Schools in England using Airbnb-style strategy to raise funds

Schools are turning to Airbnb-type tactics to raise much-needed funds, renting out every available space from classrooms to cafes, holding puppy training in their car parks and wrestling competitions in their gyms.

One state school, which asked to remain anonymous, said it raised over £700,000 in letting fees last year. But many others are also raising substantial sums by becoming increasingly innovative in the spaces they rent out.

Wyvil primary school in Vauxhall, south-west London, rents out its “light-filled white corridor” for photoshoots. New Rickstones academy in Witham, Essex, is offering its beauty room to anyone who wants “a high quality hair and beauty salon”. Stroud Green school in east London is offering a “well lit” hall with a “vaulted ceiling” for “music, dance, or theatre rehearsals, or film/photoshoots.”

West Hill primary school in Wandsworth, south-west London, advertises a stationary double decker bus it uses as a fun classroom to people who want to make “quirky films”.

“All schools are looking for unique ways to raise additional revenue and we thought our bus could be an unusual, characterful and fun way to potentially do that, while also getting our school more known in the local community,” said Tahira Khan, the school’s business manager.

Schools typically advertise through a range of dedicated online platforms. One primary school in Brent that uses the Sharesy platform has generated £21,800 so far this year and expects to exceed £25,000 by the end of 2023.

“Schools aren’t naturally commercial but they’re having to think of additional revenue streams and are becoming increasingly innovative with what they’re looking at – even though the obvious options of the playing fields and main halls remain the main money-spinners,” said Felix Atkin, founder and CEO of Sharesy.

“We have special needs schools that have sensory rooms and soft play areas: these are particularly popular to rent out for children’s parties and can generate up to £300 a party,” he said. “We also have schools that rent out their car parks at the weekends for puppy training and food markets.”

Headteachers have said that education is in danger of being reduced to a “barebones, boilerplate model”. Last month in England, budgets were slashed even further after a government blunder cut £370m from money they had been promised in July.

In a small study this year, Sharesy found that 87% of 50 schools not listed on their platform rent out their venues to cover staffing costs. Concerns have been raised, however, that the line between education and commercialism could become too blurred: some communities have protested after their local schools mooted selling advertising space inside and on the sides of their buildings.

Brandon Bennett from School Space, which works with 49 partner schools from 14 different multi-academy trusts in Greater London and the south of England, said schools were hosting an increasingly wide range of after-hours activities.

“School Space and our partner, Tutti Space, target creators – people doing music videos, interviews, film and photo shoots, recordings, performances – to help them find niche spaces,” he said. “The film and TV industry particularly are always looking for interesting spaces that match the script they’re working on. We’ve had requests for science labs, specific-looking corridors – that could double as a hospital, perhaps – and other niche requests. We’ve facilitated weekend markets to wrestling events.”

Average yearly incomes for schools on School Space’s platform is £88,800, with their biggest school earner making £228,199 in lettings booked this year. “We see an average increase in income of 170% in the first six months of handling lettings for schools,” he said.

Some of the biggest secondary schools are making both a saving and an income by installing solar panels on their roofs, with the support of community benefit societies.

“If a school is big enough, it can make money both by replacing its main electricity and through the profits that come through as additional income,” said Ann Flaherty, the director of Solar for Schools. “Schools massively welcome the relief this gives their finances. They tell me they spend the money on stationery and books.”

Renting out school car parks on sites such as YourParkingSpace and JustPark is another popular option: many schools take advantage of their proximity to sporting and entertainment venues to offer space during weekends. Some even undercut local parking charges: one further education college in Oxford charges less than the council and shopping centre for parking at weekends.

Charlie Gothold from SchoolHire said that schools were able to undercut local businesses because “any extra money they can raise is a plus”.

Gothold said that the only limit is schools’ ability to recruit staff to handle the administration and be on site when the bookings take place. “Schools have to have the staff to cope with what is like a business: they need someone doing the admin and someone has to be there to open and close the premises, and make sure the people renting the space are behaving,” he said.