A Catholic boarding school in Dorset that fell into administration last month will not reopen in September.
Staff, parents and former pupils of St Mary’s, in Shaftesbury, were fighting to save the all-girls' school and had raised hundreds of thousands of pounds as part of the campaign.
But an agreement in principle to bring the school out of administration collapsed last week, with headmistress Maria Young confirming it was “the end of the road”.
According to the letter, 130 pupils were needed to reopen St Mary’s in the autumn, but the school fell short of securing enough students.
“We had obtained an agreement in principle to bring the school out of administration and had every cause to believe that St Mary’s had a future,” the letter said.
“We were cautious in communicating this far and wide while we knew that the final hurdle had yet to be met; the school would only be viable with 130 girls.
“At the end of the day, I am sorry to say that we fell short of that. And so with a heavy heart I must tell you that, today, we reached the end of the road.”
In the letter, parents were told to "follow plan B” and will now need to find new schools for their children in September.
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Ms Young, who took over the helm of St Mary’s in 2018, asked for “no judgement” on families who had to make "difficult decisions".
She wrote: “Everyone’s situation is different. I would also ask that there be no scapegoating. We all now need to look to the future, and draw a line under recent events.
“In particular, I want to tell you that the former governing body worked extraordinarily hard and did everything in their power to save the school before we went into administration.”
St Mary's fell into administration after being hit with “considerable challenges” caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The school, which employs 120 staff, had been operating at a loss for some time and announced its permanent closure after a deal with Chinese investors collapsed in July.
Shanghai-based education company Achieve Education Group was set to invest £6million in the school but pulled out the night before contracts were due to be exchanged, citing "political tensions" between the 海角视频 and China, a source close to St Mary's told BusinessLive .
Around 40 interested parties came forwards after the deal collapsed but no firm offers had been received by a deadline of July 6.
The school counts Iain Duncan-Smith and the Duchess of Cornwall's daughters among its former pupils.