Charity Commission opens case into school merger after concerns were raised
THE Charity Commission has opened a case looking into the merger of two of Coventry’s top private schools.
Last October, Bablake School and King Henry VIII School announced they were to merge and become one establishment by September 2021.
At the time, they said the new establishment would be called Coventry School, but that idea was scrapped after feedback from staff and parents.
It will now be called Bablake and King Henry VIII School (BKHS), which project lead of the merger and former Bablake Headmaster Andrew Knight said is “an important part of city history.”
This will mean that less than a year after the merger was announced, both schools, after years of rivalry and a combined history of 1,150 years, will become one.
So why has the Charity Commission opened a case into the merger?
More than 1,000 people voted in a Coventrylive poll last year that asked if they thought the merger of the two schools was a good idea. 69 per cent said no, 16 per cent said yes and 15 per cent said maybe.
The Telegraph asked the Charity Commission why they have opened a case investigating concerns around the schools merger.
A spokesperson for the Charity Commission said: “We are currently assessing information in relation to the concerns that have been raised with us to establish whether or not there is a role for the Commission. We cannot comment further at this time.”
The merger is being assessed as part of an ongoing regulatory compliance case into the charity, and is not a finding of wrongdoing. A compliance case is often opened to assess information.
The Telegraph heard from ‘Action 4 Henry’s and Bablake,’ an action group set up in the wake of the merger announcement.
They had 1,000 members join an online Facebook group they set up within a week of the announcement.
George Fisher, former head of King Henry VIII School and lead inspector within the Independent Schools Inspectorate, said: “It’s obvious to our members that a junior school and a senior school on completely different sides of a major city are not ‘one school.’
“Parents now have no idea who will be teaching their children after the summer and yet there is an unexplained rush to push through these major and historic changes quickly. The question must be asked, what is this process really about?”
Speaking through the group, one parent said: “Sadly with the two schools merging it has meant that we made the decision not to send our child to Henry’s.”
The Telegraph asked Andrew Knight, project lead of the merger about the Charity Commission opening a case.
Mr Knight said: “We understand that some of our stakeholders have been disappointed by our decision to restructure the schools, and this may be what has led to complaints to the Charity Commission, which has prompted them to open a regulatory compliance case.
“We take our responsibilities as a charity very seriously and we are cooperating fully with the Charity Commission’s fact-finding work. We are confident that the Commission will find that we have acted in line with our charitable aims and objectives and to enable the charity to continue to serve local young people for many years to come.”