The principal of King William’s College has described its financial position as ‘delicate’.

And Damian Henderson admitted there is a financial dimension to the proposed relocation of the Buchan School to the main college site.

The plans to move the Buchan from its current site at West Hill in Castletown were announced in January.

Mr Henderson, who was appointed as principal of King William’s College and the Buchan School in September last year, said: ‘There is definitely a financial dimension and I can’t tell you there isn’t – that’s what we’ve briefed the staff and that’s what we’ve said in the letters to parents.

‘The financial situation is delicate, But that is not unusual for this school or for any [fee charging independent} schools at the moment. The overwhelming advice is we need to act and act boldly.’

He said more than once in their history the schools have ‘sailed close to the wind’ – and more than once they’ve undergone change in order to reach ‘calmer waters’. ‘And that’s what we will do again with these very sensible proposals,’ he added.

Under initial proposals, the boy boarders will be moved into the main part of the school and their current accommodation Colbourne House repurposed as refurbished modern classsroom facilities for the Buchan’s 160-plus pupils.

The fourth form centre and maths classrooms in Stenning House would also be relocated.

Mr Henderson said: ‘It’s a proposal, we haven’t had a governing body sign off on it yet. The key thing is that the proposal does not include building new buildings, we are not extending our footprint. We’d be repurposing and refurbishing what we already have.’

The buildings could be ready as early as March next year and students could move in for the start of the summer term.

Mr Henderson said there had been market turbulence which had affected all international schools and Covid had also had an impact. ‘We’ve definitely lost a significant number of students in terms of sixth form and boarding,’ he said. ‘The land war in Europe has obviously affected the Russian-speaking market and the post-Covid attitude of Far Eastern parents has changed about sending their children abroad.’

He said the island hadn’t been immune to the period of double digit inflation. In the UK, independent schools were seeing a raft of mergers and acquisitions and single-sex establishments were going co-ed.

The principal said: ‘We are already merged – King William’s College and the Buchan School merged back in 1991. What we are doing now is just proposing to reconcile the campuses.

‘The overwhelming arguments are in favour of moving and we haven’t had many people in all the plurality of voices we’ve had who have actually disagreed with the principle of having the two schools on one site.’

He said the main concerns have been to do with the logistics, about when and how the move will take place, about what the new facilities will be like and about parking provision. ‘All these things are understandable because no one really likes change, particularly when there are children involved,’ he said.

Mr Henderson insisted there was also a ‘massive’ educational advantage of having all the children aged from two to 18 on the same campus. ‘It is a very common model and we will effectively become a “through school” as they call them in the UK.’

He said the existing facilities at the Buchan were ‘very safe, very clean, very functional and very serviceable’ but aspects required some ‘TLC’. The main college campus looks a ‘bit austere, a bit grey’ and not suitable for young children, he said, and so the aim was to bring colour to areas that the Buchan pupils would be in.

‘It does make sense to have the schools on one site and we can focus on upgrading the facilities for all,’ he said, insisted that they were not trying to ‘shoehorn’ the younger children into the bigger campus.

The principal said he was not aware of any legal barriers preventing the West Hill site being used for purposes other than education, including residential.

He also confirmed that given the ‘harsh’ economic climate the schools are facing, talks are being held with staff about possible voluntary redundancies. The two schools employ about 200 staff including some 80 teachers between them.

‘I can’t give you numbers,’ he said. ‘It’s a very personal, very private, very complicated and very sensitive issue that we’re having with individual staff who are, or as a group, absolutely amazing. The conversations we’re having are nothing to do with the [relocation] proposals, it’s relating to declining student numbers over the last few years.’

He said he hoped to avoid compulsory redundancies. ‘Every employer would say the same - you hope to keep all your staff,’ he said.