Parents at a small independent school in Greenock worry that the increased cost of fees next year will price families out and force the school to close its doors as soon as next week.

Cedars School is a religious school in Greenock with around 84 pupils from primary to secondary level, according to the Scottish Council for Independent Schools.

The school describes itself as an “aspirational community founded on Christian values and ethos” open to pupils from “all faiths and none.”

A source close to the school’s board confirmed that it is actively consulting with parents to determine the affordability of the augmented fees, and how this might impact the pupil roll.

A decision about the viability of the school is expected early this week and the school is working with parents to advise on the options available to their children in the event of closure.

The school has already hosted an information evening for parents, along with representatives of Inverclyde Council’s Education Department.

School representatives also spoke to members of the congregation at  Struthers Memorial Church, the local church and the associated charity that operates the school, to inform them of the consultations and possible outcomes. 

Parents told The Herald that the school is attended mainly by families from the surrounding Inverclyde and Renfrewshire areas. 

When news came that the new Labour government would add value-added tax (VAT) to all private school fees beginning in January 2025, school leaders quickly contacted parents to find out if they could afford the additional 20%.

Douglas Marks, whose children attend the school, said the response immediately sent alarm bells.

“There were basically three groups of parents: some said that they would be able to afford it no problem and others said that it would be possible but barely.”

But the third group of parents, those worried that they could not afford the increased costs, could prove critical. Mr Marks said that not many parents fall into that category, but at such a small school with little else in the way of income apart from tuition, it could be enough to force the school to close.

Mr Marks said that the 20% VAT would increase the monthly tuition costs for his two children by about £300.

School leaders met throughout the week of August 5, holding discussions with parents and with representatives from Inverclyde Council to understand how the departure of some families – or all families, in the case of the school’s closure – will impact the local public schools.

Mr Marks said that he has a real fear the school will have to close, and it’s no surprise that a school like Cedars is struggling to cope with the sudden increased cost of attendance.

“We feel like we are on the brink. As a school, we go hand-to-mouth. There’s no endowment. Tuition comes in, we pay the teachers and keep the lights on.

”Many of these teachers have taken a pay cut their whole careers because they believe in the value of small classes.

“A lot of schools in trouble now are the faith schools. 

“Eton isn’t going under, Fettes and Hutchie aren’t going to have to close their doors,” he said, referring to Eton College in Windsor, Fettes College in Edinburgh and Hutchesons’ Grammar School in Glasgow, private schools able to rely on higher tuition rates and their status and national reputations.

While families might choose to attend Fettes for the prestige and the education it provides, Mr Marks said that he and other families chose Cedars for different reasons.

“Independent schools are not all the same.” 

Chief among those are smaller class sizes—roughly 10 pupils per cohort—and the school’s underlying Christian ethos.

But Mr Marks said that, like many other smaller private schools, there is a significant population of pupils who left the public system because they were anxious, school refusers or neurodiverse.

If Cedars closes, parents will need to quickly look elsewhere for school options before the academic year begins in a few weeks. These families will mostly be looking at schools in Inverclyde.

However, for Mr Marks and his family, public school does not meet their needs, and they are considering a move elsewhere.

“The education system is broken. The numbers are too big, the class sizes are too big, the teachers don’t have the time.”

He believes literacy, numeracy and citizenship are best taught “when you’re not putting 30 students in a room.” Still, he said that he doesn’t expect the public system to take on the extra resources necessary to bring class sizes down to what Cedars offers.

“I don’t think we can provide that through the state system, but for the state to then take away our option to pay for it privately, it feels like a violation of civil liberties.

“[The VAT policy] feels like a way of tearing down and not building up.”