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How to write the future of the world's oldest school.
A conversation with Mark Taylor, bursar of King’s School Canterbury, on navigating the post-VAT landscape.
Mark Taylor is the Bursar of Britain's oldest public school, King's School, Canterbury. Arguably, it's the oldest continuously operating school in the world, with education uninterrupted on its grounds for over 1,400 years.
In the face of unprecedented challenges to the independent sector, we spoke with Mark about his strategies to protect King's long legacy and how he sees the school thriving in the post-VAT landscape.
‘The independent sector is facing its biggest financial challenges probably ever.’ Mark says pragmatically.
‘If we just look at how the independent sector is generally portrayed within the media, that private schools are full of people who can easily afford it - this is simply not the case.’
Mark's view is one to listen to. In addition to his tenure as Bursar, he has worked across the sector as vice chair of the ISC and chair of the AGBIS and was Chair of ISBA for three years.
‘We [The ISC] have got just over 1400 schools. Over half of those schools have under 290 pupils, many already are on the absolute financial margins.’
He points to two familiar challenges: schools left unsure about the number of overseas students attending schools as boarders in the wake of Covid-19 and the imminent addition of VAT to fees under Labour - but as becomes a pattern over the course of our conversation, Mark is never slow to counter with solutions and strategy.
‘Okay, what are the really special things about the school that we need to ring-fence and we must never do away with, and then look at turbocharging the other areas of income generation in a way that doesn't impinge on the very special nature of the school.’
Strategic oversight has been a priority during his tenure at King's. Four years into his 14-year tenure, the board of governors saw the early signals of the sector getting tougher and decided to accelerate their programme of investment into the campus.
‘What was really important was discussing strategy and where we wanted to go. It was an opportunity to reaffirm our goals and to deliver some of the most modern, up-to-date facilities.
We looked at either funding something slowly through surplus each year or engaging through a private placement arrangement to accelerate a capital-building program that would help with the curriculum that we wanted to deliver and ensure that we were right at the top, able to compete with all of our competitors.’
What followed was an impressive expansion and development of the site—but as one might expect, changes on a 1,400-year-old mediaeval site came with its challenges…
‘We had to be watched every step of the way by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust. We found not just a Roman road, but 15 layers of Roman road with all of the ancient artefacts that went with that, and, if that wasn't enough, below that was a post-glacial river channel, dating back 15,000 years.’
Fast-forward to today, and with his cutting-edge facilities in hand, Mark's attention focuses on the school's business model: finding alternative ways to improve affordability for parents.
His strategy focuses on increasing non-fee income streams to reduce the impact of higher fees passed down to parents as VAT looms large. He shared the moment his eyes were opened to this approach.
Working with David Woodgate, the ISBA Chief Executive, and Richard Harman, the AGBIS chief Executive, Mark arranged termly meetings with contacts he had in America to explore the differences between the UK and US independent school models.
‘The first question they asked us was, what is your average sector fee income dependency? And we looked at each other and said we're looking at about 98%.
So, in other words, just 2% of non-fee income is generated through other aspects of raising funds, at which point they fell off their chair and explained they're at an average of about 65%.’
In seeing the potential for King's to generate non-fee income, he has since broken his strategy into three key areas.
‘One is fundraising. If targeted correctly, fundraising remains quite buoyant in the sector.
The second area is the whole commercial side. So, are you making sure you are making the most of the organisation's assets? If you can, let facilities in term time, as well as outside of term time.
‘The third is international franchise arrangements, rather like King's has done. So far, we've launched two schools in China and just opened a school in Cambodia.
There's no financial outlay, but a franchise arrangement enables us to brand it as King's and ensures we have control over the ethos and recruitment of the key personnel.’
When pushed on how they approach franchising a school of King's history elsewhere in the world, he explained they remain hands-on in recruiting the senior leadership team for every new school and that teachers often partake in exchange programmes to work overseas.
‘We want to ensure that we represent King's strategic ethos and values so as well as appointing the senior team we run inspections annually through the Council of British International Schools and use their COBIS accreditation, which is a great Kitemark.’
As our conversation drew to a close, I asked Mark to reflect on his 14 years at King's, and what one word of advice he would give to himself at the start of tenure.
‘Ah! That is such a tough, tough question!
I think I would say the development of the business operational areas of the school and giving them more focus.
We need to make sure that parents are still going to be able to afford the [post-VAT] fees. We're trying to prepare for that and ensure that there's a really clear and exciting way forward.’
Tom Woods, director at architecture practice Kennedy Woods, is on a mission to change the way we design schools. He champions the involvement of children and their communities in the creative process, and through the studio’s programme In The Making, he’s opening up careers in design to more young people.
