Some food for thought . . . I heard an astonishing statistic recently and I still am not quite sure I can believe it! Here it is . . .
In the UK, a quarter of all 11-year-olds left their primary school in 2008 without managing to attain even the BASIC standards set for English and Maths.
By contrast, the standard of primary school education in Sweden is very high – but despite this, approximately 10-15% of Swedish schools have left the state sector to be run by the parents of the pupils.
The Conservative Party believe that a similar percentage of primary schools in the UK (including many in rural areas) would leave the state sector to set up parent-run schools.
It’s not diffiult to see why parents are looking for alternatives when the statistics for passing even the basic standards in the essential subjects are so poor.
Parent Run Schooling
June 25th, 2010A Great Investment
June 25th, 2010It is true that a financial crisis also throws up new opportunities for those with money to invest – and that now ‘cash is king’.
We have found that there is a strong wave of new interest in independent schools and educational businesses not only in the UK and Europe but also worldwide – from major cash buyers. The reasons? Interest rates are incredibly low, the pound sterling is cheap – and, of course, education (and in particular English curriculum education) is now known to be one of the safest, blue-chip investments for the long term.
Schools, which generally make sensible returns of around 10-15% on capital, now look very attractive with the very best financial bonds returning a fraction of that … and some other investments being revealed for the gambles that they often are …