The final bell, on the final day at the end of the school’s final year has not yet been rung, but the money men (and women) at the Whitgift Foundation are already hustling the remaining young pupils out of Old Palace’s prep school in South Croydon, in their race to flog off the site and try to plug the gaping hole in the charity’s accounts.
End of term: the nursery and prep school on Melville Avenue will soon close for a final time
The Whitgift Foundation is one of these private school businesses that is registered as a charity, even though it is really a multi-million private business as a property owner and developer.
Last September, the Foundation shocked even the Croydon establishment when it announced that it would be closing its £18,000 a year girls’ school, both at its secondary site in Croydon Old Town, and the nursery and prep on the site of the former Croham Hurst School at Melville Avenue in South Croydon.
Originally, the plan was for the schools to close at the end of the 2025 school year. But as the initial trickle of parents seeking a more settled education for their daughters elsewhere became a torrent late last year, the powers-that-be at the Whitgift Foundation grasped the nettle and announced that the Melville Avenue site would close this July.
Polite notice: today’s letter from the Whitgift Foundation
Today, “neighbours” in South Croydon received advisory letters from the Whitgift Foundation which, more than six months after the retirement of its chief executive, Martin Corney, has yet to appoint a permanent replacement.
Today’s letters were signed by Emily Boynton, the Foundation’s head of HR and now “interim CEO”.
“As you may know,” Boynton wrote, “the prep school and nursery at Old Palace of John Whitgift School will be closing at the end of the summer term.
“I am writing to let you know that the site at Melville Avenue will soon be offered for sale on the open market.”
Inside Croydon reported last September: “Given the listed, protected status of many of the senior school’s historic buildings in Old Town, the Melville Avenue site in South Croydon, not far from Lloyd Park, appears to be an obvious development possibility to offer aid to the Foundation’s stricken finances.”
Boynton’s letter continues: “The process is being led by Knight Frank and is expected to last around 18 months.” This, of itself, seems unusual, since most of the Foundation’s property portfolio is normally managed by Croydon-based estate agency Stiles Harold Williams.
So as predicted, having got itself into financial straits through its dalliance with developers – Westfield – in Croydon town centre, the Whitgift Foundation is now hoping that developers will buy up its property to deal with its cashflow crisis.
Which means while “there should be minimal disruption” for Melville Road residents immediately, it surely won’t be long before concrete mixers whirr and construction traffic arrive to develop the site, including its playing field, potentially as blocks of flats.
But why 18 months?
According to one local property professional, “It is taking quite some time to sell standard residential properties, let alone ex-private schools with land needing planning permission to build on.”
One now former parent of an Old Palace pupil told Inside Croydon, “The Whitgift Foundation was always going to sell this site to fill the huge hole in its finances. It is just a shame it has come at the cost of educating girls in Croydon.
“It is hard to believe the Whitgift Foundation could not have sold one of their other assets, or even the playing field at Old Palace, to at least try and keep the school going.
“Hopefully whoever builds on the land does it sensibly.”
Read more: Charity Commission alerted to problems at Whitgift Foundation
Read more: Another Whitgift shock as second head teacher decides to quit
Read more: Foundation brings forward Old Palace prep closure by a year
Read more: Falling rolls and rising fees: how Old Palace got squeezed
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