A PROMINENT independent school based in Chepstow has been put up for sale.

The Brightlands Trust Limited funds St John’s-on-the-Hill School, based in Tutshill, as well as a nursery on the same site and others in St Arvans and Newport.

Parents have been sent a letter telling them governors are struggling to invest in the school’s long-term future.

In the letter, the school’s chairman of governors Stephen Willis said: “While St John’s continues to achieve outstanding academic performance and provides excellent pastoral care, its historical financial performance has not achieved the same standards.”

Mr Willis continued: “This has been further exacerbated by recent economic conditions which have resulted in St John’s facing a number of challenges restricting its ability to invest in the long term future of the school.

“To address the school’s financial position and to enable it to invest in its future, the governors, together with their advisors and the senior management of the school, have been in the process of reviewing the school’s current strategy.

“As a result of this review, the governors take this opportunity to announce that they are in the process of marketing the school and nurseries to other independent education providers with a view to achieving a sale in the very near future.

“This will provide much needed investment and enable the school to exceed its already high standards of education and pastoral care for years to come.”

He said the sale is expected to be completed by the end of the current school year.

The Brightlands Trust runs the school, the St John’s-on-the-Hill Tutshill Day Nursery on Castleford Hill, the St John’s-on-the-Hill St Arvans Nursery on Wye Valley Road and the St John’s-on-the-Hill Celtic Springs Nursery on the Celtic Springs Business Park in Newport.