The Charity Commission has opened a regulatory compliance case to assess financial and governance concerns raised at a Kent private school which entered administration in April.
The Save St Lawrence campaign group reportedly raised concerns with the regulator over how finances were managed and the decision-making in the period leading up to the administration.
Registered as a charity under the name the Corporation of St Lawrence College, the school also submitted a serious incident report to the commission relating to its finances.
Founded in 1879, the school formally entered administration on 8 April, with FRP Advisory appointed as administrators.
It previously had around 500 students and closed with immediate effect to all students apart from those in Year 11 and Year 13, who are staying until they have completed their GCSE and A-Level exams.
According to local news reports, some 166 employees were made redundant, with 44 retained to support the exam-year students.
Scrapped merger plans
The school had previously announced a proposed merger with another nearby private school, Dover College.
This was due to what St Lawrence’s governors described as the “severe effect of financial pressures caused by falling pupil numbers, the imposition of VAT on fees, the removal of the exemption from business rates and the effect of Covid”.
However, in March, the school announced that it had decided against the merger after what it described as “significant, clear and voluble reaction around the school community”.
Its most recently filed accounts for the year ending 31 August 2024 showed an operating deficit, with a total annual income of £11.9m against expenditure of £13.4m.
A Charity Commission spokesperson said: “We have opened a regulatory compliance case to assess financial and governance concerns raised with us about The Corporation of St Lawrence College.
“Our assessment will determine any next steps.”
St Lawrence College has been approached for comment.
