Private schools merge as SNP cuts tax relief
TWO of Scotland’s top private schools are set to merge following growing financial pressures, only a day after SNP ministers announced plans for a £5million tax grab.
Morrison’s Academy in Crieff and Beaconhurst School in Bridge of Allan will create one institution from the beginning of the 2018/19 school year.
The move was revealed to parents hours after the Scottish Government confirmed plans to strip independent schools of the ability to use charitable status to claim relief on business rates.
Morrison’s Academy – former school of Ewan McGregor – will take over the management of the ‘enlarged organisation’, with Beaconhurst bosses yesterday warning of redundancies for teachers at the two establishments.
Yesterday angry parents claimed they were given little warning over the merger – which will see senior school pupils who attend Beaconhurst School in Stirlingshire, forced to travel to Morrison’s Academy in Perthshire, from the beginning of the new school year. Officials claimed that the threat of soaring fees was expected to lead to a fall in the number of youngsters attending private schools – a major factor in the merger.
Tom Preston, chairman of the Board of Governors at Beaconhurst School, said: ‘It is no secret that the cost of a private education in Scotland has been increasingly problematic for families and schools alike. Our priority has been on creating a sustainable solution to secure the best for our pupils.’
His comments come only a day after independent school chiefs warned that they would be forced to hike fees, slash bursaries and funded places in a bid to keep up with soaring business rates bills.
It is understood parents at Beaconhurst School and Morrison’s Academy were sent an email on Monday evening informing them of the merger.
Mr Preston yesterday said that there had been a marked decline in senior pupil numbers at Beaconhurst, which will keep its nursery and junior school, in recent years.
He said: ‘This is a very difficult and uncertain time for our senior school staff as we go through the process of establishing how the transfer of pupils to Morrison’s Academy will affect them. We will be giving them as much support as we can and we are committed to keeping redundancies to a minimum.’
Morrison’s Academy’s nursery and junior school will not be affected by the changes.
Scottish Conservative education spokesman Liz Smith said: ‘This move makes good sense given the current economic climate and I am sure it will also bring substantial educational benefit.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘The independent Barclay Review of non-domestic rates concluded that the current position where independent schools benefit from reduced or zero rates bills while state schools do not was unfair and the inequality should end through the removal of the relief.’
‘Secure the best for our pupils’