Second private school blames Labour’s tax raid for closure
‘It’s not all rich kids’ here, says principal of Norfolk institution that caters for many children with special needs
Labour’s tax raid on private education has claimed another victim, with a school where almost a third of pupils have special needs set to close next month.
Downham Preparatory School in
Norfolk will shut at the end of the school term as a result of financial pressures, blaming
Sir Keir Starmer’s plans to charge 20 per cent on VAT “straight away” if Labour wins the
general election.
The principal said that the
prep school, which charges half the national average, would have been forced to pass on the levy onto “ordinary parents like plumbers and electricians”, most of whom could not afford fee rises.
A third of pupils at the family-run school, which caters for children with special educational needs (
SEND), have complex needs ranging from autism to social and emotional problems.
Elizabeth Laffeaty-Sharpe, the founder and principal, warned that they will struggle to have their needs met in state schools, forcing parents to send them further afield.
She said: “We will not be the only one. There will be more following us. Small schools just cannot survive this.”
“A big school like
Eton or
Harrow, they’ve got masses of money,” she added. “My parents are ordinary parents, like plumbers and electricians. They’re not rich people. They are people who, for one reason or another, want a small, caring school for their child.
“They’ve got an old banger, they don’t go on holiday. For some of them, the grandparents pitch in as well and help pay the fees. Until a few years ago, one of the grandparents was a cleaner here to contribute towards her granddaughter’s fees.
“I’ve read people saying ‘oh boohoo, I feel sorry for these rich kids.’ It’s not all rich kids, we’re just your local little primary school providing a service mostly for children who can’t cope in big classes.”
It comes after
Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said that many private schools have “pleaded poverty and say people will be priced out” by the proposals.
Mr Streeting said on
BBC Question Time on Thursday: “I say to the headteachers, you’re going to have to cut your cloth accordingly like state schools have had to.”
Downham charges £7,800 a year for its younger pupils and £11,820 a year for students in years 7 and 8. The national average for private school fees was £15,200 last academic year, according to the
Institute for Fiscal Studies.
‘Completely wrong’
But Ms Laffeaty-Sharpe said Mr Streeting had got it “completely wrong”, and that larger, wealthier private schools would largely be shielded from Labour’s planned tax raid.
Downham, which teaches children up to the age of 13, suffered a blow to its finances during the pandemic, exacerbated by soaring energy bills in the fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The school and its on-site nursery, which will remain open for now, were home to more than 150 children before Covid. But numbers have dropped over the past few years to 40 at the most recent count, around a dozen of whom have special needs.
‘Perfect storm’
Ms Laffeaty-Sharpe said: “We lost a lot of people in Covid… a lot of our parents, their businesses have not recovered. So a lot of them have left and gone to state schools. Then we had the interest rates, energy bills and all of that. But the tipping point is this Labour 20 per cent [on VAT].
“That was just the last nail in the coffin, because [parents] simply can’t afford it.”
She said it was the “perfect storm” but that Labour’s plan was “the straw that broke the camel’s back”.
“We’re borrowing money, so we couldn’t absorb any of that,” she said. “So we’re closing. July 11 is our last day.”
Ms Laffeaty-Sharpe raised concerns over whether her pupils will be able to find a state school “that will take them and is suitable for them”.
“There’s an extreme lack of places for children with special needs, there’s just nowhere for them,” she said. “And so that’s why we’ve got such a lot of them, because they’re children who have been to state schools and can’t cope with the size of the classes.
“Most of our children are not going into other private schools, they’re going into state education because the parents can’t afford this 20 per cent. But some of them [local schools] have said we’ve only got one place, so parents are having to take them a bit further afield.”
The wider Norfolk area has thousands of unfilled places, with just 12 per cent of primary schools in the local authority full up or running over capacity last year, according to figures from the
Department for Education.
However, some families in west Norfolk have complained of having to travel far afield to find schools with places, alongside poor special needs provision in the region.
The Government has approved two new schools for pupils with special needs in Downham Market and Great Yarmouth, but they are not due to open until 2026.
Downham was due to celebrate its 40th anniversary this summer, but will instead be hosting a farewell party. Ms Laffeaty-Sharpe, who founded the school and nursery in 1984 after moving to Downham Market and failing to find suitable provision for her son, is determined “to go out with a bang, rather than go out crying,” and has hired bouncy castles, sumo wrestler costumes and bungee jumps for the event.
It comes after The Telegraph revealed last week that
Alton School in Hampshirewill also shut this summer, with parents blaming Sir Keir’s plans for forcing them to remove their children.
The 20 per cent levy could have added as much as £3,600 to the Catholic school’s current £18,000 fees.
The Independent Schools Council (ISC) suggested Downham Prep School was a far more typical example of the smaller schools that will fall victim to Labour’s tax proposals than the stereotype peddled by critics.
‘Unprecedented tax’
Julie Robinson, general secretary of the ISC, said: “There is a real concern that we will see more stories like Elizabeth’s over the coming months and years as smaller community schools are hit by an unprecedented tax on education.
“We are calling for a full impact assessment to understand the effects this policy would have on the viability of such schools, which often offer unique education options for families – especially SEND support – as well as employment for local people.”
A survey published last month found that 42 per cent of pupils – 224,000 children – could be forced out of private schools.
Sir Keir risks a union backlash too, with bosses failing to rule out strike action if private school teachers are made redundant as a result of the levy.
The president of the Independent Schools Association,
Lord Lexden, said that Labour must say whether it would drop the policy if the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said it would cost more than it would make.
Labour has promised to spend the £1.7 billion it claims charging VAT on school fees will create on plans to recruit 6,500 new state school teachers.
The party also wants to create a new national “oracy” programme to raise language standards, and to ensure all state schools in England have access to mental health counselling.
A Labour Party spokesman said: “Labour will invest in delivering a brilliant state education for children in every state school by recruiting over 6,500 new teachers, funded by ending tax breaks for private schools.
“Independent schools have raised fees above inflation for well over a decade and do not have to pass Labour’s proposed change onto parents.”
