Furious staff have defaced signs at a 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 137 year old Abbotsholme School near Uttoxeter were so stunned that they were unable to carry on teaching after they were told the shock news at a surprise staff meeting yesterday (Thursday).

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

Horrified parents at the day and boarding school on the Staffordshire and Derbyshire border near Rocester now face finding new schools ‘out of the blue’ for their distressed children while scores of staff will lose their jobs.

They say they are ‘absolutely disgusted and appalled’ at how the school’s new owners have acted, leaving more than 220 children aged 2 to 18 without a school to go to next term.

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.

It is believed the school, which was founded in 1889, and its entire 140-acre estate were sold for just £1 million and plans are afoot to turn it into a luxury spa.

Abbotsholme Executive Head Charlotte Molloy told the Mail on Sunday that there was ‘no indication the school would be closed’ during the school’s sale and the school had been ‘a success story in challenging times for private schools’.

Furious staff defaced the sign outside the school after being told Abbotsholme would be closed in two weeks 

Children who turned up for afternoon lessons were left in tears after being told the news 

‘From a difficult position 12 months ago, pupil numbers were up significantly,’ she said, with ‘numerous tester days and tours lined up this very week’.

‘We were all looking forward to a fantastic new school year in September with new owners and investors,’ she stressed.

Parents and staff are now demanding to know why the school, which charges up to £44,000 a year, was sold to owners who ‘clearly had no interest in continuing it as a school’ when other education organisations were interested in buying it.

School registrar Charlotte Gallimore said pupils faced ‘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.

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 yesterday’s meeting where they were told the school was closing by Tony Costigan, who said he was a ‘Director of Abbotsholme 2026 Limited, the company that recently acquired the trade, assets and goodwill of Abbotsholme School’, they were also told that they ‘would not be paid for May or June either’.

Staff were also astonished when it was suggested that they ‘should continue working until June 22 in order to support pupils through the final weeks of term’ even though they would not be paid.

A source said Mr Costigan arrived at the school without warning yesterday, ‘sacked the Bursar and Head of Finance on the spot’ and then ‘pulled all the staff into a meeting’.

It was only later yesterday that parents received an official letter from Mr Costigan telling them the school was shutting with almost immediate effect after many had already heard the news from their own devastated children.

He wrote: ‘Since acquiring the school on 29 May, 2026, I have undertaken a detailed review of its financial position.

‘Whilst we entered into the acquisition with intention of securing the long-term future of Abbotsholme, it has become apparent that the financial challenges facing the school are significantly greater than originally understood.’

Claiming ‘all available options had been explored for the future’, he stated Abbotsholme would close on ’22 June 2026′.

Mum Virginia Parkes, who has two daughters at the school, said one of her daughters was told by a member of staff yesterday that there was ‘no PE today because the school is closing’ and ‘assumed he was joking’.

‘She called me sobbing from the sports hall where she had been left alone to say the school was closing,’ she told the Mail on Sunday.

She said parents ‘were utterly shocked’ by the news and had ‘spent the last 24 hours picking up the pieces’.

She says her eldest daughter, who is autistic and particularly adored the school after being bullied at another school, is ‘completely devastated’ and found it ‘hard to take in the news’.

Another parent said that if the school closure really went ahead before the planned end of the school term in early July it would mean ‘heartbroken children would miss out on their prom, end of school events and leavers’ events and even paid for school trips’.

A source said the school’s former Chinese owners Achieve Education, who closed down and sold nearby Chase Grammar School just last September, put Abbotsholme up for sale for such a low sum hoping it would continue as a school.

But Ms Gallimore said today that although Achieve was approached by ‘established educational organisations with experience of operating schools’ it apparently instead chose to sell it to others with no education background.

One of those is believed to be Abbotsholme old boy Syd Phillimore, owner of neighbouring shooting ground Eaton Hall, who has bought the school alongside insolvency practitioner Jamie Buchanan.

In April, all alumni of the school received an email from the school’s Executive Head Charlotte Molloy, telling them the school was for sale and that the then-owner was ‘particularly keen to ensure that Abbotsholme continues as a school’.

On that basis they were told the school and its estate were for sale for just £1 milion.

Ms Gallimore said today that ‘the acquisition was understood to be made on the basis that the school would continue to operate and that significant capital investment would be made to improve facilities and secure its future’ but within hours the owners sent in Tony Costigan to assess the business.

Blindsided by developments, Ms Gallimore said staff, parents and pupils ‘who had been reassured about the school’s future’ had been left ‘shocked by the sudden turn of events’ and there would be a huge impact ‘on people at the heart of the school’.

‘The speed with which events unfolded has left many within the Abbotsholme community struggling to reconcile the assurances given at the point of sale with the reality that emerged just a few days later.’

She warned ‘dedicated staff’ now faced losing both their jobs and unpaid wages while families were left ‘scrambling to secure school places at one of the most difficult points in the academic year’.

Meanwhile, a source close to Mr Phillimore said he was ‘planning to turn the school into a hotel and spa complex and extend his shooting range’.

Mr Phillimore and Mr Costigan did not respond to a request for comment.