There is something particularly poignant about the closure of a school. The sound of instruments being played, the cheerful pictures on classroom walls, the life given to a street by children milling about, all that can suddenly disappear.
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Sam Leith
Nicola Sturgeon is no victim
Unfortunately, for many independent schools, the possibility of closure is edging ever nearer, and in some cases has already happened. This is a result of wider pressures facing such schools, including declining birth rates and increases in the cost of living. But one factor that has undoubtedly made things worse is the hostile environment facing the independent sector under the present government – in particular its decision, starting from January 2025, to impose VAT on all private schools and to abolish business rates relief for schools that were charities from April that year, as well as to increase employer’s National Insurance contributions from the same month.
