11 Plus Exams Forum

Regular posters will be aware of the problems private schools have had to face from the Charity Commission under the leadership of Dame Suzi Leather .

Well, I'm pleased to hear (rather belatedly) that Ms Leather has been replaced in that role by William Shawcross. Ex-Eton and Oxford, he is married to a Forte and is the official biographer of the late Queen Mother.

Seems to me that our private schools can rest easy now for the next few years .

I was under the impression that the court case had already put the CC firmly in their place anyway.

Sorry...I am not a regular poster yet on this forum and am unaware of the difficulties mentioned...I have tried to search for details but have had no luck...can anyone briefly enlighten me please or refer me to a link?

Thanks in advance
Tigger

Bursaries, Tigger2 They were being forced to provide them as charities.

What is a Forte? I thought that was someone's strength???

Ahhh...Sherry thank you..thought it would be something like that...

sherry_d wrote: What is a Forte? I thought that was someone's strength???

A member of the Italian/Scot family that brought us Little Chef, Happy Eater and THF along with a selection of some of the worst motorway eating experiences known to man . Now very rich of course, hoping to re-brand in Sardinia and at the Savoy.

I'm not sure an Ex-Etonian is a good idea. It seems that those people stop others having the opportunities that they did...

Odd that...an old Etonian....whoever said that there was no benefit to society from private schools !

I should at this point declare that my ds benefits from a bursary and we are very grateful to the school concerned for the opportunity. Our ds is aware that his school has helped us and he knows that ,without assistance ,an education in the private sector would be impossible.
I am aware now that some find the bursary system unacceptable and I do not know if this is purely from a financial point of view or to stop undesirables entering the private sector. What I can tell you is that feedback from the school confirms that our ds is the most diligent, hardest working pupil in his year group who gives his very best at all times. His scores place him at the top of his year group and although he has always loved to learn he is so appreciative of the opportunity given to him that he wants to make the very most of his time there.

I accept the view that there are more ways than offering bursaries to benefit society but surely a bursary to assist a child to benefit from an education far superior to their local comp is the most effective way forward?

I don't think anyone has an issue with bursaries, that is not the issue being discussed.

My apologies if this is the case but after Sherry 's post I delved further and it seems that the main bone of contention with the previous Head is that they (the CC) required independent schools to pass a public benefit test to check that they offered a benefit to wider society in order to maintain their charitable status. The main focus of the test concentrated on the number of bursaries offered .I thought that the ISC objected to this and the court case mentioned in another post was in part due to the view of the ISC that the commission's guidelines placed too much emphasis on means tested bursaries.

Apologies though if I misunderstood.

Tigger