Families and staff call for closed school to reopen

Parents, pupils and staff members have gathered outside a private school following its sudden closure during half term.

Leweston School, near Sherborne, Dorset, made the shock announcement on Tuesday that it would not reopen, leaving nearly 600 pupils without a place.

Concept Education, whose subsidiary bought Leweston in December 2025, apologised to parents for its closure "in such sudden and upsetting circumstances" and said it was appointing a liquidator.

A group of parents have now formed a working group with the aim of reopening the school.

Dan Williams, whose daughters were attending Leweston, said the working group was made up of "about a dozen parents... covering different angles like legal and financial".

He said: "One of the things we need to do is to send out a message of confidence to the parents, and also any donors, that this is not going to happen again in the future, if the school reopens.

"In order to do that, we have to have a proper, commercially sensible business plan to show that the school is viable."

Ellie and Henry Adams' children were attending Leweston and, before the closure, its pupils visited their fruit farm for educational trips and activities.

"It's ripped a hole in a very special rural community," Ellie said.

Henry described the working group as "so impressive".

"It gives us hope that this crisis is a temporary crisis," he said.

In a letter to staff, Concept Education said wages owed in October would not be paid.

In a letter to parents, CEO Hugh Dickinson said: "Leweston was already in serious financial difficulty before Concept became involved.

"It was losing money, and there was a real risk that it would close and that its land would be sold.

"While a due diligence exercise had been undertaken prior to acquisition, issues in the school's operations subsequently emerged that were far beyond anything we could have anticipated."

The 135-year-old Catholic day and boarding school has a 46-acre campus with facilities including an indoor heated swimming pool, a theatre and a purpose-built equestrian centre.

Dickinson said the campus was owned by a separate trust.

He said: "It is the school company, not the trust, that has closed and is now going through the formal insolvency process.

"Concept does not own the estate and will not benefit from it."

Edward Morello, MP for West Dorset, previously said the authorities were given no warning of the closure.

"Nobody could prepare, no-one could plan," he said.

Dorset Council said it was "working urgently" to support children, young people and families affected by the closure and urged anyone who needed support to get in touch.