ISC head of comms: 'Since VAT was introduced, we've seen over a hundred school closures'

Ms Cunnane said: "We have seen a real decline in both pupil numbers and the number of schools across the east of England – more than half a dozen closures have happened since VAT was introduced – and there's also been a 3.6% pupil loss across the east of England, which is also the national average.

"Where schools are closing, there'll be myriad reasons why that is the case. What most schools have found is that VAT has proven a bridge too far; schools that otherwise might have survived, schools that could have survived the loss in pupils, are finding that VAT has been a bit of a death blow for them, whether that's with the extra pupil loss or the money they've had to absorb."

On the financial constraints schools are facing, she said: "The budgets of schools are very inflexible. The majority of any school's budget will be on teachers, and regardless of how many pupils a school has it will cost the same to light the building, to heat the building, so there's very few ways a school can lower its budget significantly at a time when they're losing more pupils than they have in the past." 

Describing the typical demographic of fee-paying families, she explained: "We've found that the majority of independent school parents are dual working families where one income is put aside for those school fees. In the case of schools like Thetford Grammar School, fees are actually well below the national average. They also provide bursaries – around 1 in 3 students at an ISC school will be on some form of fee assistance – so schools do all they can to make sure that the fees are as affordable as possible for families."

Reflecting on the impact of school closures, she continued: "It really is [disruptive] – for pupils who are settled, for families who had found the school that was right for their child. There is an issue where students might be halfway through their exams and can't find a school that offers either the same subject – or even if the same subject is offered it might not be under the same exam board, or they might have been doing the syllabus in a slightly different order – so in particular, those students who are going through exam years are those who are going to be most disrupted by a school closure.

"We know that since VAT was introduced we've seen over a hundred school closures – we're seeing an average of 1-2 school closures a week at the moment – so unfortunately, yes, we do expect more schools to close over the coming months and years."