Tears and trauma in hunt for new school

Mar 28 2008 by Dan Warburton, The Journal

PARENTS were in tears last night as they picked their children up from school on the day its closure was announced.

The Journal exclusively revealed yesterday that the £3,000-a-term La Sagesse school, in Jesmond, Newcastle, will close on August 29 due to falling pupil numbers and soaring rent costs.

Governors announced its closure on Wednesday night after its founding nuns decided to triple the rent.

Last night the school held a meeting with parents to discuss the closure, which is likely to see the Victorian mansion and 10-acre grounds going on the market in September.

The announcement came after the nuns had all left the site over the past 18 months and their relationship with staff became that of a landlord-tenant one.

The announcement leaves more than 200 pupils searching for new schools and 44 staff seeking new jobs, and last night parents said they were devastated.

Collecting three-year-old son Peter last night was Allison Goldfinch, 33, a nurse specialist from Green Lane in Ashington, Northumberland.

She said: “We are devastated. I was in floods of tears. We received letters informing us about the closure on Wednesday.”

Gillian O’Neill, a 48-year-old dental therapist, was worried about making a rush decision in finding a new school for her daughter: “We are going to have to start looking, but it’s short notice.”

Anwar Tariq, 52, from the West End of Newcastle, whose two children attend the school, said: “It gives us little time to find somewhere else.

“These children are very fond of here, and our two kids have a lot of friends at the school. I can’t help feeling like they are trying to sell the land and the building off.”

Another parent, Francis Burton-Allen, 32, from Glebe Mews in Bedlington, Northumberland, said: “I’m devastated really. It feels like somebody has died.

“We chose this school because we wanted our children to learn in a wonderful environment, and that’s what it was.”

La Sagesse has become widely recognised as one of the leading schools in the North East since it moved to Jesmond Dene in 1912, six years after it was founded by a Catholic order named the Sisters of La Sagesse, or the Daughters of Wisdom.

Speaking after last night’s meeting, chair of governors Prof Kathleen McCourt said: “We explained the various things that had been going on in recent months and the issues that have brought us to this position – the drop in roll numbers, increased competition for places and the change in the relationship with the people who own the property. There was a lot of emotion in the hall.

“A plot of land of 10 acres in the middle of Jesmond is something that would warrant a large amount of rent and upkeep and isn’t something we as a school could undertake.

“Everyone connected with the school can understand that this is a potentially difficult situation for everyone involved. None of these decisions are made lightly.”