This story is sponsored by Cundall Manor School. 

Ensuring your child thrives in an environment that fosters and uplifts them throughout their educational journey should be the standard when seeking a school.

Cundall Manor School prides itself on excelling in providing an environment that fosters a love of learning and enables each of its pupils to be the best version of themselves.

Prospective students and parents can experience what the Cundall community have deemed ‘the Cundall magic’ themselves, at an open morning on Friday May 10, 2024, from 9.30am onwards.

About Cundall

(Image: Cundall Manor School)

Cundall is a co-educational, independent school for boys and girls, between the ages of 2 and 16 years old. Situated in 28 acres of picturesque landscape between Ripon and Thirsk, it has been providing an education to children in the region and beyond for over half a century.

Cundall has established its reputation as an aspirational place that aims to create well-rounded individuals ready to embrace the opportunities that lie ahead.

A happy, safe, and stimulating environment 

(Image: Cundall Manor School)

The idyllic nursery environment and school offers a tailored, bespoke approach to education for each child, for them to flourish in the areas they love, and be supported in those they need additional help in. Small class sizes allow for individual attention.

While academic excellence is one of the cornerstones of Cundall, there’s also a great emphasis placed upon creating a ‘character curriculum’ – where academia and enrichment programmes are intertwined concepts, held in equal regard.

Pupils are presented with a vibrant school calendar of activities that broaden their horizons and enrich their experiences throughout their school life.

(Image: Cundall Manor School)

Alongside dynamic classroom teaching, pupils embark on thrilling day trips and excursions regularly, both locally and abroad such as the challenge of completing the Yorkshire Three Peaks and Ben Nevis, international exchange programmes with European schools and volunteering in Morocco for their end of year trip to mention just a few.

The Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award is also compulsory for students to undertake, as Cundall believes it directly complements its ethos of CODE – challenge, ownership, dialogue, and engagement. Many students are inspired to then go on and complete their Silver Awards before embarking on their GCSEs.

Sport is also a huge part of school life; with access to expansive grass sports pitches, Astro Turf , a swimming pool and tennis courts, Cundall has many teams that children can get involved with, at all levels of abilities. Teamwork is a key ethos of the school – children play, learn, develop and mature within a strong year group unit.

The open morning

(Image: Cundall Manor School)

To find out more about the holistic educational experience that Cundall offers its pupils from nursery through to senior school, parents are invited to attend the next open day, on Friday, May 10, from 9.30am.

A parent of a Cundall pupil commented:

“Cundall encourages children’s strengths to flourish, so that they thrive and excel in those areas'”

Find out more:

The next open day at Cundall Manor is Friday, May 10, 2024 from 9.30am onwards.

To find out more, visit the website, call 01423 360 200, or register your interest in attending the morning here. 

A Harrogate district private school receives over £8m a year from the government to pay the school fees of children whose parents serve in the British Army.

Queen Ethelburga’s Collegiate is an independent boarding school for boys and girls at Thorpe Underwood, close to Little Ouseburn.

The school has a capacity of 1,600 pupils and around 400 are children of people serving in the armed forces. It’s situated about 30 miles from ITC Catterick and 17 miles from Harrogate’s Army Foundation College.

Members of the military are entitled to use the Continuity of Education Allowance grant, which is a state payment that covers 90% of the cost to send a child to private boarding school.

The grant is paid so children do not have their education disrupted when their parents’ army jobs require them to move around the world.

However, it can also be used by troops serving in the UK and many of the families using it are well-paid officers.

One critic of the CEA grant told the Stray Ferret the payments to Queen Ethelburga’s were effectively a “state subsidy of a very large private school” and an obstacle to social mobility.

Long-standing relationship

The Stray Ferret sent a freedom of information request to the Ministry of Defence to ask which private schools in the district have been in receipt of the CEA grant over the past three years.

Other private schools, such as Harrogate’s Ashville College, also receive the grant but not on the scale of QE, whose relationship with the armed forces goes back over 100 years.

