Oswestry School case studies (7)

Impact of partnership work done in 2023 (ISC annual Census 2024)

• 10 state schools involved
• 201-500 state school pupils involved
• 50 staff hours given

Impact Statement

Oswestry School’s Public Benefit

Oswestry School is a small non-selective day and boarding school located on the edge of a rural market town on the Welsh/Shropshire border.

Shropshire supports a low wage economy, with workplace earnings significantly lower than national or regional averages. According to the most recent figures available, the economic impact of Oswestry School can be demonstrated by:

supporting the addition of £4.4 million a year to the economy
supporting 142 full time equivalent jobs
supporting £1.5 million a year in tax receipts to the Exchequer
saving the Exchequer £1.9 million a year by educating pupils who would otherwise be educated within the state system.

Oswestry School has no historic endowment to supplement its fee-income, little annual operating surplus and basic facilities compared to the town’s 1000+ pupil local secondary school. Fees are at the lower end of the scale and a significant proportion of the school’s income is given away as bursaries and scholarships. There are currently 114 pupils in the junior section of the school and 311 in the senior school; of these 425 children, a significant number are receiving a discounted fee. Part of the school’s remit is to assist those who could otherwise not afford independent school fees. The figures below show an increase of this commitment over the last three years.



2016/17 (2 terms)
2015/16
2014/15
Means tested bursaries (£)
£700k
£920k
£704k
% of income
14.0%
12.8%
9.7%

In addition, Oswestry School’s Community Action programme demonstrates the school's strong sense of its individual and collective social responsibility. There is a commitment by all members of the school community to maintain relationships with other local schools, and to community initiatives, as well as sharing the school’s facilities with the wider community, at the same time regularly supporting local, national and international charities throughout the year. Oswestry School is committed to connecting the school, its staff and all its pupils with the local community, through participation in a broad range of activities that are clearly for the benefit of the wider public.

Some of the activities Oswestry School offers to the local community on a regular basis are:

literacy workshops, maths challenge days, science sessions, sports training* to local schools, including transport if required
Outreach programme; teaching staff visit local nurseries and schools to offer specialist language, maths and science teaching as well as sports training
Community Action programme; each week pupils are involved in activities such as visiting local retirement homes, pond, rubbish and weed clearing in the town and also in the countryside with both the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trusts
use of our swimming pool to local schools
use of gymnasium and trampolines to local schools
playing fields to local schools
football pitches and artificial pitch to local football academies
rugby pitches to local rugby club
Cricket pitches to the local cricket club
local rugby and cricket club use school buses to travel to away fixtures
use of mini buses for local primary schools for trips

* One case study. Oswestry School hosts the Central Venue League (CVL) where local schools play one another in a variety of different sports. Since the demise of the local council’s School Sports Co-ordinator programme, inter-school sport in the Oswestry district at primary level was reduced to four cross country meets and the occasional games fixtures resulting in inter-school sport participation reaching an all time low. Under the CVL, Oswestry School organises, officiates and runs the league lasting throughout the three terms with the sole purpose of ensuring regular inter- school fixtures between teams from the local primary schools. The sports on offer are team sports centred around the Games element of the National Curriculum and include hockey, football, netball, tag rugby, cricket and rounders. For those schools who struggle to arrange transport, Oswestry School provide their school mini-bus fleet to deliver the schools to the venue in order to guarantee participation. The aim of the project is to raise the profile of team sports in Oswestry leading to an improvement in performance and increased participation at local community clubs. Families, parents and siblings are often in attendance at the CVL fixtures showing their support and encouraging their children. The CVL brings together the community under the banner of sport. Feedback from senior staff at each school involved has been overwhelmingly positive.