Kings, which has other places in Bournemouth, Brighton, and Oxford, will cease operations at its London (Beckenham) school at the end of the current scholastic term on March 20, it revealed last week.
It has cited “external pressures” such as a barrel tax being contributed to independent school charges impacting trainee enrolments as a reason for the choice.
A continuity plan is helping all affected trainees shift to other Kings colleges or to its brand-new location in London, which will mostly be utilized for English language progams.
Andrew Hutchinson, CEO of Kings Education, said that the worldwide education sector in the UK and the US continues to fight “substantial macro difficulties”– but stressed that the “crucial tactical reconfiguration” the group had actually made to its UK operations would just prime it for development.
“In spite of the sadness we feel in requiring to make the really challenging choice to cease operations at our Beckenham site, we believe the future stays bright for operators like Kings with enough flexibility to adapt to brand-new market norms and opportunities,” he stated. “We eagerly anticipate an effective future with function and enjoyment.”
But regardless of the decision to close the Beckenham campus, the Kings group is expanding its portfolio in London with a new area for its ELT programs, which will be facilitated by INTO.
And the group is aiming to expand its reach in the United States through new collaborations with Tenenssee Tech University and California State University Stanislaus, it said.
The news of the Beckenham campus closure comes at an unstable time for the K-12 sector in the UK, as rising operating expense and policy flux come home to roost.
“The decision to cease operations at our Beckenham campus has been taken simply due to external pressures outside of our control,” read a statement on the Kings Education website. “In specific, the introduction of 20% tax on independent school charges by the UK federal government has caused a significant decrease in student enrolments throughout Kings and the wider sector.”
In specific, the intro of 20% tax on independent school charges by the UK government has caused a significant decline in student enrolments across Kings and the larger sector
Kings Education
A policy needing private schools to pay VAT on their fees was introduced by the Labour government at the beginning of 2025, leading to widespread fears that parents would turn to other choices when schools were forced to pass on the costs by way of greater charges. A legal case fighting for the policy to be overturned has been dismissed.
The VAT policy has triggered consternation throughout the sector. Speaking with The PIE News previously this year– one year on from when the policy was first carried out– Minerva Virtual Academy (MVA) CEO and creator Hugh Viney forecasted that its “ripple effects” would continue to be felt as parents turned away from the economic sector and schools were required to close.
Viney informed The PIE that lots of moms and dads were being “evaluated” of standard independent schools due to increasing costs, leading them to look at alternative arrangement such as MVA, whose costs as an online operator were constantly inclusive of barrel, even before the policy came into impact.
“However then the pattern you’ll see, hopefully, to conserve those schools will be more [of them] joining groups,” he recommended.
Framlingham School in Suffolk announced earlier this month that it will sign up with the Mill Hill Education Group, although it worried that the choice has actually not been made with a “profit-driven transaction” in mind.
Charles Packshaw, chair of guvs at the school stated it was a “purposeful and positive choice, taken from a strong position”.
“We are safeguarding what specifies the college while opening new opportunities for our pupils and personnel,” he said.
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