A PRIVATE Hampshire school that has taught children for more than 100 years has announced it will close.

Wykeham House School in Fareham has this morning confirmed that they will be closing at the end of autumn term.

As previously reported, the school has been facing increased financial pressure over the last year.

A spokeswoman for the school confirmed that they have been working hard with families to find appropriate alternative schools for their children.

Mr John Charles, chairman of the trustees at Wykeham House School, said: “We are sorry to be closing the doors on such a wonderful school which will be greatly missed by our families and staff. We have worked hard to explore different options to secure a future for our school but in the face of reducing pupil numbers and a shrinking market place for single sex education we have had to take the sad decision to close the school.”

Most of the children at Wykeham House have found alternative schools and staff at Wykeham House have been working hard with other schools in the area to ensure a smooth transition, especially for those in the older years in the seniors.

The leader of Fareham Borough Council previously described the possible closure of the private school as an “absolute tragedy”.

The closure comes only two years after the school celebrated its centenary and opened a new Boys’ Junior School – having previously operated as a girls-only school. A year later it opened a new Boys’ Senior School.

The school, led by headmistress Jan Caddy, was praised in its most recent inspection by the Independent Schools Inspectorate in October 2013 and in August pupils achieved a 83 per cent GCSE pass rate in their GCSEs.

It currently has 129 pupils aged between three and 16 and the school term will end in December.

Wykeham House School was founded at Orme Lodge in West Street, Fareham in 1913, but moved to 69 High Street in 1928. It moved to its present East Street site in 1986.

According to the school’s website, it employs approximately 50 full and part-time staff.