Public schools ‘should offer free flights to thank parents’

SCHOOLS should consider offering parents discounted flights as a “thank you” for taking an interest in their child’s education, a former head of Eton has said.

Tony Little argued that private schools must do more to build relationships with families and engage mothers and fathers in school life. “When you want to create this big sense of community, one way to achieve that is to say thank you,” he said.

While individual schools would find it difficult to do this, it might be possible for a group of schools to get together and do so, he said.

Mr Little earlier told a meeting of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses Conference, which represents independent school leaders: “There are school systems now aiming at achieving, on paper at least, neutral fees.

“That is to say, the amount of benefits you can derive, and by benefits I mean reduced flights on a particular airline, or whatever it might be, that the amount of benefit matches or exceeds the fee that they are paying in the first place.”

He said that he was “sufficiently oldfashioned” to dislike the idea but added “it kind of works, people like it”, particularly if it was helping to build a parental community around a school.