I am writing following a number of questions that you have raised over recent days, with some further background.
As you will be aware from press reports last summer, St Lawrence has been facing an uncertain future for some time (St Lawrence College considers 20+ redundancies due to anticipated ‘significant drop in revenue’ – The Isle of Thanet News). We have made significant cost savings over the last year, but a continuing fall in pupil numbers – currently under 400 pupils from Nursery to Year 13, with capacity for 720 – and the wider economic challenges the sector is facing mean that St Lawrence Ramsgate will have around £7m of debt and current liabilities at the end of this academic year. This is clearly unsustainable.
We were faced with the option of closing entirely or finding a way that would preserve the name, values, and ethos of our school into the future. We chose the latter option and so agreed to merge with Dover College, with the merged school coming under Repton School, retaining our assets in the charitable sector, through enabling the St Lawrence charitable entity and Objects to continue.
An external review was undertaken to determine which site would be the most suitable for the combined school. Due to the debt position of St Lawrence College, the only financially feasible option was for the new school to be located in Dover. In time, the proceeds from the St Lawrence site will be used to pay off the St Lawrence debt, with the remainder ringfenced for investment into the new school charity. The significant levels of investment that will be available to the new school will be unprecedented.
Repton, working with HSBC, will provide significant short-term investment to enable our debts to be repaid, alongside investing at least £1m as the first tranche into the Dover site before the new school opens in September.
St Lawrence Dover College will be an outstanding school, and we are looking forward to sharing further details with you shortly, including at the in-person and online meetings next week.