Some years ago, hundreds of bursars from the independent sector met for a conference in Jersey. Among the many speeches was a plea, met with murmuring agreement, that the schools really ought to stop building ever more lavish, and expensive, facilities.
With constant pressure on school budgets from rising staffing costs, the money men of Britain’s private schools knew they were embroiled in what has been described as a costly “facilities arms race” to entice an increasingly picky customer base of parents.
