Top Edinburgh private schools keep charitable status

TWO of Edinburgh’s top private schools – including Fettes College – are to retain charitable status despite previous fears expressed over high fees.

Fettes College in Edinburgh charges fees of up to 27,000 pounds a year. Picture: Phil Wilkinson

The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) had, in January, failed both Fettes College and St George’s School for Girls on charitable tests with regard to “unduly restrictive fees”.

As a result of its initial assessment, OSCR had issued directions to the governors of both Edinburgh schools requiring them to provide assistance in respect of fees or widen access.

Both were given 18 months to comply.

In the case of Fettes College, where a senior boarding fee will set parents back more than £27,000 per year, the OSCR said: “In particular it has acted to clarify the process for awarding means-tested bursaries to ensure that these are focused on those in financial need.”

Of St George’s, which has £11,000-a-year fees, the regulator said it had also taken sufficient measures, stating: “As one element of this, some 102 pupils, 13.7 per cent of the school roll, now receive financial assistance through bursaries that account for 6.9 per cent of the school’s income.”

The International School of Aberdeen (ISA), meanwhile, was deemed to have met the charitable requirements set out.

The OSCR said: “The International School of Aberdeen was a complex case, where potential private benefit to employers in the oil industry was the issue of concern rather than simply the mitigation of high school fees, where provision of bursaries was considered by the Regulator to be sufficient.

“After full and careful consideration OSCR has determined that, on balance, the school meets the charity test.”

Martin Tyson, OSCR’s head of registration, said that the process was aimed at maintaining public confidence in charitable status, by ensuring that Scottish charities meet the required standard.

He said: “As regulator, we must ensure that charities provide public benefit as set out in the legislation.

“Fettes College and St George’s School for Girls have both addressed the issues we identified as a priority.”

He added: “In the case of the International School of Aberdeen, as well as the level of financial assistance provided, we were interested in the comparison of private and public benefit in the school’s particular circumstances.”

Fettes College headmaster Michael Spens said: “Fettes College is gratified that the OSCR has concluded that the requirements of the direction issued in January have been complied with and that Fettes College has now passed the charity test.”

St George’s headteacher Anne Everest said they were delighted with the OSCR’s decision that they have now passed the charity test. She added: “We have worked closely with the OSCR over the last few months so that they now have a full and detailed picture of the public benefit we provide.”

At the ISA, director Dr Dan Hovde said: “As a school, we have always tried to be contributing members of the greater Aberdeen community.”

The three schools were examined as part of the regulator’s review of all of the country’s fee-charging schools.