School Gate blog: six clues that your independent school may soon close down

Private schools are feeling the impact of the economic downturn. Ten schools have closed, six have been forced into mergers and three have converted into academies.

Small private schools fear the situation may become worse in January as parents default on fees invoiced this week.

St Catherine’s Prep School in Stockport is the latest victim. Parents have had to try to find places for their children at other schools after its closure was confirmed last week. In a letter to members of ATL, a teaching union, seen by The Times, the school’s governing body said that a “viable rescue plan” had not been found.

David Lyscom, the chief executive of the Independent Schools Council, said that the full impact of the economic downturn on the private sector was not yet clear. “Schools are concerned and are watching very closely to see what happens. They are getting parents coming to them asking how they might be able to deal with fees.”

But he added that anecdotal evidence from headteachers suggested that numbers of pupils are holding up.

Prep schools have taken the biggest hit. Seven closed this year because of financial difficulties, falling pupil numbers and a decline in the popularity of boarding.

Hugh Stevens, the headteacher at St Peter’s prep school in Burgess Hill, West Sussex, said parents’ inability to pay school fees contributed to its closure. “The state of the economy has of course played a part, with many of our parents affected,” he said.

In total ten schools have closed permanently in 2008, double the number known to have closed last year.

They include La Sargesse, a senior girls school in Jesmond; Wisper's girls school in Haselmere; Dorchester prep, in Dorset; Westbrook House, a prep school in Kent; Green Hill Prep School, in Evesham; Sandhurst Prep School, in Worthing; Rathvilly School in Birmingham and The Maltings in Halifax, which closed this month.

A further six have been forced to merge with larger schools.

Jonathan Cook, general secretary of the Independent Schools Bursars Association, said a minor drop in numbers can have a fatal effect on smaller schools. He said: “The small school business model is the one that is taking the strain. It's just now we are seeing a trickle of enquiries from schools about how they can get through the next financial period.”

But he added: “After your mortgage, school fees are the next big thing and parents do plan and know that moving a child mid-way through the year is not a good thing.”

Schools are offering parents the chance to spread the cost of fees over ten months rather than three lump sum payments in order to ease the financial burden.

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