More parents have applied to transfer their children from private to state schools after the Budget, Oxfordshire County Council has said. 

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that private schools would have to pay VAT and that business rate relief would be removed in the Budget last month.

This comes after Carrdus School, an independent school in Banbury, announced last week it would close in April 2025 due to financial pressures unless it found a buyer.

The school governors said a number of parents had written to the school after the Budget asking to withdraw their child from the school.

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Commenting this week,  John Howson, the county council's cabinet member for children, education and young people's services, said: “We’ve noticed a small increase in enquiries and applications from parents wishing to transfer their children from private to state school.

“We currently have sufficient school places in the state sector, and while we don't have control over in year admissions to academies, we do our best to work with them where we’re able to do so.”

A number of parents of Carrdus pupils have got in touch since the school announced its likely closure last week.

Claire Froom, whose daughter is a pupil at Carrdus School, said it was a “total shock” when she received the email from the school announcing their closure on the evening of Thursday, November 7.

She added that the difficulty of moving schools between terms “would have a negative impact on my daughter”.

“We have been looking at local state schools, as the tax increase makes private schools across the board extremely expensive," she said. 

“We cannot apply for a state school place until the end of the spring term. We would be going into the Easter holidays without knowing.

“If we cannot get a school place for my daughter, I will have to give up my job to look after her.”

(Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)

Rebecca Munro Stearn, who has two children at Carrdus, said: “Carrdus was a financial stretch for us. With the increase in fees, it has been increasingly difficult.

“We had not realised that [the Budget] was going to put the school at risk.”

Ms Stearn said she is worried about how moving schools would impact her daughter, who has autism and ADHD.

She added: “I would like to be able to say that the state system will meet their needs, but I can’t.

“I work in a state primary in Warwickshire, so I can see the reality of what poor funding can have on state primary schools, even though we run a phenomenal job here."

Both parents praised the staff at Carrdus for how they handled the situation.

The school will hold what could be its last Carrdus Christmas Fair on Saturday, November 16 from 10am to 3pm.