Legal Action Begins with No Reprieve for Falcons School
Parents accuse owners of 'pure financial greed' over closure
Falcons Pre-prep School at Burnaby Gardens
October 26, 2023
The owners of the Falcons School in Chiswick have confirmed this Thursday (26 October) that plans to close the pre-preparatory school at the end of this term are to proceed.
This follows a consultation by Alpha Plus Group and Inspired Education on the proposal which they say this 'difficult decision' has become necessary due to falling numbers at the school on Burnaby Gardens. It is understood that the school, which has a capacity for 180 pupils saw the number of pupils fall from 90 in 2021 to just 62 when the closure plan was announced.
30 teachers and support staff are being made redundant.
Around sixty families still had boys attending the school at the start of the term and many now only have 30 working days to find alternative provision if they have not already done so.
A group of parents is commencing legal action on the basis that a term’s notice of closure is required and they were only informed on 7 September, the second day of the autumn term.
They also say that the consultation offered no alternative to closure and other options such as relocation to another site in Chiswick and admitting girls were not considered. Some of the parents believe that the owners wish to realise the value of the school's site by selling it to be developed into housing.
A call for the school to be kept open until the end of the academic year has received support from local MP Ruth Cadbury who earlier this month addressed two written questions to the Secretary of State for Education on the issue.
She was informed that the Minister had received no representations on the matter from the Alpha Plus Group and had not made any assessment on the ability of nearby local authorities to meet their statutory duty to provide schooling following the closure.
The parents say that requests to meet with the management of both Alpha Plus and Inspired Education, the investment company that recently acquired the group which runs a chain of high-profile independent schools across London including Wetherby which was attended by Princes William and Harry.
The parents released a statement saying, “The actions of Inspired Education/Alpha Plus are motived by pure financial greed. The distress and upset that this process has caused pupils, parents and staff has been immense. To be given less than 30 days to try to find alternative provision will be near on impossible and will be deeply damaging to pupils’ wellbeing.
“The multimillionaire owners have refused to listen to any of our concerns and have dismissed options to keep the school open out of hand, it is shocking that they have also refused to meet parents.
“They are also in clear breach of their own contractual obligations, and we will now be taking legal action against the owners. Their actions shame the independent school sector and it is clear that there are inadequate protections to safeguard pupils in the sector from the worst excesses of corporate greed.
“We would say to anyone thinking of sending their child to an Alpha Plus/Inspired School, don’t. It is clear that people who run these companies are motivated purely by money, not the wellbeing or quality of education of children.”
We have approached Alpha Plus for comment.
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