Digging a hole, 2022.
Reflecting on my experiences across international start-ups, I’ve seen that the relationship between Owner and Head is the single biggest predictor of a school's success. Here is my 'open letter' to those taking that leap.
Dear Owner,
Congratulations! You have decided to invest in a school. In order to have amassed enough capital to allow you to do so, you deserve a considerable amount of respect. As a lifelong teacher, with no great wealth to my name, I am in awe of people like you. Through enterprise and hard work, you have added so much value to the world. And now you are set to start a school—what a wonderful gift to give to future generations.
The chances are that this line of business will be new to you and so I offer a little advice in the hope that you won't make the mistakes that I have seen others make in the past when starting up from scratch:
- Don't underestimate the task. Everyone went to school, and most people, therefore, think they understand education. There is a world of difference though between having been to school/university yourself and actually running a school. Education is full of snake oil salesmen, myths and blind alleys. Choose your advisors carefully and focus rigorously on what can be proved to work, not what sounds good or looks good on a marketing brochure. Although it doesn't sell well the truth is that to do well in school, as in life, you have to work hard. There are no easy/quick fixes and you can't buy success.
- Make sure you have a big war chest. Starting up is going to be painful and cost you a lot of money. If you can be profitable within the first five years you will be doing well. Most of the easy pickings are now gone. Expect some parents to be slow payers/no payers and have a watertight procedure on how to deal with this.
- Pace yourself. You need at least two years from the moment you put up the website to the moment you welcome your first pupils. Sure, people will tell you it can be done faster than this, but they're likely blinded by excitement and over-optimism.
- Focus on working on your business whilst others work in your business. This is an absolutely crucial distinction. There will be too much for you to do alone—you need to trust people and let them get on with their jobs. By all means, have regular meetings with them to hold them to account. But so long as you have appointed the right people you should otherwise let them alone to run your school for you.
- Appoint a Director of Admissions early. The success or failure of your school will depend on the recruitment of pupils. This is why it is vital to appoint a knowledgeable Director of Admissions right from the very start and give him or her the budget and autonomy to begin recruiting. Together with the Head, they will start to populate your school and secure enrolments. Do not try to do this yourself and do not make the mistake of relying solely on (expensive) online advertising. When people are looking for a school for their children they need to speak to real people. Remember two years...
- Do not over-egg the pudding. Promising parents rugby when you have no pitches, or ice-skating when you have no ice rink is dishonest. There is a certain type of family who are attracted to the pioneering spirit of joining a new school—these people are your core market. If you need to pull the wool over people's eyes in order to get them to sign up you're storing up problems for yourself.
- Start small and plan to grow in a sequential way. If you try to open up to all year groups at once your small cohort of start-up staff will find themselves overstretched and/or you won't be able to afford to offer a reasonable diet of subjects in an economic way. Post-16 education is particularly expensive and difficult to run from a standing start with small numbers of pupils. If you're not sure why, educate yourself.
- Be honest about your facilities and staff. When you start you will likely lack many of the facilities that more established schools enjoy. You may not have a special needs department, a counsellor, or music teachers. Be honest about this and listen to the professionals you have appointed when deciding what can or cannot be done. For every special case there is an opportunity cost. Listen to what you're being told to avoid breaking the camel's back.
- Expect problems. Staff will leave, pupils will leave, and parents will get angry. If you are running a secondary school you'll need to be prepared to expel some pupils—startups attract pupils and parents who are refugees from more established schools and bring with them a lot of 'baggage'. If you cling onto these types too tightly for fear of losing revenue it will backfire. Build trust with those staff/parents/pupils who stay the course. Be kind.
- Pay competitively and follow through. To attract good teachers you need to pay competitively, but most teachers are happy to work for a fair wage in a school where they feel they can make a difference. Once you've settled on a fair rate of pay do exactly what you said you were going to do. Moving the goalposts after appointment will immediately undermine trust at a time when you need it most.
- Understand industry standards. It is industry standard to pay teachers an annual salary divided into 12 equal increments. Note that this involves paying them in the summer holidays—even if they have decided to leave your establishment. This may stick in the craw, but that's how it works. If you really can't stomach this way of operating, spell it out clearly from the outset.
- Communicate, communicate, communicate. I understand that there are some aspects of ownership that must be pondered in lonely isolation. But you simply must be transparent with your appointed Head. He or she will be able to steady the ship for a while if credit is running dry. If you just stop paying bills with no explanation people will smell a rat.
I really hope it all goes well for you. I, for one, am rooting for you because the world needs more well-led schools with owners who have gone into the enterprise with the right motivation.
Best of luck!
Tim