Charity Commission Update

The Judicial Review on  the actions of the Charity Commission have been released today. The full report and findings can be found on the ISC website who brought the proceedings on behalf of the Independent Schools sector

ISC Website 

The Charity Commission's approach has been branded "obscure and wrong" in key areas.

Our views are outlined here:

S. Anselm’s is a small rural Prep School that has always prided itself on punching well above our weight. We serve our pupils, parents and the local community extremely well and are proud of our record in these areas. Like many in the IAPS organization we are not a well-endowed school, but we make a significant contribution to the community and those individuals that come into contact with us.

The whole process was in many ways a useful one: it is always good practice to re-examine the activities and processes in the school, and that we passed the benefit to the community aspect on both occasions was particularly important to us. Our Bursary provision has now increased, due to our plan maturing and rolling out into all year groups, and we have worked hard to secure a continuation bursary for those students at 7 separate senior schools, so that they will be able to continue their education in the private sector until the age of 18. In this way we really feel we are giving the bursary pupils the best possible start in life, and changing their lives for the better.

We welcome the excellent work of the ISC in seeking to get clarification on the whole issue of public benefit and charitable status, and we are sure that this greater clarity will enable ourselves and thousands of other world class schools to focus not only on their primary job of education, but also to maintain and develop further the invaluable links with the community that almost every IAPS or HMC school actively seeks to explore.

Simon Northcott