Cognita

Cognita Schools
Privately held company
Industry Independent schools
Founded 2004
Founders Englefield Capital and Sir Chris Woodhead
Headquarters Milton Keynes, England
Number of locations
 66 schools (2014)
Area served
 United Kingdom, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, Vietnam, Brazil and Chile
Key people
 Rees Withers
Owner Bregal Fund and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts L.P.
Website Cognita

Cognita, a subsidiary of Cognita Topco Limited registered in Jersey, is a private for-profit company which owns and operates independent schools throughout the United Kingdom, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, Vietnam, Brazil and Chile and is expanding in Asia and Latin America.[1][2] Based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, UK, Cognita currently has a portfolio of 66 schools, employs some 4,600 teachers and educates around 30,000 children in a variety schools, including nursery, pre-preparatory, preparatory and senior schools as well as all-through bilingual and international schools.[3]

In 2014 revenue was £264.7 million with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of £44.7 million before exceptional costs and the company posts losses annually with 2014 losses of £68.9 million.[4]

History

Cognita was formed in October 2004 by its management and Englefield Capital, a private equity firm, now called Bregal Capital, and its former chairman, Sir Chris Woodhead, the former Chief Inspector of Schools in England.[5] From 2004 Cognita started operating its first school, Quinton House School in Northampton. Later in 2004, Cognita acquired the Asquith Court Group, bringing a further 18 schools into the group. From 2004 until 2007, they continued to buy independent schools within the UK.

In 2007 Cognita spread internationally acquiring schools in Spain and Asia. Cognita established its first school from inception in 2009, Stamford American International School in Singapore. Also in this year, a group of three international schools were purchased in Thailand. Schools in Vietnam joined Cognita in 2011, and in 2012, Cognita bought their first school in South America, in Brazil.[6]

In August 2012 Cognita questioned the financial viability of it's Ffynone House School in Swansea.[7] Following lobbying and negotiation by parents and staff of the school,[8] Cognita agreed to surrender the school to it's lessor, Ffynone House School charitable trust, from which Cognita had leased the school. Cognita paid the trust £535,000 as a surrender sum and 10 years rent in advance of £270,000 and the school continues to operate with an operating surplus.[9]

On May, 6th, 2013 the formerly majority British-owned company Cognita agreed to be invested in by the American private equity firms KKR Kohlberg Kravis Roberts L.P.[10]

In June 2013, Cognita expanded its network of Latin American schools through a partnership with Chilean private schools group Desarrollos Educacionales (DDEE). DDEE is a private schools group Chile, operating nine national curricular day schools under the Pumahue and Manquecura brands.[11]

In April 2014, Cognita transferred ownership of Ferndale Preparatory School, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, to Ferndale Preparatory School Limited, a parent-led consortium.[12][13]

Criticisms

Cognita has been accused of pension irregularities.[14]

In 2012, Cognita staff were instructed to impersonate parents and take tours of competing schools in Wales. This conduct was defended as a "normal" way of assessing the competition.[15]

In 2012 Judge Robert Reid QC ruled that the Cognita-owned Milbourne Lodge in Esher, Surrey, had acted unfairly in removing two children, aged eight and six, without warning after the children’s parents criticized the school’s parents’ association, the Friends of Milbourne Lodge, for lack of transparency in its fundraising and spending. The Judge said that the parents’ association was “somewhat shadowy” and a “shambles”.[16]

Cognita's management of Southbank International School was criticised in 2011, with parents groups claiming it has "no serious interest in maximising the educational experience of ... children if it impacts on their bottom line".[17]

Southbank International School was accused of inadequately vetting staff after a teacher, William Vahey, was found to have abused pupils over several years.[18] The article also quotes the School's Chairman of Governors, Sir Chris Woodhead, stating the school carried out checks dating back 17 years on Vahey, though Cognita failed to identify that Vahey had been previously convicted of child sex offences including a conviction in California in 1969.[19]

Parents at Cognita's Saint Andrews Sukhumvit 107 School in Bangkok, Thailand, prepared a petition containing an open email to Sir Chris Woodhead alleging lack of transparency and a disdain for parental views following a decision by Brian Rogove, Cognita’s Asia Pacific CEO, to change the leadership of the school.[20]

In 2012 Cognita's former director of education, Geraint Jones, was quoted as saying "13 weeks’ paid holiday is enough compensation for hard work during term time" and that "teachers have a duty to go beyond their classroom duties", indicating that putting up wall displays, collecting dinner money, performing lunch duties and providing cover are vital tasks of the teaching job and should not be delegated to assistants.[21] Controversially, Mr Jones also publicly criticised the inefficiency of state schools stating that it "makes him sick".[22]

Mr Jones had also previously been involved in controversy as head teacher of Quinton House School at which former music teacher Sarah Cameron said her job became unbearable after she was put on a ‘hit list’ by Mr Jones. Miss Cameron brought a claim at an employment tribunal that the environment at Quinton House School became so ‘hostile’ that she was ‘too intimidated’ to turn up at the school for exam results having had her classroom moved to a cricket pavillion away from the main campus leaving her 'unsupported and isolated'.[23]

List of Cognita schools

Schools in the United Kingdom

Schools in Spain

Schools in Singapore

Schools in Thailand

Schools in Vietnam

Schools in Brazil

Schools in Chile

References

  1. ↑ Alistair Gray (12 March 2011). "Cognita looks abroad to expand". Financial Times. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
  2. ↑ David Turner (20 May 2009). "Gloom-hit schools see chances overseas". Financial Times. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
  3. ↑ Our Background
  4. ↑ "Education Investor". 12 January 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  5. ↑ "Current Investment - Cognita". Bregal Capital. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
  6. ↑ "Cognita History". Cognitaschools.com.
  7. ↑ "Ffynone House School Swansea future under threat".
  8. ↑ "Parents' joy as independent school's future is secured".
  9. ↑ "FHS Trust Trustees Annual Report" (PDF).
  10. ↑ "Article: Breaking: Cognita’s backers sell stake to KKR". EducationInvestor.
  11. ↑ Cognita (20 June 2013). "Cognita expands its Latin American network of schools through a partnership with Chilean private schools group". Cognitaschools.com.
  12. ↑ "Cognita History". Cognitaschools.com. April 2014.
  13. ↑ "Ferndale Community Website". faringdon.org. 27 April 2014.
  14. ↑ Daniel Boffey (10 June 2012). "Woodhead Schools Pension Probe". The Observer. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
  15. ↑ Lucy Sherrif (13 June 2012). "Woodhead Private schools expulsions". Huffington Post. Retrieved 13 June 201. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  16. ↑ "Cognita Expulsion Scandal".
  17. ↑ Daniel Boffey (10 April 2011). "Free schools: private firm Cognita 'milked profits'". The Observer. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  18. ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/apr/24/southbank-international-school-warned-vetting-william-vahey
  19. ↑ "Cognita Fails to Vet Child Sex Offenders".
  20. ↑ "Cognita Complaints in an Open Letter from Parents".
  21. ↑ "Cognita's Geraint Jones Controversial Comments".
  22. ↑ Irena Barker (19 October 2012). "State School Inefficiency Makes Me Sick". Times Educational Supplement. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  23. ↑ "Cognita's Geraint Jones Victimises Teacher".

External links