Oxford School of English, one of the few remaining non-chain language schools in the famous university town, has been sold to a state sector further education group, New City College, which operates in East London and the neighbouring county of Essex.
Founded at the turn of the millennium, Oxford School of English survived Covid and remained solvent when at least five language schools in the city were forced to close in large part because its local authority refused to waive the business taxes on language schools. Oxford School of English, which also has a successful junior summer operation, led the local media campaign to have the tax lifted, but unlike arch-rival Cambridge, which has seen far fewer school closures, the authorities refused to budge. According to Gazette records, Oxford saw the highest number of closures of any town in England, although the Scottish capital, Edinburgh saw slightly more.
New City College, which acquired the Oxford school in January, already owns a private Language operation in Bournemouth, Westbourne Academy, which it acquired in 2016. At least one other language school, LSI Portsmouth, is owned by a state sector college, this time in Wales.
Another private language school which has recently been acquired, in this case by a boarding school, is ELC Bristol. Again the school, which has long been in the top 1% of language centres in the Gazette rankings, survived the pandemic intact, although it had to sell one of its buildings. In this case the buyer, the city’s famous Clifton College, approached ELC’s owners, who decided to sell in large part because they wanted to provide a secure future for the school – and its long-service team of staff.
The UK market for year-round language schools remains quiet, although there is good demand for summer operations and, according to mergers and acquisitions specialists James Dixey Limited, an increasing interest in private mainstream education, including sixth form and tutorial colleges, private further education and vocational training.
Meanwhile, the stream of UK language school closures looks to be slowing down, with only two accredited operations leaving the British Council list so far this year: Aberystwyth University, one of a growing number of higher education providers opting out of accreditation, and the Intensive School of English, Brighton, which is planning to re-open in new premises later this year, according to its website. Its sister school in neighbouring Hove is still open.
