The £1 million gamble that backfired

Furious staff at Abbotsholme School in Staffordshire have defaced signs at the historic private school demanding to be paid after its new owners blindsided them and told them they were shutting it down in just two weeks.

Others at the 137-year-old school were so stunned that they were unable to carry on teaching after they were told the shock news at a surprise staff meeting .

Instead they told children who turned up for afternoon lessons on Thursday that the school was closing, leaving them to call their parents in tears.

Parents left reeling by sudden closure

Horrified parents at the school who now face finding new schools 'out of the blue' for their distressed children say they are 'absolutely disgusted and appalled' at how the school's new owners have acted.

It has now emerged that school leaders were assured 'on the point of sale' just a few days ago at the end of May that the school's future was 'assured' only to be let down before the ink was barely dry on the deal.

Parents and staff are now demanding to know why the school was sold to owners who 'clearly had no interest in continuing it as a school' when other education organisations were interested in buying it.

Questions over due diligence and school's future

School registrar Charlotte Gallimore said pupils now face 'the loss of their school community with little warning' and 'questions will inevitably be asked about what due diligence was undertaken' and 'what plans existed for the school's future at the point of acquisition' and 'when concerns regarding its viability first became apparent'.

'These are questions that deserve clear and transparent answers,' she insisted.

Staff left unpaid since April

Furious staff at Abbotsholme School, in Staffordshire, and were left unable to teach after its new owners blindsided them and told them they were shutting it down in just two weeks.

She also confirmed that shocked staff - some of whom daubed 'Pay your Staff' on the school's entrance signs - have not been paid since April.

And at Thursday's meeting when they were told the school was closing by insolvency agent Tony Costigan on behalf of the school's new owners,they were also told that they 'would not be paid for May or June either'.

Instead they were astonished to be told that they 'should continue working until June 22 in order to support pupils through the final weeks of term'.

It was only later that same day that devastated parents received a letter on behalf of the new owners - who are believed to have bought the school and its entire 140-acre estate for just £1 million - telling them the school was shutting with almost immediate effect.