Brandon Learning Centre: British Education - process, preparation and practicalities

  All change!  What do you do when your school, like Summerfields, announces that the Head is moving on?  The answer is going to depend on your relationship and view of the head but here are a few things to consider.  Is your child going into Year Six?  If so, you need to make sure that whoever is writing 13+ or 11+ school references in the school knows your child. Schools like Dragon have a 'Future Schools' department. Smaller prep schools might rely on the Head with input from Second Masters/Tutors.. find out!  Has the Head got an extremely close relationship with students? What will be the impact of change on your child?  Some smaller schools have Heads who really know their students, others take a more CEO approach and your child will have a stronger relationship with the Second Masters/Deputies/Heads of House. Sadly the former style style is fading as schools merge and become bigger so a change will have less of an immediate impact on your child....

 The days of standalone prep schools are numbered in the UK...  Winchester College and Pilgrims' Radley College and Cothill Charterhouse and Windlesham  Who's next? I can take a wild guess. The fact is that running small schools in the UK has become increasingly challenging in the face of increased National Insurance, Teachers' Pension Scheme contributions, energy costs and general inflation. And that isn't before you think of falling rolls once VAT really kicks in. So the solution is joining forces with a larger entity.  Prep schools feed a range of senior schools; anyone wanting a solid prep for Eton, Winchester or Harrow picked from a wide pool. These days, the pool is shrinking whilst the group of boys entering from UK state schools is increasing as parents turn away from boarding and economise.  How does all this affect your choices?  There are still some standalones who haven't mentioned mergers yet and some which are clearly in strong positions and m...