Second private school with special needs children blames Labour’s tax raid for closure

It comes after Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said many private schools “pledged poverty and say people will be outbid” by the proposals.

Mr Streeting said on BBC Question Time on Thursday: “I say to headteachers you will have to cut your cloth accordingly, as state schools have had to do.”

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 bigger and wealthier private schools would be largely shielded from Labour’s planned tax raid.

Downham, which teaches children up to the age of 13, has taken a hit to its finances during the pandemic, exacerbated by rising energy bills following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The school and its on-site nursery, which will remain open for now, housed more than 150 children before Covid. But the numbers have fallen in recent years to 40 at the latest count, about a dozen of whom have special needs.

‘The Perfect Storm’

Ms Laffeaty-Sharpe said: “We’ve lost a lot of people to Covid… a lot of our parents, their businesses haven’t recovered. So many of them left and went to public schools. Then we had interest rates, energy bills and all that. But the tipping point is this 20 percent Labor (at VAT).

“That was just the final nail in the coffin because (the parents) just 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 were 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 expressed concern about whether her students could find a state school “that will welcome them and is right for them”.

“There is an extreme lack of places for children with special needs, there is simply nowhere for them,” she said. “And that’s why we have so many of them, because they’re kids who have been to state schools and they can’t handle the class sizes.

“Most of our children don’t go to other private schools, they go to state education because the parents can’t afford this 20 percent. But some of them (local schools) said we only have one place, so parents have to take them a little further.”

The wider Norfolk area has thousands of unfilled places, with just 12% of primary schools in the local authority full or over capacity last year, according to Department for Education figures.

However, some families in west Norfolk have complained of having to travel far to find schools with places, alongside poor special needs provision in the region.

The Government has approved two new schools for special needs pupils in Downham Market and Great Yarmouth, but they are not due to open until 2026.

Downham was due to celebrate his 40th birthday this summer but will instead host a farewell party. Mrs 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 a cry” and has rented bouncy castles. , sumo wrestler costumes and bungee jumping for the event.

It comes after The Telegraph revealed last week that Alton School in Hampshire will also close this summer, with parents accusing Sir Keir’s plans of forcing them to turn their children away.

The 20% levy could have added up to £3,600 to the Catholic school’s current £18,000 fees.

The Independent Schools Council (ISC) has suggested that Downham Prep School is 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 in the coming months and years as smaller community schools are hit with 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 provide unique education options for families – particularly SEND support – as well as jobs for local people.”

A survey published last month found that 42 percent of students – 224,000 children – could be forced out of private schools.