The Royal School in Haslemere, Surrey is closing on 31 August, the Farnham Herald has reported.

The Royal School is an independent co-educational day and boarding school for pupils aged 10 to 18.

The school announced the closure on its website. It was established in 1840 as the Royal Naval School to educate the daughters of navy and marine officers.

United Learning acquired the school in 2019. A spokesperson for United Learning said: “When the governors approached United Learning in 2019, the school was in serious financial difficulty and heading towards closure.

“Since then, we have made strenuous efforts to overcome these systemic issues and spent over £16 million in addressing its historic debt and subsidising the school’s ongoing losses, whilst conducting extensive marketing to secure a turnaround in demand for places.

“Despite everyone’s best efforts, however, demand has not risen as hoped; for a school with places for 350 pupils, the roll in September was projected to be fewer than 100.

“The financial support required to continue subsidising the school has grown to an unsustainable level and further reductions in pupil numbers would, we believe, increasingly risk compromising the educational experience of pupils.

“We have therefore taken the sad decision to close the school and will be doing whatever we can to support pupils and staff in finding new roles and school places, including where possible within our group.”