Sorry if you feel that way Sara. You are right that the school offers some exceptional teaching and things that are not available locally elsewhere. If it closed, it will be a sad loss. However the school itself publicly triggered the consultation period on it proposed closure last week, giving 8 ticking weeks for the families of staff members and pupils to make alternative arrangements. Part of the point of a consultation is to make the news public so that all options can be considered by all parties, and hopefully a new owner found to save jobs and assure school places. As soon as the school broke the news last week, we started to looking into things. Last week the Walden Reporter indicated that there were 280 students and 140 staff. That is 2 students paying for each staff member, and then there are buildings, equipment, operations etc. to fund. With a reduced new student intake it seems like the school has felt it is in financial stress – and indeed its financial accounts bear this out. We understand that it had already explored options for some time, including being acquired by another independent school, but found none. That doesn’t leave many options to retain it as an educational establishment at the heart of Saffron Walden. And the clock really is ticking. If ECC can move quickly (within the 8 week consultation), maybe the school can be saved, jobs retained, and transitional arrangements put in place for students who are in the middle year of GCSEs and other exams. That is what we have urged them to do as it seems like it will give a good outcome. The other option was to sit on the side-lines, passively watch all unravel, and say afterwards that there was nothing that could be done – but that’s not the case and it’s not us.

Hi Maxine, we agree with you! Competing schools divide communities, so the perfect solution is it to become part of the Saffron Academy Trust and ideally part of the SWCHS as you suggest.