Responding to Sir Peter Lampls call in the Times on 25 October for independent schools to provide more bursaries to disadvantaged pupils
LETTER PUBLISHED;THE TIMES 27 OCTOBER 2011
Sir, I doubt that increasing bursaries is the best way to improve access for our most disadvantaged pupils to our best schools and universities. Bursaries will benefit a relatively small number of pupils and will serve to damage the state schools from which pupils are poached.
Independent schools with charitable status have a duty to satisfy the public benefit requirement and it is up to the trustees to determine how schools deliver that benefit. There is more that the independent sector can do to break down the barriers between the sectors, but trying to push trustees to pursue one course of action is counter-productive, as the one thing they prize above all else is their independence.
Patrick Watson
London SW8
Montrose42 Blog 