A privately-run primary school is to close this summer because there are not enough pupils to make it financially viable.

Managers at Meredale Independent School in Rainham have decided to shut after exploring a number of alternatives for its future.

A letter has been sent to its fee-paying parents saying the last day will be Tuesday, July 23 which means more than 60 children will be enrolling at alternative schools for the autumn term.

A total of 25 employees, including non-teaching staff, will lose their jobs.

Head teacher Michelle Homer said: “Our priority at the present is the support and needs of our parents and pupils.”

Meredale, in Solomon Road, opened in 2005 and was taken over by the Busy Bees group, which has 360 nurseries nationwide, nearly five years ago.

The pre-school will continue running as normal.

A press statement reads: “We have provided quality care and education for many children at the school over the last four years and we fully understand the disappointment felt amongst parents and staff by the decision.

“We invested heavily in the school to improve the environment for children and have worked closely with the head teacher to provide experiences for pupils that would give them a great grounding for secondary school.

“The staff team have worked very hard to support pupils over many years to follow their chosen path for their secondary education.

“Despite this it has been extremely difficult to enrol the numbers of children needed to make the school financially viable largely due to the lack of essential facilities like a gymnasium, sports facilities and specialist areas.

“We have given lengthy consideration and explored a number of alternatives for the future of the school, including passing on the school to another operator. Unfortunately, this failed to come to fruition.

“As soon as we had made the decision, we informed our staff and the parents so that they have as much time as possible to consider the options available to them.

“We all recognise that continuity in education is important and all the pupils working towards their 11+ will be fully supported as they prepare for their examinations.

“We are grateful for the professionalism of the staff team at the school and we will do whatever we can to help staff to find alternative roles and pupils to find places at other schools.”

The school’s last Ofsted inspection in November 2017 gave it an overall rating of “requires improvement”.