Because in some parts of the country there has been a demographic downturn, competition between schools can be intense, and, frankly, many independent schools are not run very effectively. They cost too much and the quality of the education they offer is not high enough.Need they close?

In some cases, yes. Deeply rural schools, for example, might well find the struggle to recruit too much. But it is not inevitable. A school which battles to survive as an independent entity might well prosper as part of a group.It is obvious really.

A school’s group like Cognita, the education company I chair, has the financial strength to invest in schools where tired, inadequate facilities are unattractive to prospective parents. The larger the number of schools in the group the greater the economies of scale. Above all, a relentless focus on the educational 'product' and the efficiency of the management of financial, human and physical resources means that standards rise and fees are kept as low as is possible.

At present, of course, the market remains extremely fragmented. There are few significant chains of schools and only a handful of for profit companies. Huge clairvoyant powers are not needed to see, however, that consolidation is likely over the next decade. The business logic will be too strong to resist.The main obstacle seems at present to be a snobbish distaste amongst some in the sector for the notion of profit.

Schools fall over one another to demonstrate that they are not, businesses but charities. It is nonsense, of course. Eton is no more a charity than Help the Aged is a multi-national driven by the need to satisfy its shareholders.

Equally ridiculous is the notion that education and business are somehow in conflict. The better the education the more profitable the business; the stronger the business efficiencies the more money there is to invest in education.Neither (as the story of Parsons Mead School told elsewhere in this edition demonstrates) should anyone assume that a charity is necessarily an altruistic organisation.We need more open-mindedness. It will come, and the sooner the better for everyone who cares about the health of private education.

Chris Woodhead

Chairman

Cognita Schools

www.cognitaschools.co.uk