Private school headteacher says it's "deeply saddening yet grimly predictable" after Peak District school S Anselm's to close after 137 years as tax hit adds to losses

The number of independent schools facing closure nationally since the Government’s imposition of VAT on fees now totals at least 13 since the new year alone.

Here at Mylnhurst, we have close links with S Anselm’s. They are one of us. A fellow independent school, within easy striking distance of Sheffield, like Mylnhurst it is built upon a proud ethos. S Anselm’s opened in 1888; Mylnhurst is marking its 91st academic year.

Just last month our under-11 boys travelled to Bakewell to take on the S Anselm’s team for an afternoon of sport. Those S Anselm’s children and their families are today left searching for a new school in which they can settle; their teachers are facing the loss of their jobs.

We are fortunate here at Mylnhurst - a small independently-run Catholic school, tucked away among the trees beyond the traffic of Ecclesall Road South - to have robust foundations. School life is thriving. Our pupil numbers are rising. Just last weekend our school won Team Gold in the GB Schools National biathlon finals, and last year our school lunches were crowned ‘the best in Sheffield’.

But no independent school is immune from the Chancellor’s short-sighted and punitive decision to press ahead and charge VAT on fees.

The unprecedented, seismic, complex change is something the Board here at Mylnhurst had planned for and monitored. Even that was made difficult by a lack of clarity. Legislation and guidance from HMRC was poorly drafted, resulting in a decidedly chaotic process. The frankly shambolic January implementation window failed to allow schools sufficient time for consultation.

As headmaster, I know the Government’s policy on VAT is a huge error in judgement. It is deeply flawed, ideologically and economically.

We are not an insular, elite school at all. Our pool is used by state schools across the area for their children's swimming lessons, and we are partner to Marsh Lane Primary in Eckington whose children use many of our facilities without charge.

The families who choose to send their children here to Mylnhurst make significant financial sacrifice to do so. We know how much Mylnhurst and its nurturing feel means to them.

As a Board, we committed to absorbing as much of the cost as we could, to protect the viability and success of our exceptional school.

Our fees have risen by just 15 per cent, not the full twenty, and we have committed to freezing fees for five terms through to the summer of 2026.

We have revised our sibling discount, so families with multiple children at Mylnhurst receive a rising reduction of five per cent per child.

Crucially, we have been delighted to introduce the Mylnhurst Bursary Fund. In time we hope to provide means-tested help to existing school families who may need additional support, and eventually extend the Fund to new admissions too.

As anyone who has passed through our school knows, Mylnhurst is an incomparable place. That is something we are determined to protect and preserve.

Our sadness is that schools like S Anselm’s will not be with us to weather the storm together.

• Mike Hibbert is headmaster of Mylnhurst School in Sheffield, a thriving independent nursery and preparatory school off Button Hill in Ecclesall.

  The school, set in historic grounds with its own swimming pool, celebrated its 90th academic year last year, and currently has more than 180 children on roll.