Independent school joins group to help development

A SCHOOL in Henley which celebrates its centenary this year has announced a development plan to upgrade its facilities.

Rupert House in Bell Street, an independent school for boys and girls aged three to 11, is to join the Wishford Schools Group to help fund improvement of the school.

The prep school says that joining the group will give it greater access to capital, expertise and scale beyond its current capabilities as a standalone charitable foundation.

This will enable it to realise its new vision and development plan which includes a “major upgrade” of the school’s facilities.

The Wishford Education Group currently comprises nine independent schools in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Kent. Rupert House is due to formally join at the end of this month.

The school, which currently has 211 pupils, says the group has an “impressive track record of capital investment and community involvement”.

Headteacher Nick Armitage said he wanted the school to remain at the centre of the community.

He said: “The school has been on quite a journey over the last 100 years but it has always been at the heart of Henley and it will continue to be so. We are very much invested in the community and playing our part.

“Going forward, we plan to do more of that for the benefit of all the children in the community and our own children who benefit as well.”

Mr Armitage said that while the school was in a good position financially, joining the group would allow it to reach its full potential.

He said: “Over time we will be looking to enhance the facilities. The pupil numbers have been growing very healthily but it’s not about wanting to grow exponentially.

“It’s not necessarily massive substantial changes that need to be made but having a fresh pair of eyes to look at the school has been incredibly helpful already.”

He said that all the existing staff would be retained, adding that staff and parents were “overwhelmingly positive and supportive” about the move.

Mr Armitage said he was excited about the opportunity to collaborate with other schools in the group which currently educate 2,500 pupils and employ 650 members of staff.

“We are really excited about the way in which the schools will work together,” he said “There are real opportunities for our staff to get to work with others in partnership just as we do with Education Henley.”

Sam Antrobus, chief executive of Wishford Schools, said: “It’s really important to understand that Rupert House is in a very strong position.

“It’s not coming to the group because it needs to be rescued but because the school has identified that being part of the group is going to be beneficial and enable it to really fulfil its potential over the next 100 years. We are very selective about the schools that we bring into our group and Rupert House is the first to join since 2018.

“We only work with schools when we believe that there is a strong match in ethos and beliefs. Rupert House will retain its strong identity and approach and all the staff will continue to be employed on their existing terms.”

Mr Antrobus said Wishford would be working with the school to upgrade its facilities on a needs-be basis.

“It’s very much evolution rather than revolution,” he said. “Schools have always got to be moving forwards, enhancing the experience for children and making sure that the facilities that are on offer are second to none.”

Mr Antrobus said that Mr Armitage and his senior leadership team would continue to run the school with help from the group, which would be able to add expertise to support “the delivery of a first-class education”.

He said: “All our schools work together but very much in an independent way. They support each other and work together but each school is unique and retains its character and identity. At the moment we are just going through the process of letting staff know, letting the parents know and discussing it with them and answering the questions they’ve got.”

Charles Lowe, chairman of governors at Rupert House, said: “The potential for Rupert House is huge, for itself and the community, it’s just a question of how do we unlock that. The ownership structure wasn’t helping us move the school forward.

“If you look at what is going on across education generally, you will see in the state sector this creation of academy trusts where schools are coming together to share expertise, economies of scale and so on. And that is happening in the private sector as well.

“We took the view that although we were in a very strong position, with pupil numbers growing and having survived covid very well and gone back to full co-education, being part of a bigger stronger group made sense in terms of unlocking the potential of the school.”

Wishford would provide the school with “scale, back-office expertise and financial clout”.

Mr Lowe said: “As a charity, we will have some money in the bank and we will need to focus on how we use those funds.

“The charity will continue to exist, obviously not owning the school, but we will continue to liaise with Sam and his team because the interest of the governors, most of whom are former parents, will continue. And we have local expertise, knowledge and history that will be valuable.

“As governors, we are trustees of the charity and we are volunteers, not professionals, but what Sam and his team have is a full professional team covering every area that the school needs to run itself.”

In the most recent inspection cycle, every school within the Wishford Schools Group achieved the highest possible rating of “excellent in all areas” from the Independent Schools Inspectorate.