The figures show that in 2020/21, QE had 427 children receiving the grant, worth a total of £8.5m.

Over the last three years, Ashville College has received around £300,000 a year for between 18 and 20 children. Ripon Grammar School and Harrogate Ladies’ College also received the grant for a small number of children.

‘State subsidy’

Robert Verkaik is a journalist and author who wrote a book on the public school system called Posh Boys. He is also the former home affairs editor at the Independent newspaper.

Mr Verkaik told the Stray Ferret he was troubled by the amount of money received by QE, which he called “morally and economically wrong”.

Social mobility charity the Sutton Trust has said people at the top of the armed forces were seven times more likely to go to private schools — a situation that Mr Verkaik believes is reinforced by the CEA grant.

Robert Verkaik

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The journalist submitted an FOI request of his own to the MOD in 2015 that revealed, across the UK, the majority of troops using the grant are ranked officer or above.

These include lieutenant colonels, colonels, brigadiers and generals, who are paid between £75,000 and £123,000.

Mr Verkaik said:

“Taxpayers’ money should not be used to fund privileged and wealthy families.

“The grant is an obstacle to social mobility. What happens with the CEA is that officer families receive the bulk of the subsidy. So all you’re doing is promoting the education of already very privileged children”.

State boarding schools

Whilst the CEA grant covers most of the cost for children to attend private boarding schools like Queen Ethelburga’s, 10% of the fees are expected to be paid for by the family.

But with boarding fees of between £11,214 and £14,012 per term at QE, Mr Verkaik says a lance corporal earning under £30,000 would not be able to afford the 10% termly contribution, which still equates to thousands of pounds a year for one child.

He believes children of people serving in the forces should go to state boarding schools instead and save the taxpayer millions.

“The children of non-officer ranks don’t benefit to the same extent. It’s exacerbating the hold a narrow group of families have over the education of children.”

QE response

Queen Ethelburga’s said the college provided a “secure and supportive home from home for students whose parents may need to travel or live abroad for work”.

The school did not respond to our questions that asked what rank the armed forces personnel who send their children to the school hold, and how many are based in the UK.

Dan Machin, Queen Ethelburga’s principal said:

“Queen Ethelburga’s Collegiate (QE) has a long-standing relationship with the British forces, welcoming students from forces military families for over 100 years.  QE is CEA-accredited, which means that forces families can use the Continuity of Education Allowance offered by the Ministry of Defence to assist with the funding of a boarding place for their child, at any school of their choice. The aim of the grant is to provide continuity of education for forces children.

“Across the collegiate there is an understanding of the importance of providing a secure and supportive home from home for students whose parents may need to travel or live abroad for work. Staff strive to create the right learning and living environment in which every one of the students at QE can thrive.  QE also has two specialist forces liaison officers, a keeping in touch club for students, and support clinics.

“In these sessions, staff help students to contact parents who may be deployed abroad, chat about issues that are important to them and anything else that they might need help and support with. Our forces children contribute significantly to our QE community with their approach to their education, boarding and activities. They are a valuable part of our QE family.

“In addition to being CEA-accredited, QE is signed up to the Armed Forces Covenant to further our commitment to families, particularly by offering the possibility of employment opportunities to veterans from all branches of the armed forces, to whom we all owe a great debt.  QE also has its own Combined Cadet Force, bringing together an army section (Yorkshire Regiment) and an RAF section. The CCF offers students the chance to develop real life skills that will help them achieve success in life and in the workplace.

“This holistic approach to supporting forces families makes QE a very popular choice.”

Dan Machin

A British Army spokesman said:

“The Ministry of Defence provides support to eligible service personnel with school age children in order to help them provide the continuity in their child’s education that can be difficult to achieve within the state education system, due to the inherent mobility of service life.”

“Continuity of Education Allowance is one of a range of measures for service personnel of all ranks and their families to allow greater parental choice in providing a stable education for their children.”