Every season鈥檚 new term buzz is different and the summer term has its own. The pupils at my own prep school were making the best of the recent good weather as they played cricket and started preparing for sports day.
Some of them have not returned to what they thought of as ‘their’ school.
They enjoyed seeing their friends again after the Easter holidays, looked well-adjusted and confident and were slipping easily back into their lessons and the routine of school life.
Not every independent school student was having the same experience though.
Some of them have not returned to what they thought of as 鈥渢heir鈥 school because the financial pressure on their parents following the addition of VAT to independent school fees has meant they have had to be removed.
Several are starting in local state schools because the places offered could not be held until September, denying each child the chance to finish the academic year at a familiar establishment with their friends.
In many cases, parents are continuing to pay the fees and have applied for hardship bursaries to get them through until a later point when withdrawal will be less disruptive to their academic and social development.
There are parents who have not made the decision yet but are anxious about the path to choose for their children鈥檚 future.
The bottom line is that individuals are being affected.
There are the families who had intended to send their child to an independent school but then opted to turn down the offered place on the basis that it is easier not to enter the sector than to enter and then find out it is unsustainable.
And there are the families with more than one child who are having to do some difficult sums and face an agonising decision about which child can stay and which cannot.
There have been comments in the media that the government鈥檚 decision to add VAT to independent school fees has not had (and some people think it never will have) an impact on the state sector.
Some people have said the decision and overwhelming the state schools as a result. My feeling is that these commentators will be proved wrong.
What is happening now 鈥 children being removed from their schools and grappling with new ones, families desperately looking for a place at a good local school, parents panicking at hearing a state school head telling them 鈥淪orry, no, we鈥檙e full up鈥 鈥 is, I reckon, the tip of the iceberg.
It did not need to be like this.
Whatever anyone believes, the bottom line is that individuals are being affected. There are the independent schools that have had to close, the independent schools that are making staff redundant, the teachers who are going part-time, the teachers who are looking at shrinking classrooms, and the pupils who are wondering where their friend is.
I am lucky that my school has not had to close or even consider doing so. I have not had to think about making any staff member redundant. Indeed, our numbers remain healthy and I am looking forward to the opening in September of our brand-new boarding house. But I know I am in the minority among prep school leaders, and complacency is the enemy.
It is obvious that this punitive government decision 鈥 and it was such a strange one to kick off with when it came to power 鈥 was not properly considered. No consultation with the independent sector took place. Clearly, very little planning, if any, has happened at the DfE. And the human cost was never thought about.
We read this morning that Labour鈥檚 pledge to recruit 6,500 more teachers by the end of this Parliament, funded by the VAT levy, 鈥渕ight not fix the shortage鈥, represents a 鈥渟ignificant challenge鈥, and has no clear 鈥渄elivery plan鈥.
It did not need to be like this. All of us, of whatever political persuasion, want to improve education for all. This is not the way to do it.
