Clare Jupp to lead newly launched School Fees Company

The Brightstar Group has appointed Clare Jupp as Managing Director of The School Fees Company; the Group’s newly launched specialist business designed to help families organise and fund school fees without compromising their long-term financial plans. Jupp, currently Chief People Officer at the Brightstar Group, will take on the new role alongside her existing responsibilities, bringing together a rare blend of education sector expertise, financial services leadership and parental experience within the independent school system.

A fully qualified secondary headteacher (BA Comb.Hons PGCE and NPQH) and with a Masters degree in Educational Management, Jupp spent 16 years working in the education sector, before joining the Brightstar Group where she led the development of the company’s award-winning people culture. During her tenure, Brightstar has twice won the ‘Sunday Times Best Small Company to Work For’.

Clare Jupp said: “I’m excited to bring together my experience across education and financial services at a time when families are increasingly looking for structured help to plan school fees.”

She added: “As a parent who has gone through the independent school journey, as an educationalist and as someone who has worked for 15 years in financial services, I have a 360-degree view of the challenges that families face, but also knowledge of how we can support them. Education is transformational and it is also about choice. The School Fees Company exists to support parents with their choices and to help them organise their finances in the way that best suits their individual circumstances.”

BUILDING MOMENTUM

The School Fees Company was recently introduced to parents at the St Joseph’s National Rugby Festival, with Q1 activity already scheduled including active engagement with key organisations, affiliations and national events, speaking engagements and the development of partner school relationships.

The firm’s model is based on proactive engagement with parent communities and schools – “going to them rather than waiting for them to come to us” – and working closely with professional advisers, including mortgage intermediaries, wealth managers and accountants, to deliver joined-up guidance on fee planning, lending and broader financial resilience.

TEAMWORK

A bespoke team has been established to support the business, including individuals who are former independent school parents and students, bringing lived experience of the sector, alongside financial planning and lending expertise. The team also includes a graduate apprentice who is linking her academic work directly to the development of The School Fees Company’s strategy.

ADVISER SUPPORT

The School Fees Company will work with intermediaries whose clients are funding school fees, helping them model different funding approaches; understand the longer-term impact on wealth, borrowing and retirement planning and integrating specialist school fee strategies into broader financial planning.

Jupp said the aim is not to promote one single route but to support informed choice. She said: “This is about trying to help anyone who pays school fees. For some, the right solution will involve structured finance; for others, it will mean better planning around savings or investments. What matters is that decisions are deliberate, informed and aligned to long-term goals.”

Published: 06 January 2026