PARENTS have complained to the Charity Commission in a bid to shed some light on an unpopular decision to close a successful girls’ school.
The E Ivor Hughes Educational Foundation that runs the undersubscribed Peterborough and St Margaret’s School in Common Road, Stanmore, announced earlier this year it will shut the school at the end of the academic year in view of a £250,000 deficit in its accounts.
The Society of Parents and Friends of Peterborough and St Margaret’s School, which was unhappy it was not consulted by the trustees to help find a solution to stave off closure, sent the foundation 15 questions it wanted answering ahead of a meeting on Monday.
Nothing was forthcoming, so the society decided to launch its complaint.
Sue Palmer, whose daughter attended the school and whose granddaughter is a pupil, said: “The parents’ association realises the school can’t possibly be saved, but we want to get to the bottom of why there was so little effective governance and why they would not give us a chance to save the school.
“We don’t think the closure was handled correctly and we thought there was a duty on the governors to find all means possible to keep the school going whereas, in fact, it proved to the contrary.”
The parents say an amendment was made to the foundation document and new clauses added, in March 2004, that were not signed off by the Charity Commission before being sent to Companies House, and they want this investigated.
They query the extension of powers granted to trustees and are concerned they were not consulted by the foundation prior to the changes being made.
Mrs Palmer said: “The Independent Schools Inspectorate in its inspections of 2004 and 2009 recommended more governors and that one of them is meant to be an educationalist. It said there should be more than five and less than 20 governors but there’s only three, and the bursar.”
Trustee Andrew Olins told the Observer: “Peterborough and St Margaret’s School is one of many independent day schools which over the last two or so years have been forced to close. No one is to blame for the closure.
“There were various reasons why Peterborough and St Margaret’s School became financially unviable. The school roll dropped to 102 from a high of 250 and the reasons include the economic climate and the growth in religious schools. It was a confluence of factors which could not be overcome.”
Mr Olins said he sent a reply to The Society of Parents and Friends on June 18. He declined to comment on the number of governors, the governors’ financial benefits, and providing minutes of trustee meetings.
