Public Benefit Statement from Governors

08 Jan 2010

Highfield Priory School is constituted as a charity and is subject to the Charities Acts, and regulated by the Charity Commission. A new Charities Act came into force in 2006, and under that Act, the Charity Commission issued guidance requiring schools constituted as charities to demonstrate public benefit explicitly, whereas previously it was presumed.

Highfield was one of the first wave of schools to be inspected under the Act and the Charity Commission guidance, with particular attention to the new public benefit requirement. The Charity Commission found that Highfield satisfied most of the public benefit requirements of the Act and the Charity Commission guidance , but that a plan needed to be put in place to ensure that people in poverty and unable to afford the fees were given sufficient opportunity to benefit from the charity’s activities.



The school will be able to meet the necessary criteria to maintain its current status. Governors are working with the Charity Commission on the production of the plan, and good progress is being made. The plan will be completed by July this year and will be implemented over the coming years.”