Headmaster's Bulletin (19)

Independent schools seem to have received quite a bashing in the press of late.

There have been reports of historic cases of abuse, countered by reassurances concerning the rightly rigorous safeguarding procedures which all schools adopt today for the sake of our children’s safety.

Then coverage of a recent Higher Education survey suggested without nuance that university students from state schools outperformed their independent school counterparts with the same A level grades. The study of 130,000 students entering university in 2007 shows that:

• some entrants are more likely to gain a 1st or 2:1 degree than certain comparable peers. ‘More likely’ groups include: state school entrants, women, the economically advantaged, those identifying as ‘white’ and top attainers in low-attaining state schools (compared to those with similar grades but ‘mid-class’ in higher attaining schools).
• the ‘gap’ between state and independent schools (widest at BCC) diminishes markedly above ABB and almost disappears at AAA or better.

The facts are as follows (from HMC, representing the UK’s leading independent schools, including Bablake among its 260 members):

• Prior attainment remains by far the strongest predictor of degree success.
• On all key measures (achieving a degree; achieving a 1st or 2.1 degree; continuing to employment or further study; achieving ‘graduate-level’ employment) independent school pupils at university outperform state school pupils. This is most especially the case when it comes to securing graduate-level employment.
• 52% of HMC sixth form candidate entries secure grade A/A* (55% at Bablake last year). There is virtually no ‘gap’ here. The ‘gap’ in the range ABB-DDE suggests our students are especially well taught and, potentially, are being let down by universities once they become undergraduates.
• Our co-curricular and pastoral strengths probably contribute to our students’ very strong proportional success in the graduate job market.
• Of the 130,000 students in the study, approx. 10-15% appear to ‘outperform’ others with similar entry grades and are thus the focus of admissions tutors trying to identify potential.

More to the point for our students:

HMC finds no evidence whatsoever that our students are losing places to lower attaining applicants from state schools and for the last three years our students’ offer-rates through UCAS have increased. In 2013, Bablake students received very favourable offers and 81% proceeded to their first-choice university.

We are also often criticised for being bastions of privilege which contribute inadequately to our country’s well-being. Before you feel that you have to make excuses for the sacrifices you make to send your child to a school like Bablake, read the following summary of an in-depth analysis of the economic impact of private education, published yesterday by Oxford Economics, a global consultancy company:

• Independent schools contribute nearly £12 billion to the economy each year — more than the value of the BBC or the economy of the city of Liverpool!
• They support more than 275,000 jobs and generate tax revenues of £4.7 billion, while saving the taxpayer £3.9 billion a year because the State does not have to fund education for 7 per cent of children.
• The high achievement of children at Britain’s 2,600 independent schools leads to greater economic output, resulting in an estimated extra £1.3 billion contribution to GDP.

At Bablake, we aim to be an outward-looking and generous school which enriches the lives not only of our pupils but of the local and worldwide community. So let’s celebrate the heritage and future of schools like ours which strive for excellence and promote the values of responsibility and care.