St David's School parent furious at merger

May 27 2009 By Adam Courtney

St David's School parents say their children have been "evicted and abandoned" after governors agreed a merger with a controversial London institution, ending senior girls' schooling at the historic Ashford site.

After weeks of uncertainty, governors, following a meeting on Friday, have announced 300-year-old St David's is to merge with St James' Independent Schools, which comprises separate junior, senior girls and senior boys schools at different sites across London.

Its senior boys school was investigated in 2006 after allegations of abuse against pupils.

St Davids' senior girls are being asked to relocate to St James' Senior Girl School in Hammersmith, or St Catherine's in Twickenham. As part of the deal, St James' senior boys will move to Ashford, where St David's co-educational junior school will remain.

Chris Hogan, treasurer of parents group Friends of St David's, said: "They have abandoned the girls. The governors are completely out of their tree."

One parent, who was so distraught by the announcement – made via the St David's website – she didn't want to be named, said: "I'm appalled and utterly shocked – basically senior girls are no longer welcome.

"Who on earth is going to get their child to London every day for 8am? I would be very surprised if one parent takes up this offer. The governors have not engaged with us at any stage and as far as I can see they just do not want us. We didn't even get a letter about this. Essentially we have been evicted and it's beyond outrageous.

"The decision was made on a Friday night at the start of half-term – there was no option at any stage to have a conversation with any of them."

There had been real hope St David's would remain in its current guise after IES (International Education Systems) launched a bid, having held a number of meetings with parents assuring them there was no reason the school could not continue, following the announcement is was to close due to the recession.

St David's always maintained there were two other unnamed bidders and it is now clear one of them was St James', a school which has a controversial past.

Set up in 1975 by the School of Economic Science (SES), St James' is part of a group of 'philosophy schools' worldwide, one of which, in The Netherlands, was closed down after police investigations into illegal physical punishment.

There were allegations in the 1980s that the SES is a religious cult and, to this day, its Belgian branch is recognised as such by the Belgian government.

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