HUNDREDS of children have been left scrambling for new classes after the sudden closure of their £12,000-a-year independent school weeks before their exams.

Newlands School, in Seaford, East Sussex, wrote to 450 parents yesterday telling them that it was closing immediately after going into administration.

The closure leaves about 100 GCSE and A-level pupils facing turmoil. Yesterday pupils began the Easter school holidays by removing boxes of coursework and files as they search for a new school.

Brighton and Eastbourne colleges have offered to take as many GCSE and A-level pupils as possible and to carry out last-minute assessments tomorrow. “We’ve already had over 100 calls this morning. For GCSE and A-level students we are prepared to add one or two to a set, but we cannot expand above 14 for any of them,” Richard Cairns, the head of Brighton College, said.

Pupils who cannot find places were advised to contact the local education authority who could liaise with schools and colleges. If classes cannot be found, the LEA should be able to find sites where exams could be taken.

Newlands said that it had endured two years of financial difficulties caused by a fall in the number of pupils, and that attempts to rescue the school over the weekend had failed. The school said that its landlords had refused to allow an independent group of schools to take over its lease.

Until the end of last week, Newlands governors hoped that they had secured the school’s future by agreeing to join Cognita, one of the biggest groups of private schools.

The school, which had annual profits of £200,000 over recent years, is thought to have incurred debts after it bought a house for its boarders. However, the school had to go into administration after it became clear that the trustees and owners of the land and most of the school buildings would not reassign the lease. The governors said: “Whilst we are extremely appreciative of the support that we received from Cognita, who were very impressed with the school, it unfortunately did not prove possible to reach agreement with the school’s landlords. Having exhausted the available options unfortunately the school must now close.”

Although the school is a listed building, some said that they believed that the Chittenden family, which set up the school 15 years ago, wished to sell it for a greater profit. “The family is clearly putting their narrow financial interests above those of 400 children,” said Norman Baker, the MP for nearby Lewes, adding that he would oppose any commercial development of the land.

Jonathan Klus, from Seaford, whose children Harry, 11, and Charlie, 9, have attended the school for nearly eight years, said parents were devastated. “I heard about it on Monday when someone sent me a text message. The closure has left us stunned because you do not expect this to happen. It’s happened so quickly, leaving us with just a couple of weeks to find a new school,” he said.

Last night the Chittenden family issued a statement saying that they were surprised and disappointed by the closure. However, Chris Woodhead, the former chief inspector of England’s schools and head of Cognita, said that if the landlords were prepared to change their minds, the school could continue.

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