CATHOLIC nuns came under fire from angry parents last night as their exorbitant financial demands on a top private school were revealed. It would have needed a billionaire like Bill Gates to save Newcastle school La Sagesse from closure after the school’s founding order of nuns trebled the rent to £100,000 a year.
Their demands, made through their solicitor, left governors no choice but to tell devastated pupils, parents and staff their successful school must close.
And parents voiced their feelings of hurt and betrayal at how the Catholic Church could let the 100-year-old school come to such a sad end, leaving 200 pupils looking for new schools and 54 members of staff out of work.
Head of governors, Professor Kathleen McCourt told a packed hall of parents and pupils: “It would have taken a lot of money, I mean a lot of money, to keep the school going. I wish Bill Gates was here tonight, but sadly he’s not.”
At a meeting for parents at the school last night, the school’s solicitor John Anderson revealed the terms of the new lease including a trebling of the rent to £100,000 a year with further increases every five years. The school was told it must fund maintenance and insurance for the 10-acre site, where land is worth up to £2m an acre.
He said: “The nuns would only communicate with us through their solicitors. In some cases they did not respond to our letters at all. The terms of the lease meant it was impossible for us to sign it.”
The school said dwindling numbers and competition from other schools had been a factor and no suitable alternative sites for the school could be found.
Prof McCourt added: “We looked at every alternative, but none of them were viable. We even considered taking the convent to court. But it was decided no terms the court could have imposed would have been sustainable.
“We went to see Bishop Kevin Dunn before his death. The diocese has no money available to fund an independent school. His illness meant he could not help further. We thought long and hard about our options but sadly in the end our only option is to close.”
The anger of parents turned towards the Catholic Church which they feel has done nothing to protect what is the only private Catholic School in the area.
Donna Carrick-Daly, 35, a midwife from Stocksfield whose daughter Rosanna, four, has been at the school for two years, said: “I was in shock when I heard it was to close. It is so sad that in the end it has all come down to money.
“I feel hurt and betrayed and am in emotional turmoil over the nuns’ decision and can’t believe the Catholic Church has done nothing. I am going to take this all the way to Rome.”
The £3,000-a-term school which has been on the site since 1912, will close on August 31.
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