Overview

• The governing body cited new VAT on fees, higher employer National Insurance contributions and the loss of business-rates relief as drivers of the closure.
• About 360 of the school’s 540 places are now vacant, giving families fewer than four weeks to secure alternative spots before term begins.
• MP Layla Moran is engaging with Our Lady’s Abingdon and Oxfordshire County Council to ensure students receive placement support.
• Parents say they received no advance notice and feel “high and dry” after learning of the shutdown via social media.
• The closure follows Mount St Mary’s sudden July shutdown and precedes Oxford Sixth Form College’s planned August end closure, underscoring a sector-wide financial crisis.