Grace Dieu Manor School in Thringstone is to close this summer because it cannot guarantee its financial future - and has had to make a 'difficult decision'

A statement released on the school's website on Tuesday says the Main School and Pre-prep will close at the end of the summer term in July this year.

It adds that the Nursery, up to and including Cygnets, will continue and will not be affected by this closure.

Grace Dieu is an independent Catholic preparatory school and founded in May 1933 - it says it is often described as a 'hidden gem',

The statement also says that plans to sell the Coalville school have come to nothing.

The school's statement says: "The School is owned by The Institute of Charity, and its Trustees had to make a difficult decision at a specially convened meeting on 27 February 2020 about the future viability of the School.

"The School has been grappling with a number of structural challenges, including rising staff and operational costs, for some years.

"We have done everything we can to redress the financial balance – cutting costs without compromising the quality of education, repositioning the School in the market by opening the Day Nursery, investigating and developing new revenue streams.

"More recently, the Trustees approached 246 organisations in the UK and around the world in the hope the School could be sold as a going concern, but sadly this has come to nothing.

"Despite all of these efforts, we have simply been unable to get back on to a sufficiently firm financial footing to guarantee the School's future.

"The welfare of the children here is paramount – the decision has been taken now to enable a degree of stability and continuity of education since pupils can complete the year's curriculum, with plenty of time to find alternative schools for enrolment in September.

"The School remains open and funded for the rest of the academic year, and will operate entirely as normal right up until the closure date, continuing to provide the best possible education for its children."