Postby malc_colq » Thu Sep 30, 2010 9:09 am
Hello, everyone. I’m one of the two principals of Broomwood Hall & have been reading the various posts both nice (thank you) and less nice (well, you can’t please everybody) with interest. As Oscar Wilde observed, the only thing worse than being talked about is . . . (well, you know what it is), so I guess I should be pleased. Rumours and myths abound about all schools – you can choose to believe them or not, that’s your choice - but I thought maybe you’d like to hear it from the bouche du cheval, so to speak.
Here goes. Putting your child’s name on our lists is absolutely free. When your child is 2, you’re invited to attend an information morning which consists of a half-hour presentation followed by coffee and the chance to ask all your beady questions. Then, and only then, we ask you to decide on the basis of what you have heard whether you think Broomwood is the kind of school you are looking for. If it is, we invite you to place your child on the registered list – fee £100 – which guarantees you a place. If it isn’t, fine, we’d rather you found out now than later. Unsure? That’s fine too – come back to us later and there’s every chance we may be able to help you (no guarantees of course).
Those on the registered list are then invited back for a one-on-one visit, lasting about an hour, that involves being shown around the school, followed by a half hour chat over a cup of coffee with the headmistress. This is not an interview (remember – you’re on the registered list, so you’ve got a place).
Well it sounds reasonable enough to me. But the point about paying a registration fee before having a tour of the school is well made – maybe we’ll take a look at that one again.
We’re a business, not a charity (in fact, of the private schools mentioned in the various posts – ourselves, Thomas’s, Eaton House, Hornsby House, Finton House – only the last two are). The question that should be asked – and maybe it perplexes you in the same way that it does me – is why the fees of those schools are not a lot lower than ours in view of the tax breaks they receive. But that’s something you need to ask them I guess. Here’re some facts though: to educate a child from Reception through to the end of year 3 costs £44,730 at Finton House, £45,330 at Hornsby House, £44,807 at Broomwood. Puzzled? I am.
Here’s the thing. Over the last 25 years, I think we’ve pretty much figured out what our customers want, and that’s exactly what we set out to give them. We do what we do, and we do it very well. If it’s what you’re looking for, then you won’t do any better. If it isn’t, we’re lucky to have plenty of other very good schools in our area that may suit you better. Fair enough?
The car is an Aston Martin by the way (dark green, very pretty), a birthday present to myself when I turned 60 couple of years ago – delayed midlife crisis maybe? The numberplate – A1 LUS – I inherited from my father when he died in ’08. It lives mostly up in Scotland where my family home is, and I take it for an occasional walk when the sun is shining (which is not that often hereabouts I can tell you!). It’s purchase, I’m happy to tell you, didn’t cost the Broomwood parents a bean.
Well there you are. I don’t know if that clears up anything for anyone. Hope so!