Just weeks after staff, teachers and pupils were shocked by its sudden closure, Queen Margaret’s School near York has gone up for sale.
The 125-year-old girls boarding school at Escrick closed on 5 July and was placed in the hands of adminstrators two days later.
The administrators, Mark Hodgett and Philip Watkins of FRP Advisory, have now instructed Sanderson Weatherall to offer the freehold property for sale.
The guide price is £5 million.
It’s been marketed as an education establishment, but also as a potential leisure or residential development or care home.
Queen Margaret’s School was an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11-18.
It was established in Scarborough in 1901, moving to Escrick Park, six miles south of York, in 1949.
The main building is a large, Grade II* listed country house built in 1758. There are also separate classroom and dormitory blocks.
Set in about 39 acres of landscaped grounds, the estate also includes extensive sports facilities include indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a sports hall / gym, a floodlit astroturf pitch, as well as squash and tennis courts.
Neil Bestwick, partner in the asset advisory and recovery division at Sanderson Weatherall, said: “We are pleased to be supporting the FRP team with the disposal of this important piece of real estate.
“We are exploring the potential for a resurrected education-based use but also expect to see expressions of interest for alternative uses, including residential, leisure, and care, for which the property would be suited, subject, of course, to planning and other consents.”
If you’re interested in buying the estate, you can contact the sales team at enquiries@sw.co.uk or 0113 221 6000.
Large deficit
When YorkMix broke the story of the school’s closure, we revealed it had a deficit of £1.28 million at the time its last accounts were filed in August 2023.
The directors said at this time that they had arrested the fall in student numbers but not enough to make the school sustainable long term.
In his letter to parents informing them of the closure, chair of governors Terry Burt wrote: “Despite the tireless efforts of the School and the Board we, like many independent schools, have been unable to withstand mounting financial pressures following the introduction of VAT on school fees, increased national insurance and pension contributions, the removal of charitable-status business rates relief, and rising costs for the upkeep and operation of our estate.”
The school board said they had undertaken a strategic review of its funding options and “pursued every possible avenue in a search for fresh investment. This included a possible merger or sale of the school.”
But nothing proved successful. Board members also blamed the imposition of VAT on private schools by the Labour government for a decline in enquiries from potential new students.
