King Henry VIII Pre-Prep School will be sold as parents urged to find elsewhere

[dutchman]

It will close for good on Friday, July 3



A soon-to-be shut Coventry school will be put on the market and sold to help ease 'unsustainable financial pressures'

CoventryLive reported that the Coventry School Foundation has decided to close King Henry VIII Pre-Prep School, known locally as Swallows.

It will shut its doors and classrooms for good at end of the academic year on Friday, July 3.

The foundation cited ''unsustainable financial pressures' as one of the reasons why the school will not stay open.

In its statement, it said that it will sell the Swallows to support its 'financial position'.

The move has left parents of pupils with only a handful of weeks to find a new school. They have been given the option to relocate their children to the Bablake equivalent or have simply been told to start looking elsewhere.

The Swallows staff also face an uncertain future as the foundation says it is 'committed to supporting them with care and sensitivity through a period of consultation'.

In a statement, Gordon Smith, the foundation's CEO, said: "I am very sad to have made such an important decision in such a short timescale. We recognise the difficulties this is presenting to our families and colleagues, and we are doing everything we can to support them."

The news about the closure of King Henry VIII Pre-Prep School comes in a week where the foundation also held a special meeting for Bablake parents.

It came after a report from the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI), which is appointed by the Department for Education to inspect association independent schools, found that standards relating to safeguarding and also to leadership and management, and governance are not being consistently met.

These are linked to the process of recruitment of staff.