Although most parents can’t wait to get their children properly back to school this month, let no one imagine that school life will be normal. Establishments everywhere have had to re-examine how they teach, re-work budgets and building plans and redesign sports and co-curricular timetables.
Demand for private education appears to be holding up—with enquiries from parents unimpressed with the home-schooling support from State schools, plus Hong Kong families interested in the UK’s citizenship offer—but the coming economic crash will undoubtedly hit hard. ‘People are not committing, leaving things as late as possible, and are sometimes happy to forgo their deposits if they find their personal situation is not good,’ observes Neil Roskilly of the Independent Schools Association.
Having already given between 15% and 30% off last term’s fees and frozen fees and staff salaries for the coming year, independent schools are also trying to support families through cashflow problems. One bursar in the south of England confides that he has some £1 million of fees outstanding, being managed through payment plans. ‘We’ve seen a huge spike in requests for assistance,’ he reveals. ‘It will be interesting to see if people will catch up at the end of the payment holiday.’
‘There will be lots of postponed building projects,’ adds Anna Maria Clarke, bursar of King’s College School, Wimbledon. She points out that Covid-19 has long tentacles: schools must fund increased cleaning and transport but will lose income from hiring out facilities for events and so on. ‘There are lots of hidden consequences.’
Bu hikaye Country Life UK dergisinin September 02, 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Country Life UK dergisinin September 02, 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds
