Kensington Park School has closed and will not reopen for 2026/27. Its company is in liquidation £1.86m short; parents and staff claim through Kroll.
Kensington Park School has closed. It did not open for the autumn term on 7 September and will not reopen for the 2026/27 academic year. The company that ran it, Kensington Park School Limited, went into creditors’ voluntary liquidation on 20 August 2026, and the liquidators are Kroll Advisory.
The school’s website now opens with a notice headed “KPS Operation Ceased”, which says the school “has now ceased to trade and will not be reopening for the 2026/27 academic year. Please direct all queries to KPS@Kroll.com.” Web archive captures show the notice was not there on 31 August and was up by 11 September. (Kensington Park School)
Last checked 11 October 2026, against the school’s website, Companies House, The Gazette and the Department for Education register.
Is Kensington Park School closed?
Yes. The school taught ages 11 to 18 on two sites: the senior school at 40-44 Bark Place, W2 4AT, in Bayswater, and the sixth form at 59 Queen’s Gate, South Kensington, SW7 5JP. The liquidators have given up the company’s interest in both buildings, and in its boarding space at Princess Beatrice House, 192 Finborough Road, SW10. The three notices of disclaimer were signed on 25 August and filed at Companies House on 14 September. The Bark Place lease had already reached the end of its term on 18 July 2026. (Companies House, filing history)
Companies House now gives the company’s status as Liquidation, and its registered office has moved to Kroll’s office at London Bridge. (Companies House)
One official record has still not caught up. The Department for Education’s register still lists the school as Open, with 173 pupils on roll and no closure date. (Get Information about Schools, URN 100536)
What happens now for pupils, parents and staff
Pupils who were on roll need a place somewhere else. For a state school place partway through the year, apply to the council where you live, not the one where the school was. Kensington and Chelsea’s in-year form goes to school.admissions@rbkc.gov.uk. (RBKC, applying for a school place in-year) For other local schools and their holiday dates this year, see our Kensington school term dates.
Parents who paid fees or a deposit in advance are creditors of the company. The tuition deposit was one term’s fees, £9,950 for most UK pupils, and the boarding deposit was £5,000. The liquidators set 30 September 2026 as the deadline for creditor claims; if you missed it, contact Kroll anyway. (The Gazette, notice to creditors) If you paid by credit or debit card, ask your card provider about a chargeback or a claim.
Staff can claim unpaid wages, notice pay and redundancy pay from the government through the Insolvency Service once the liquidators have sent the details. (GOV.UK, your rights if your employer is insolvent)
Contact for everyone: the joint liquidators, Philip Dakin and Benjamin Wiles of Kroll Advisory, The News Building, Level 6, 3 London Bridge Street, SE1 9SG. Email KPS@Kroll.com; Kroll’s office number on the filings is 020 7089 4700.
Why the company went under
The directors’ statement of affairs, dated 10 August 2026 and filed at Companies House on 3 September, sets out what the company owned and owed:
- Assets estimated to realise £908,990, most of it £811,277 from debtors
- £892,418 owed to HMRC in VAT and PAYE, which ranks ahead of most other debts
- £560,842 owed to staff in unpaid wages (£205,113), redundancy (£189,885) and pay in lieu of notice (£165,844), plus £75,494 in preferential employee claims and £99,005 in pension contributions
- £371,894 owed to trade and expense creditors, and £46,379 to temporary summer school staff
- £727,759 owed to a sister company, UK KE Education Limited
- An estimated total deficiency of £1,864,801
On those figures there is nothing left for unsecured creditors once HMRC and the preferential claims are paid. Unsecured creditors include trade suppliers, most staff claims, and parents owed fees or deposits. (Companies House, statement of affairs, filed 3 September 2026)
HMRC petitioned to wind the company up in July
On 9 July 2026 the Commissioners for HM Revenue and Customs presented a petition to wind up Kensington Park School Limited, and a hearing was listed for 2 September. The Gazette has published no outcome for that hearing. (The Gazette, petitions to wind up (companies))
Before it was heard, the company passed a written resolution on 20 August 2026 to wind itself up voluntarily. Two joint liquidators were appointed the same day, and the notices appeared in The Gazette on 26 August. (The Gazette, resolutions for winding-up; The Gazette, appointment of liquidators)
When we first reported this, on 27 August, the school’s homepage still read “We still have places in certain year groups for September 2026”, and its term dates still showed the autumn term starting on Monday 7 September. That line is still on the homepage, under the closure notice.
173 pupils in a school built for 604
The Department for Education’s register records 173 pupils on roll against a capacity of 604. The school’s most recent Ofsted inspection, in October 2018, judged it Good overall, with the sixth form Outstanding. (Get Information about Schools, URN 100536; Ofsted)
Fees for 2026/27, all excluding VAT, were published as:
- Years 7 to 11 and current sixth-formers, UK residents: £9,950 a term, £29,850 a year
- The same year groups, international students: £11,200 a term, £33,600 a year
- Direct entry to the sixth form, UK residents: £10,350 a term, £31,050 a year
- Boarding, on top of tuition: £8,510 a term shared en-suite, up to £12,200 single premium
- Tuition deposit: the cost of one term. Boarding deposit: £5,000
(Kensington Park School, fees)
The accounts showed a company £2.8m in the red
Kensington Park School Limited last filed accounts for the year to 31 August 2024. Its accounts for the following year, due by 31 August 2026, have not been filed. The 2024 accounts record:
- Turnover of £8,013,385, almost flat on the £8,007,348 of the year before
- An operating loss of £452,286, after a £847,578 operating loss in 2023
- A loss for the year of £510,666, after £936,658 in 2023
- Net liabilities of £2,789,044, up from £2,278,378
- An average of 76 staff, 63 of them teachers and tutors, down from 81
(Companies House, Kensington Park School Limited, accounts to 31 August 2024)
Those accounts were signed off on a going concern basis, and the auditor recorded no material uncertainty about the company continuing. That conclusion rested on support from further up the ownership chain.
The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Star Education Investment Limited. The directors wrote that at group level “it is clear over the next 12 to 24 months that the Group is dependent upon ongoing financial support from Shanghai Ten Springs Enterprise Management Consulting Co., Ltd (Ten Springs), the ultimate controlling entity”, and that Ten Springs “have confirmed their ongoing financial support and agreed to fund the shortfall highlighted by the forecasts over the next 2 years”.
The auditor signed that report on 29 August 2025. The company resolved to wind itself up on 20 August 2026, just under a year later.
The directors’ strategic report for the same year had already named the pressure. It said the government’s policy of charging VAT on independent school fees was “affecting UK Independent Education”, that parents were “struggling to cope with the fee increases”, and that student numbers at the school were “slowing down”.
Star Education Investment Limited, company number 10213869, is the company’s only shareholder and is not itself in liquidation. The company had run the school since 1979, first as Lansdowne Tutors Limited and under its present name since 2017.
When we first reported this, we could not reach any statement from the school, Star Education or the liquidators, and none has been published since beyond the closure notice. Anyone named in an insolvency notice, including a company, is entitled to have their side recorded. If they issue a statement, we will add it here.
More local school news: Kensington A-level results 2026 and October half term in Kensington.
Frequently asked questions
Has Kensington Park School closed?
Yes. The school’s website says it has ceased to trade and will not reopen for the 2026/27 academic year. Kensington Park School Limited went into creditors’ voluntary liquidation on 20 August 2026, and the autumn term due to start on 7 September did not go ahead.
Why did Kensington Park School close?
The company ran out of money. Its last accounts showed net liabilities of £2.79m, it relied on its Chinese parent for funding, and HMRC petitioned to wind it up in July 2026. The directors’ statement of affairs estimates a deficiency of £1,864,801, including £892,418 owed to HMRC in VAT and PAYE.
Who do I contact about Kensington Park School fees or a deposit?
The joint liquidators, Philip Dakin and Benjamin Wiles of Kroll Advisory. The school’s website directs all queries to KPS@Kroll.com; Kroll’s London office is on 020 7089 4700. The deadline the liquidators set for creditor claims was 30 September 2026.
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