A Catholic prep school in Ilford, London, has confirmed that it is considering closure, due to 鈥渆conomic pressures鈥, rising costs and declining local birthrates.
The is understood to be the twelfth school this year to announce closure or possible closure since the start of January 2025.
The school, which official figures say has just 93 pupils but capacity for 300, said it had already broken the news to families and that its priority was 鈥渟upporting our community as best we can鈥.
The co-educational school for children aged 3 to 11, which charges fees of just under 拢14,000 a year, said in a statement: 鈥淔ollowing a comprehensive review, we have found that a range of external factors 鈥 such as economic pressures, rising operational costs, and declining birth rates locally 鈥 mean that we can no longer secure our long-term financial viability.
鈥淭herefore it is with great sadness that we have announced to our staff and families that we propose to close the school at the end of this academic year. Over the coming months, our priority will be supporting our community as best we can.鈥
In a letter to parents seen by the , chair of trustees Simon Bird said: 鈥”Over recent weeks and months it has become increasingly clear that the school鈥檚 financial position is not strong.
“It has become increasingly challenging to sustain the operating costs of the school鈥檚 offering, largely due to economic cost pressures beyond the school鈥檚 control, such as the ongoing cost of living, which resulted in fewer pupils in and around the local area being able to take up a place at The Ursuline Prep.
“The recent cost pressures imposed by the government 鈥 VAT, the removal of 80 per cent business rates relief and increasing employer NI (national insurance), are some of the drivers behind the cost pressures impacting the school鈥檚 future.”
He said that any closure would happen at the end of the academic year and pupils and families would see 鈥渘o change鈥 during the remainder of the year.
The announcement comes after the that Chancellor Rachel Reeves is reportedly spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on legal fees in defence of the government’s VAT on fees policy.
The newspaper said the chancellor has enlisted four King’s Counsels – the most senior and costly barristers in the country – to lead the government’s case when it goes to the High Court next month.
