Kings, which has other locations in Bournemouth, Brighton, and Oxford, will cease operations at its London (Beckenham) campus at the end of the current academic term on March 20, it revealed last week.
It has cited “external pressures” such as a VAT tax being added to private school fees affecting student enrolments as a reason for the decision.
A continuity plan is helping all affected students transition to other Kings colleges or to its new location in London, which will primarily be used for English language progams.
Andrew Hutchinson, CEO of Kings Education, said that the international education sector in the UK and the US continues to battle “significant macro challenges” – but stressed that the “important strategic reconfiguration” the group had made to its UK operations would only prime it for growth.
“Despite the sadness we feel in needing to make the very difficult decision to cease operations at our Beckenham site, we believe the future remains bright for operators like Kings with sufficient flexibility to adapt to new market norms and opportunities,” he said. “We look forward to a successful future with purpose and excitement.”
But despite the decision to close the Beckenham campus, the Kings group is expanding its portfolio in London with a new location for its ELT programs, which will be facilitated by INTO.
And the group is looking to expand its reach in the US through new partnerships with Tenenssee Tech University and California State University Stanislaus, it said.
The news of the Beckenham campus closure comes at a turbulent time for the K-12 sector in the UK, as rising operating costs and policy flux come home to roost.
“The decision to cease operations at our Beckenham campus has been taken purely due to external pressures outside of our control,” read a statement on the Kings Education website. “In particular, the introduction of 20% tax on private school fees by the UK government has caused a significant decline in student enrolments across Kings and the wider sector.”
In particular, the introduction of 20% tax on private school fees by the UK government has caused a significant decline in student enrolments across Kings and the wider sector
Kings Education
A policy requiring private schools to pay VAT on their fees was introduced by the Labour government at the beginning of 2025, leading to widespread fears that parents would turn to other options once schools were forced to pass on the costs by way of higher fees. A legal case battling for the policy to be overturned has been dismissed.
The VAT policy has caused consternation throughout the sector. Speaking to The PIE News earlier this year – one year on from when the policy was first implemented – Minerva Virtual Academy (MVA) CEO and founder Hugh Viney predicted that its “ripple effects” would continue to be felt as parents turned away from the private sector and schools were forced to close.
Viney told The PIE that many parents were being “priced out” of traditional private schools due to rising fees, leading them to look at alternative provision such as MVA, whose costs as an online operator were always inclusive of VAT, even before the policy came into effect.
“But then the trend you’ll see, hopefully, to save those schools will be more [of them] joining groups,” he suggested.
Framlingham School in Suffolk announced earlier this month that it will join the Mill Hill Education Group, although it stressed that the decision has not been made with a “profit-driven transaction” in mind.
Charles Packshaw, chair of governors at the school said it was a “deliberate and forward-looking decision, taken from a strong position”.
“We are safeguarding what defines the college while opening new opportunities for our pupils and staff,” he said.
