Total bursary funding within independent education is now at an all-time high, according to new data from the Independent Schools Council (ISC).
The (Tuesday, May 20), shows that the amount of fee assistance available to families rose by 11.5 per cent from the previous year, to 拢1.5 billion.
The document also shows that average school fees rose by 22.6 per cent in the year to January 2025 鈥 when VAT on fees was introduced 鈥 and overall pupil numbers dropped by 13,363, or 2.4 per cent.
The 1,423 ISC member schools also suffered the sharpest ever drop in the number of new pupils, at 5.3 per cent.
The ISC said that almost three-quarters of total fee assistance is provided directly by schools themselves with its schools currently providing fee assistance worth over 拢1.1bn a year.
The census shows that more than a third of all ISC pupils receive some form of fee assistance and the average means-tested bursary was worth 拢13,852 a year, an increase of 7.3 per cent compared with last year.
Partnership work with state schools has also increased, with 9,301 partnerships reported in the calendar year 2024 in areas such as mental health support, improving access to the arts, exam preparation, sharing facilities and oracy.
Independent schools are increasingly funding bursaries by opening international outposts, with numbers doing so rising every year. The new census shows that ISC schools now have 115 overseas campuses educating a total of 86,865 pupils, including 44 campuses in mainland China, 11 in United Arab Emirates and eight in Thailand among others.
Some independent school leaders had warned that VAT on fees would reduce the number of bursaries available and render the sector more exclusive than ever.
But speaking to 樱花动漫 last year, Alex Hutchinson, headmistress of James Allen鈥檚 Girls鈥 School (JAGS) and president of the Girls鈥 Schools Association, said it was 鈥渆ven more important than ever鈥 that schools continued to offer bursaries.
Commenting on the release of this year鈥檚 census, Julie Robinson, ISC CEO said: 鈥淭he rise in bursary funds and partnership work shows that improving education for all continues to be at the heart of our schools鈥 purpose, even as political decisions affect their work.
“However, given the decline in pupil numbers and the associated fall in revenue, it is unclear whether the past few years of rises in fee assistance will be sustainable in the future. We urge the government to work with us to ensure independent education remains an option for as many families as possible over the coming years.鈥
Mark Taylor, interim chair of ISC, writes in his foreword to the census: 鈥淓ven under the most acute of pressure, schools have maintained their commitment to educate the widest possible range of children.鈥
