AN ADMINISTRATOR has been called in at a Hampshire school hit by sex abuse allegations as it edges towards liquidation.

Stanbridge Earls, near Romsey, closed in August after failing to get enough children signed up for classes for the start of the new school term.

Now insolvency firm Smith and Williamson LLP is being appointed administrator of the school to oversee the process.

It was revealed to parents in a letter from David Du Croz on behalf of the school’s board of trustees.

It confirms the charitable trust that runs the school will continue and its priority will be to “retain as much value as possible for the future operation of the charity”, adding it was a “very sad outcome” and a “tragic end” to the school.

The letter said: “Whilst there appears to be no immediate prospect of the school being taken over by an alternative business, one of the roles of the administrators will be to continue to explore this possibility.

“The administrators will be writing to all creditors following their appointment to give formal notice of their appointment and asking them to submit their claims.”

Mr Du Croz writes the school’s “major asset is the main house”, which needs to be sold before the administrators can settle creditor claims.

The letter also reveals it is uncertain what will happen to the school site and a similar school could reopen in its place.

He added: “It goes without saying that this is a very sad outcome and a tragic end to a once great school.

“It is distressing to you as parents, to your children as they seek to find alternative education, to the staff as they face redundancy, and to all those many people in the past for whom Stanbridge has been part of their life.”

As reported, the school was at the centre of sex abuse allegations and endured financial woes.

A Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal earlier this year found that the school had discriminated against a girl and staff members failed to tell the youngster’s parents that she had complained of pain in an intimate part of her body.

It found that the youngster suffered “appalling abuse” at the hands of another student, while the school was slammed for its failings in protecting her.