excellence which they are, but as engines of social inequality and division in society. There is increasing talk of removing charitable status and the tax reliefs that go with it, as well as charging VAT on school fees. This, on top of a government led 43% increase in employer contributions to the Teachers’
Pension scheme, would increase the costs of independent education to the point that many schools would be priced out of existence.
Critics of the sector should be careful what they wish for. Independent schools currently educate around 7% of the UK’s children at no direct cost to the state thus saving the Exchequer about £4 billion each year. At The Perse our public benefit programme sees the School spending over £1 million per annum on means tested bursaries to 100 plus children who could not otherwise access a Perse education. We also fund outreach work with 20 local primary schools who, short of state funding, benefit from Perse assistance in the form of maths, language, computing, music and science teaching and the loan of equipment and facilities.
In an increasingly hostile media and political environment, I hope that OPs will be willing to point out the good that schools like The Perse do. Inequality is a pressing issue in Britain but its causes are many and run far beyond the independent school sector. If schools like The Perse become a lightning rod for political anger, great damage will be done to worthy institutions for no real societal benefit.
With best wishes,
