PRIVATE schools in Worcestershire have made some big changes over the past 12 months – and there are more to come.
They include significant fee decisions, reacting to VAT-related pressures, and a proposed closure.
Many of these issues are having an impact nationally, with parents saying they are moving their children into the state system due to the cost pressures.
Here is a run-down of the three main changes:
Fees and VAT
A Worcester independent school is to raise fees by 16 per cent, with governors blaming funding pressures, including being forced to pay VAT.
Leaders at King’s School in College Green have attributed the rise to financial pressures, including a decision to make independent schools pay VAT on fees, a charge from which they had previously been exempt.
The King’s Worcester Foundation is a family of three co-ed independent day schools for pupils between the ages of two and 18, including King’s Worcester and King’s Hawford.
Since January last year, the Government has applied VAT at 20 per cent to school fees, a burden which King’s has so far absorbed.
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However, the school fees per term at King’s Worcester rise to £8,284 (including VAT) from this September.
The Government says the VAT change will raise £1.8 billion a year by 2029/30 to help fund public services, including supporting the 94 per cent of children in state schools to “achieve and thrive”.
Another independent school, RGS Worcester, said in January that they would communicate any decisions to increase fees with parents but did not expect to see the scale of increases reported at King’s.
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HISTORIC: King’s School Worcester has a long history (Image: Newsquest)
Closures
Malvern St James school announced last month that the management board is proposing to close the school at the end of the academic year.
Chairman Nicholas Grenfell-Marten said: “Over a number of years, and despite sustained efforts by the school to secure its future, Malvern St James has experienced a significant and continuing decline in pupil numbers.
“This has been driven by a combination of national and local factors.
“Nationally, the introduction of VAT on school fees and increased employment costs have placed considerable pressure on the independent sector.
“Locally, the small class sizes and highly individualised education that are so valued by our parents and pupils mean that the school’s current model has become increasingly difficult to sustain.”
SCHOOL: Malvern St James could close at the end of the year (Image: Google Maps)
Mr Grenfell-Marten added that the board is proposing a “planned and orderly closure” with the interest of pupils, families and staff foremost in mind.
The closure will have a knock-on effect for other state and independent schools as families arrange other places for their children.
A few weeks later another Worcestershire private school announced that it will be closing its doors at the end of the summer term, less than a year after it opened.
St Michael Abbey School in Tenbury Wells said that it will cease operating as a day and boarding school at the end of this academic year.
Headteacher Matt Hire said: “The school is supporting its current students to secure new school placements and supporting its staff to secure new employment.”
It is still inviting immersion, university foundation, short-course and summer school enquiries at present.
The school opened its doors to pupils on the site of the former St Michael’s College in Tenbury Wells in September last year.
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PRINCIPAL: Ben Charles started his role at the King’s School, Worcester, in September 2025 (Image: The King’s School, Worcester)
‘Pupil drain’
Families nationally are pulling their children out of private schools, according to research.
In September 2025, one in five parents told a survey that they had already removed their child from their existing private school, either into a cheaper fee-paying alternative or away from the private system altogether.
Financial planning firm Saltus found: “The imposition of VAT on private school fees is forcing families to reconsider their children’s education.”
The research also found that 71 per cent of ‘high net worth’ parents whose children remain in the independent sector have either made – or will have to make – financial sacrifices to enable their children to remain in private education.
