As a school we operate on a community model (rather than a customer/consumer model) in which everyone contributes to the healthy functioning of the school. As an independent school, we get no funding from the government, so fees are our main source of income. We keep these as low as we can without compromising the standards of teaching and administration in the school. Our aim is to make our fee structure such that we can encourage whole families to attend. Reductions to our normal tariff can be agreed at the discretion of the trustees on application and are subject to regular review.
Whilst we depend upon fees we equally depend upon the generosity and collaboration of all members of the school community in terms of voluntary contributions of time, skills, and sometimes financial donations. Fees cover the day-to-day running costs of the school but do not cover material improvements to the school site so, from time to time, we ask for voluntary contributions towards these. Projects are also often completed by volunteers.
Families joining the school commit to attending a “Care for our School” day three times a year which enables us to keep our buildings decorated and maintained without adding to our fees. But more than this, these times of working and sharing time together is a special way of caring for our school and of getting to know each other. There are also many other ways in which parents can get involved and there is an expectation that parents will do so in a way which is appropriate for them – click here for more information.
You will see that our fees are set up so to support whole families in joining us. We find that families really benefit, and sibling relationships flourish, when the whole family is part of the school. Our fees are also designed to encourage families to join when their children are at a younger age as we, and they, benefit from the stability of having pupils progress through the school and become secure members of our community. We also recognise that it is a big commitment to pay school fees over an extended number of years and as such we offer you the reassurance that your fees will not increase just because your child is progressing through the school, however we do have annual increases in fees across the board, due to inflation and other rising costs, but we endeavour to keep these increases to a minimum. We want to honour the contribution that families make when they are with us for a longer period and so this is reflected in the fee structure.
