An independent girls’ school has become the latest victim of the credit crunch. It has been forced to close after its bank suddenly called in a £750,000 loan.

Warnings of the plight of independent schools were issued yesterday after Wentworth College, in Bournemouth, went into administration.

The school was trying to reverse a declining school population by going co-educational from September, but was said to have attracted only 15 boys when it needed 75. It borrowed the money to build sports facilities for boys but the bank – thought to be Lloyds TSB – has now demanded payment with no notice.

Education professionals say that many more small schools face a similar fate as they struggle to cope with rising fuel and food costs, parents who cannot pay their fees and a reluctance by banks to lend money.

The 180-pupil secondary school, which charged £10,500 a year for day pupils and £17,000 a year for boarders, had 50 staff.

Teachers were on holiday when they were telephoned to be told that they had lost their jobs.

Yesterday a recorded telephone message told callers that administrators had been appointed but that exam results would be released as normal. A meeting between parents and the school governors will take place this evening.

The school is more than 100 years old and is based in a mansion in a prime location, yards from the beach, near the affluent Sandbanks peninsula. It had small class sizes, an indoor pool and tennis courts. A recent Ofsted report described it as outstanding.

David Richardson, acting chairman of the governors, said that he was devastated by the closure. “It came as a great shock,” he told The Times. “We are trying to save the school. We’re being optimistic and we think we have a chance, but we have to move fast. We are in a difficult situation. We now have to get something sorted within days.”

Mr Richardson said that if he had been given a month to rescue the school he believed he could have done so but he doubted that days would be enough. He said the school had spent hundreds of thousands of pounds to prepare to go co-ed in September and would not have done so if the governors had not believed that it would be open and teaching boys next term.

The administrators, Grant Thornton, will try to sell the school as a going concern, but nearby independent schools have already been flooded with inquiries from parents trying to move their children.

The school had offered sibling discounts to entice parents with daughters at the school to enrol their sons.

The national population of children of secondary age will decline in the next few years and this was acknowledged in a letter to parents last year from the school’s head, Sandra Coe. It said: “Based on demographic data from the Government, we predict an 8 to 10 per cent reduction in the number of school-age children in the local area over the next ten years. We cannot ignore these strong signals.”

It said that going co-educational would mark a new era for the school, which owns grounds and building said to be worth £11 million. Sources said that the loan, from one of the high street banks that recently announced problems, was called in late last week and that the school had no way of paying the full amount at once.

A spokesman for Grant Thornton said: “Given the current economic climate, linked with a short-term fall in pupil numbers and limited availability of funding, the board of governors took the decision to place Wentworth Milton Mount Ltd into administration.”

The company had charitable status and was operated by the board of governors. The school was a member of the Girls’ Schools Association, whose president, Vicky Tuck, the principal of Cheltenham Ladies’ College, said: “We’re not exempt from the winds of change. Schools are run as a business and the sums have to add up. One of the things parents expect is relatively small class sizes and it is hard to reduce costs quickly while keeping pupil numbers.

“If some parents are finding it tough it’s pretty obvious things could get difficult for some schools. We’ve all had to deal with soaring food and fuel costs, which is particularly difficult when you’re running a boarding school.

“In smaller schools you don’t have the economies of scale. It’s conceivable that other schools will go under – smaller prep schools will probably find it quite a challenge.”

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