School set up in hotel ballroom

Parents were told of the school's closure as the summer holidays began

A former teacher at a Kent preparatory school which shut down suddenly at the end of last term is starting a new establishment in a hotel ballroom.

Rosie Lagrue was among those who lost their jobs when Westbrook House Prep School in Folkestone closed.

She has set up Folkestone International Prep School (Fips) in the town's Grand Hotel, which will open for the autumn term with about 14 pupils.

More than 100 children were left without schools when Westbrook closed.

'Small acorns'

A website run by the parents' association of Westbrook said that most had now found places at other schools.

The Grand Hotel has been offered as a temporary home for Fips.

"The original founder started the [Westbrook House Prep] school in 1947 with 14 students," said Ms Lagrue.

"Our philosophy is going to be that from small acorns oak trees grow."

The children will be taught in classrooms in the ballroom partitioned off at the start of each day.

Westbrook parents and staff were angry at being given only one day's notice of the closure in July.

The school, which was run by a charity funded by Folkestone businessman Roger de Haan, blamed a shortage of pupils and financial losses.