IN THE COMPANY OF: Richard Rooze, Bursar at Ashville College in Harrogate

Name: Richard Rooze

Company name: Ashville College

Job title: Bursar (COO)

Company address: Green Lane, Harrogate, HG2 9JP

Website address: www.ashville.co.uk

Company founded: 1877

Number of staff: 250

In a nutshell, what does your company do and how did it start?

It is a co-educational independent day and boarding school that provides an all through education for children aged 2-18.

It started in 1877 as a school for the sons of methodist clergy.

What is your role within the business?

I’m responsible for everything non-academic – all the people who keep the place running behind the scenes.

That includes everything from the budgets and accounts to the cleaning, the catering and the people mowing the cricket pitches.

If you weren't doing this, what would you be doing?

I think I would still be in the education sector, but possibly abroad.

Before joining Ashville I spent a long time overseas promoting UK education.

What motivates you?

I like the challenge of making things run better – both the problem-solving and the people side.

It’s very satisfying when you’re in a good team of people who all know what they’re doing and how to make a contribution.

What is one thing that you wish you had known when you started out in business?

You can’t solve every problem yourself and you will burn yourself out if you try, or to put it more positively, if you want colleagues to grow and develop, you have to trust them and let them run with things.

What excites you about business?

The variety and the constant challenge – there’s always a slightly different issue around the corner.

What is your pet hate within business?

I dislike companies who don’t listen to their customers – the kind of people who talk in corporate buzzwords and waffle.

I prefer to work with partners where there are some genuinely shared goals and values.

What advice would you give to people just starting their careers?

Keep learning – the end of school or university is not the end of learning, it’s the beginning.

If you are open-minded and humble enough to learn from the people you meet, you will go much further than someone who thinks they already have all the answers.

Who in business do you most admire, and why?

People who are creative and who have given something back.

Bill Gates and the work he has done with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, for example, or Sal Khan of Khan Academy.

What moments of your career so far stand out?

In my working life abroad, I was lucky enough to sign a number of long-term education partnerships between the UK and other countries.

That felt like a significant contribution to the UK’s influence and potential prosperity.

In general, I am always very happy to leave a position, knowing that things are much better than they were when I arrived.

Did the Covid-19 pandemic affect your business? If so, how did you adapt during such a tough time and what did you learn?

Covid was a massive challenge for the education sector.

Schools moved online extremely quickly and teachers made a huge effort to update their IT skills when they needed to.

It showed us that both children and adults can adapt.

Is your business currently experiencing any challenges at the moment?

Like everybody else, I think we’ve felt the pressure on costs this year – energy, food, staff and so on.

What sets your company apart from the competition?

Ashville is the perfect size for a school – I think.

It’s big enough to offer everything that children want to do (academic subjects as well as sports, music, drama and so on), but not so big that a child gets lost or left behind.

We can get to know every child and we have the time and space to try and understand where they’re going and what’s best for them.

Have you got a five-year plan for the company?

Of course – there are lots of things we would like to do to develop the school and our campus further.

There’s a constant need to invest and update facilities to stay relevant as the needs and interests of young people change.

Why is it good to do business in Harrogate?

It’s a well-established market where people know what they want, and they recognise a good-quality business when they see one.

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