Hi all, thanks for replies, it has been a mad week.
We've viewed various alternates, mostly indies because the two state I applied for when the shit hit the fan a few weeks ago (with a very short notice whole school meeting which I thought might be a closing down now meeting!) and they haven't got back to me in any other way just to say they wouldn't be able to take her through her geography GCSE. They are still meeting with their GCSE leaders to see what matches and what they can provide, they also said that they have been "inundated" with requests since the news of the closure - so this already large school is going to have to find somewhere to cater for these refugees!
I did make an earlier thread about it, but someone doxxed where my DD goes to school and as it's so tiny, MN thought it best to remove and I would agree.
We've found somewhere which feels very home from home and it may be that she has a couple of friendly faces going there too. It's a nightmare to get to, and nearly 60% uplift in fees, but we will make it work - it is likely we'll have to pay for the summer term too, when we've already paid the current term's fees and I think most other local indies are waiving their summer fees, but again, this school is spot on for her so we will make it work.
Everyone is so angry and there is a group of pro-active parents trying to put together a plan to save it. I think those of us with students in Y10 and 12 are focusing on moving them asap to ensure an early slide into the new syllabi as possible (is that the word? Syllabi?). All the indies have said they will make it work in terms of subjects and boards and the current school has provided us with their subjects and timetable so the new schools can identify overlaps/gaps and then create bespoke plans for the student.
If I had a smaller child, I would be involved in the "save our school" but my concern is her being in Y10. Our youngest won't go there, he's settled elsewhere and so now it's just about damage control.
The local indies have been accused of being predatory - indeed, MC poached a load of girls when the Chinese took over and fair play, they're standing and we're not...if only our school had been a little more on the ball, commercially speaking.
I would say too that it's not just the VAT, but that was the nail in the coffin for my DD's best friend who had to leave - it affected those hard working families who cut back on other things to make it work. But before then, Covid absolutely decimated (in the true sense of that word's meaning) the cohort from abroad. It never did recover - put cost of living, rising employment costs, NI, pension, energy, VAT and so on - it would have had to have been standing in good stead to survive because there are so many options in our area for good indies locally. And it just wasn't. The rot set in some time ago.
Thanks for everyone's input, esp re: the boards. I am a bit of a catastrophiser about these things and I was having damaging circular thoughts about this area in particular, but I think that she will be ok.
She'll do her end of years, have a couple of tasters and then I guess we'll make the move once we've got over those and the uniform, train etc sorted. She's ASD and has never had to travel anywhere alone before - this will do her the world of good (even though I feel sick writing that down!).
I feel less horrible, thank you all. xxx