Outstanding Financial/Commercial Initiative

Aberdour School

This initiative is the creation, launch and operation of an onsite coffee shop for parents. Conceived as a meeting place for parents to wait, it has developed into an operation which incorporates catering facilities, seasonal gifts and a social hub. Open in the mornings and afternoons, it has switched from being staffed by volunteer parents and now employs professional staff. Annual turnover is over £30,000, with profits generated both from catering and from several categories of merchandise.

The project involved refurbishing an under-used sports pavilion and fitting it out to a high standard with a purpose-built kitchen, Italian coffee machines, and comfortable furniture. This required capital expenditure of £10k. The original coffee preparation area and serving counter has now been extended to include retail displays of gifts, clothing and family items.

Adcote School

Adcote School is situated in a Grade I listed country house built for the Darby family (of Ironbridge fame). In the last 12 months the pupil roll at the school has grown by 40 per cent.

In managing the step change brought about by this growth, the school looked at expenditure closely. The second highest cost for the school (after staff salaries) were the heating bills. The heating system was outdated and inefficient: it used, in winter, 100 gallons of fuel a day. It successfully applied for a Carbon Trust loan. It looked at a range of new boilers but eventually decided on an innovative multi-fuel boiler which burns any flammable liquid.

The boilers were installed and have been using waste oil from Scottish Wind turbines, at 29p a litre. The school is saving £30,000 in fuel costs. Carbon emissions have gone down from 227 tonnes to zero.

Chinthurst School

Chinthurst School was using an outdated ICT network that was in need of significant refurbishment. With the support of the parents' association, head Ian Thorpe considered the options for creating a state-of-the-art facility.

It was decided to link the project with the rehousing of the Spanish Room opposite the French Room to create a language section within the school's academic block.

Mr Thorpe approached Cisco and explained how Chinthurst was using ICT and outlined his vision for the future for school technology.

Cisco created a network capable of supporting the improvements and offered a support package in return for training opportunities for its apprentices.

Reliability and speed of the network is greatly improved, allowing for greater connectivity between the main school and pre-prep, along with a vital link to administration.

Winner: Kilgraston School

Kilgraston has invested significantly in sports facilities. £1 million was spent on a state-of-the-art indoor swimming pool. The school offers competitive training in the early mornings and staff swim sessions at lunchtime. The pool is used at weekends for swimming lessons and free swims for the local community. During the holidays the school organises non-residential camps and rents out the pool to residential swim schools.

2008 saw the construction of a 60m x 40m floodlit arena for show-jumping and dressage practice. Kilgraston is the only school in Scotland with an onsite equestrian centre. Camps are held throughout the holidays and are oversubscribed.

Most recently, the school has invested £0.5 million in developing hockey and tennis academies. It built an international-size floodlit all-weather hockey pitch and resurfaced eight tennis courts.

Annual profits from facility lets has reached £160k and has attracted many new boarding pupils to the school.

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