Private school numbers holding up in recession
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Your support makes all the difference.Fears that the recession would spark an exodus of pupils from private schools are proving unfounded, with numbers holding steady this year, headmasters said today.
A survey of 155 private schools represented by the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) found that there were a total of 118,389 pupils registered this September, compared to 117,840 in September last year - a rise of 0.5 per cent.
But the figures also reveal that about 707 pupils - 0.6 per cent - left private education in 2008/09 purely due to financial reasons.
Andrew Grant, HMC chairman and headmaster of St Alban's School, Hertfordshire, said: "This survey demonstrates clearly why HMC members will be going into their conference next week with a buoyant and confident sense of their schools' worth and importance.
"Parental demand for high quality independent education remains very strong, despite the gloomy economic background."
HMC, which released the figures ahead of its annual conference in Liverpool next week, suggested many schools had brought in lower fee increases this year to help parents.
The figures show that fees at the HMC schools questioned rose by an average of 3.4 per cent this September. Last year the average rise for all private schools that are members of the Independent Schools Council (which includes HMC schools) was 5.9 per cent.
Mr Grant said: "It is worth noting, too, how seriously schools have tried to keep down the cost of education to parents.
"Many of the costs schools have to bear continue to rise, not least teachers' salaries which are locked into the national three-year deal, but schools and their governors have clearly seen the need to keep fee increases to a minimum."
A breakdown of the statistics shows that the total number of day pupils rose from 95,005 in September last year, to 95,532 in September this year, an increase of 0.6 per cent.
And the total numbers of boarding pupils went from 22,835 to 22,857, a rise of 0.1 per cent.
The survey also revealed that the heads questioned are confident they will ride out the recession.
Almost nine in 10 (88.7 per cent) said their school was in a strong condition to withstand the effects of the recession.
But 5.3 per cent said they were not sure, and 2 per cent said they did not think they were in a strong position.
HMC represents 250 leading fee-paying schools across the UK and Ireland, which educate more than 190,000 children between them.
* The survey questioned 155 schools online in the first two weeks of the autumn term.
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