THE news that Kingsmead School in Hoylake is to close at the end of term will come as no surprise to many people - another private school bites the dust.

However, few people will realise that Kingsmead was not a school for “rich kids” - it was a school that, due to the small class sizes and very tailored approach to learning, was the only suitable school for many pupils, who had, for a multitude of reasons, not been able to thrive at their previous school.

Most of the pupils came from other schools, and many parents had never considered their child would go to a private school.

In order to pay the fees, and pay for the ridiculously expensive uniform, many sacrifices were made.

The school is closing because of financial difficulties, and COVID19 is blamed. But Kingsmead’s problems go way back.

The trustees and management never accepted that the school has evolved from a "posh" school into a school that was exceptionally good at educating children with a variety of special educational needs.

It isn’t on the website, isn’t on the Facebook page. It has always been the parents and teachers who have tried to get this message across to people.

If Kingsmead had been marketed better to the local community and actually been proud of what their amazing staff did, and wanted to share the Kingsmead magic with as many families as they could, they would have gone from strength to strength.

But instead, a huge number of children have no school in September and some will have no other option than to be home schooled for the rest of their education.

All this could have easily been avoided, but vanity and snobbery prevailed.

Disgusted parent, by email