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Private school saved from closure

Posted on 11th August 2008

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Bournemouth's Wentworth College is to remain open, thanks to a buy out by an education charity.

Economic difficulty and falling pupil numbers meant the girls' private school was facing closure but the United Church Schools Trust (UCST) has intervened, the Financial Times reports.

UCST currently owns 11 other private schools in the UK and is set to reopen Wentworth's doors in September, continuing plans to become co-educational.

However, a source told the newspaper: "If 90 per cent of the parents have already organised to go to an alternative education establishment, the present situation may not be viable."

Last week the Dorset Echo reported that a parents' group had raised £250,000 in a bid to save the 137-year-old college.

ATL independent schools adviser John Richardson recently called for stricter rules to govern private school buyouts, stating that government tests should "keep out the cowboy developers".
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