Brantwood School - Asset Stripped

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'Published Date: 29 March 2010
By Mike Russell
Education reporter

A PRIVATE school in Sheffield is up for sale at a recommended asking price of £1 million - after the bank which forced its closure insisted it was worth no more than £600,000.
Brantwood School for Girls in Nether Edge was controversially forced to close with only a week's notice in February after the Royal Bank of Scotland pulled the plug on its funding.

The school was struggling due to the recession and had loans with RBS secured against the school and its grounds - which governors had independently valued at £1 million.

But RBS withdrew support on the basis of an informal new valuation of around £600,000 - thought to have been based on a belief the buildings would be less valuable if they had to be converted for alternative use.

As a result 130 pupils and their families were given just a fortnight to find alternative schools - including girls sitting GCSEs in June.

Receivers Grant Thornton have now asked estate agents Eadon Lockwood and Riddle to put the school on the market for £1 million.
The move has angered parents and staff at the former school, one of whom described it as 'scandalous'. They say if had they known the school would raise £1million it could have been kept open for longer - giving interested parties the time to put a rescue plan together and possibly save Brantwood.

It also calls into question RBS's decision to value the property at just £600,000.

RBS says the decision has been made by the receivers who are in control of the sale of the property, which includes the school building, a coach house and almost an acre of land.

ELR director Nick Riddle said he had received three inquiries within the first 24 hours.
"We valued the property at between £850,000 and £900,000 but even at the higher price there is a lot of interest," he said.

"We had nothing to do with the bank's £600,000 valuation - and if the new estimate is correct then the school had up to £400,000 in assets more than the bank said."

Brantwood's former chair of governors John Boyington said the school had never had any convincing response from RBS as to where the £600,000 valuation came from.
"It seemed to be an informal estate agent's opinion which came out of the blue, whereas ours was legally guaranteed," he said.

"It seemed to us as if RBS's actions were designed to essentially avoid even a single pound of risk. Their actions were unconscionable - and they have fundamentally undermined confidence in independent schools."

Mum Maxine Boot, whose daughter Eleanor is now preparing for GCSEs at Sheffield High School, said if RBS had agreed with the £1 million valuation Brantwood could have at least have been kept open until the summer.
"The pressure my daughter is facing from her imminent exams has been compounded by the added stress of having to move schools. The whole situation could have been avoided," she added.

Former Brantwood teacher Ian McNeilly said the bank's valuation had been absolutely scandalous.
"Anyone with even half an idea about property values in Sheffield knows £1 million is an absolutely bare minimum, even in these harsh economic times.

"There was no risk attached at all - and the depth of feeling shown by the parents proved that given time they could have come up with a rescue plan." '

I DEDICATE THIS MUSIC TO BRANTWOOD SCHOOL'S GOVERNORS, GREEDY GRANT THORNTON, AND THE VILE MANAGERS OF THE RUTHLESS BANK OF SCOTLAND AND IT'S NEW OWNERS - THE BRUTISH GOVERNMENT (THE E.U.)