Coronavirus: Private schools could be forced to close for good as pandemic impacts funds

Independent schools chief says struggling institutions could be ‘tipped over financial edge’

Private schools could face challenges with pupil recruitment this year due to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic (Getty Images)

More private schools could be forced to close their doors permanently to children due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, an independent schools chief has said.

Christopher King, chief executive of the Independent Association of Prep Schools (Iaps), said fee-paying schools which were already struggling could be “tipped over the financial edge” if they face challenges with pupil recruitment in the autumn.

The warning came after the Minster School in York, a prep school that provides choristers for the city’s cathedral, announced plans to close due to a cash shortfall.

Boris Johnson’s former prep school, Ashdown House in East Sussex, also announced it would shut at the end of the summer term because of financial challenges brought on by the Covid-19 crisis.

“I don’t think that there will be necessarily many closures of schools between now and September, but there could be more announced during the next academic year,” Mr King said.

“The concerns will arise because of the fundamental affordability of private education.”

The chief executive of Iaps, which has more than 600 members across the UK, suggested people would only commit to fee-paying schools if they felt “secure in employment”.

Mr King added that there were also concerns among boarding schools about whether the number of international families choosing to study in the UK would drop due to uncertainty caused by the pandemic.

Julie Robinson, chief executive of the Independent Schools Council (ISC), said approximately 10 private schools had announced closures in the past few months, while others had begun to discuss mergers.

“If we can get back into school soon, it becomes a temporary blip. The longer it goes on, the more of a concern it is,” Ms Robinson said.

“We know schools are considering their financial situation. Of course, they’re watching this really carefully and they’re having to plan for several different possible scenarios going into the next academic year.

“It’s a time of anxiety for the parents and for the school.”

A recent Office for National Statistics (ONS) survey found nearly two in three parents (63 per cent) in England said they did not feel confident sending their children back to school in June amid the pandemic.

The ONS study, of more than 1,200 adults between 28 and 31 May, also found 54 per cent of parents said they were either very or quite unlikely to send their children back to school this month.

Additional reporting by PA