Finding the right ‘academic fit’, for your child is the key to securing their future and that process may start as early as nursery, Carfax Education CEO Fiona McKenzie told a live audience at Spear’s 500 Live in association with The OWO Residences by Raffles
British private education is rising in demand among wealthy families both in the UK and abroad, said McKenzie. ‘Despite all the doom and gloom [during the] pandemic about the demise of fee-paying education, the contrary actually proved to be true,’ she said.
Academic achievements across private schools in the UK particularly continues to soar. McKenzie said that 22 independent schools this summer ‘saw at least 80 per cent of grades marked as an A or higher, that’s more than double the national average’.
She delivered the keynote titled ‘How to choose the right school for your child – and then secure a place’, to a distinguished audience of HNWs and their advisers at the Spear’s 500 Live at the Carlton Tower Jumeirah in Knightsbridge.
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McKenzie, who’s four children attended boarding school, believes that private education is an important launchpad for a child. ‘Investing in private education for your child confers multiple benefits,’ she said.
‘Not only in terms of academic achievement, although that’s important, but also in terms of instilling the values of success, exposure to opportunities way beyond the kind of core curriculum, acquiring life skills, forming long and enduring friendships, and then being part of an ongoing community in terms of alumni,’ she said.
And finding the right school is a crucial step in securing your child’s future, McKenzie emphasised, giving the example of a grandparent she recently encountered ‘who was perplexed’ with why parents were ‘going into a total tailspin about getting this week-old child into the best nursery’.
She explained their anxiety and made the case that if you get into a good nursery or a pre-preparatory school, you are more likely to end up in a good school and eventually at the world’s top universities. ‘Now that whole nursery dilemma becomes clear,’ she said.
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There is a right school for each individual child and it depends on not only their educational interests but who their peers are too, McKenzie said. ‘It’s the social effects that will actually be much more important to the child, the children they will learn alongside, people who they’d share a room with, play in a team with and make friends with,’ she said.
Spear’s 500 Live 2022 in association with The OWO Residences by Raffles was held at The Carlton Tower Jumeirah in Knightsbridge. The annual event brings the world of Spear’s to life with a programme of panel discussions, keynotes and interviews with leading figures from the worlds of finance, economics, wealth management, law, tax, philanthropy, education, luxury and more.
The event was sponsored by Butterfield Mortgages, CAF, Finance Malta, IQEQ, MOXO, the Oeno Group, RAK ICC and the Royal Mint.
We recently produced the Spear’s 2022 Schools Index, in partnership with Carfax Education, which is a comprehensive list of the top private schools in the world.
