Outcry as £4,000-a-year school closes

May 1 2007 By Tony Collins, Birmingham Mail

A FAMILY-run private school in Birmingham is being forced to shut after 60 years as pupil numbers decline.

Eastbourne House, in Acocks Green, which charges more than £4,000 a year, will close its doors for the last time at the end of the summer term in July.

Owners Patrick and Beverley Moynihan said the decision - with the loss of 19 jobs - was "heart-breaking".

But some parents of the remaining 106 pupils aged three to 11 said they were "absolutely disgusted".

They are now having to look for new schools for their children.

Parents were notified of the shock closure in a letter from 60-year-old Mr Moynihan, headmaster of the Yardley Road school.

He said the decision, which had been taken "with very great sadness", was caused by a significant fall in the number of children attending the school in recent terms.

Mr Moynihan said he and his teacher wife, aged 56, had found the decision to be "heart-breaking", adding: "We are also very aware that children, parents and staff will be profoundly affected."

The school needs 120 pupils to be viable.

Mr Moynihan said all 19 staff, including he and his wife, were now applying for jobs elsewhere.