Fee-paying primaries attract fewer pupils as parents feel pinch

Published on Tuesday 21 April 2009 22:08

THE number of primary pupils at Scotland's independent schools has fallen, with education experts blaming the biting recession for the drop.

The figures, released by the Scottish Government, mark the first time the number of children at fee-paying schools has fallen in Scotland since 2004.

The number of primary pupils decreased by 1.4 per cent – 162 children – while secondary numbers rose slightly by 0.2 per cent.

Education experts said the figures indicated that, to save on fees, parents were waiting until children were older to send them to fee-paying schools.

Keith Robson, the national official for the ATL teaching union in Scotland, said: "It backs up what we are hearing anecdotally – that parents are waiting until later to enrol their children into independent education because of the growing financial pressure of the recession. It would fit the picture we are hearing about, and though it doesn't seem widespread yet, it is happening."

He said schools were also looking to reduce running costs by cutting staff.

"Schools are describing it as restructuring and staff taking early retirement rather than redundancy," he added. "But people are losing their jobs, that is the reality."

In total this year there were 30,725 pupils at independent schools in Scotland – 256 fewer than in 2007. The figure included 162 fewer in primary and 124 fewer in special schools.

Average fees in independent primary schools are between 6,000 and 8,500 for a year.

The Scottish Council for Independent Schools (SCIS) said its own statistics, which do not account for 664 pupils at schools not in the council, showed a fall in primary rolls of 0.5 per cent.

A spokeswoman said the number of pupils in the sector was stable. The proportion of pupils in the private sector was 4.31 per cent compared to 4.28 in 2007. She added: "We are encouraged that, overall, the picture in the independent sector is one of stability and the proportion of pupils is increasing.

"In previous economic downturns, the number of pupils in the independent sector in Scotland remained stable.

"Our experience is that parents will do all they can to avoid withdrawing their children.

"Our schools are sensitive to this and many have hardship funds to help parents who encounter short-term financial difficulties."

Frank Gerstenberg, former headteacher of George Watson's College in Edinburgh, said fall-ing numbers at primary level were no surprise, given the finan-cial pressures on parents.

He said: "There are some good (state] primary schools but the secondary schools are sometimes not as good.

"So a lot of parents think they will put their children into a state primary and then into an independent secondary when it comes to exam time."