Nicholas Grenfell-Marten, the chairman of Galaxy Global\u2019s management board, said it was proposing to close Malvern St James with \u201cgreat sadness\u201d.<\/p>\n
In a statement he added: \u201cOver 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cNationally, the introduction of VAT on school fees<\/a> 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\u2019s current model has become increasingly difficult to sustain.\u201d<\/p>\n Nearby private schools immediately organised dedicated open days to help families \u2014 one on Friday and another on Saturday \u2014 but faced accusations on social media that they were pouncing to shore up their own numbers.<\/p>\n One person wrote on Mumsnet: \u201cIt strikes me as another from the increasing list of already struggling private schools which are closing, after trying increasingly desperate tactics (acquisition; mixed sex; changes of staff) to stave off the inevitable. The potentially asset-stripping nature of the acquisition is what I would suggest merits investigation. And the gleeful circling of surrounding schools, snapping up the scraps to bolster their own numbers against a similar fate, is deeply unedifying.\u201d<\/p>\n Another person wrote on Mumsnet: \u201cAsset stripping and the vultures circling \u2026 putting on a special event and would be delighted to meet pupils.\u201d A third said neighbouring schools were being \u201cdistasteful\u201d.<\/p>\n When Malvern St James, whose alumnae include the novelist Dame Barbara Cartland, said it was being sold, it said this ensured the school\u2019s financial stability and presented remarkable opportunities for its pupils to engage with other schools. The group enabled the school to limit a rise in fees to 7.5 per cent in the last academic year, despite the 20 per cent VAT imposed on school fees last year by the government.<\/p>\n Gao said at the time of the purchase: \u201cWe are looking forward to building student numbers and ensuring that the school\u2019s admirable ethos and values are upheld.\u201d<\/p>\n The independent day and boarding school for 3-18 year olds is set in an area of outstanding natural beauty. It was formed in 1919 by merging several local girls\u2019 schools, most of which had been set up a century or more earlier to ensure girls had a quality education. These included Malvern Girls\u2019 College and St James\u2019s School.<\/p>\n Malvern St James said last year that its governors had co-ordinated an extensive search and tender process, meeting Charity Commission regulations, to find the best possible ownership for the school. At the time, Galaxy Education Group in China owned three schools: Hui\u2019an High School, Wentong Middle School and Anshun Yinhe School.<\/p>\n A spokeswoman for Galaxy Global said: \u201cSince acquiring the school in early 2025, considerable effort has been made to secure a sustainable future for Malvern St James, including the move to co-education. This was intended to strengthen pupil recruitment over time, but while there was some positive interest, it has not been sufficient to address the underlying challenges facing the school.<\/p>\n \u201cThe school is currently operating with pupil numbers significantly below capacity, following a sustained decline over a number of years. This has resulted in an annual operating loss in excess of \u00a36 million, a position which is not viable in the long term despite the work undertaken since acquisition. This has been compounded by wider pressures across the independent sector, including changes in government policy<\/a>: the introduction of VAT on school fees, the removal of business rates relief and increasing employment costs.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are aware of concerns raised locally and strongly refute any suggestion of asset stripping. Since acquisition, the focus has been on supporting and attempting to stabilise the school, not extracting value from it. The decision to begin consultation on closure has been taken with great reluctance in light of these financial realities. No decisions have been taken regarding the future of the site.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A private school founded in 1919 by pioneering feminists will close this summer despite being taken over by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[5,6],"class_list":["post-22266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116469993531977230","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Novelist](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/f96bd77c-a091-4bc3-ba4f-23eeabdf79a4.jpg\")
Dame Barbara CartlandAlamy<\/p>\n