St Wilfrid's School Exeter: company goes into liquidation

The company that ran St Wilfrid’s School, the small independent school at 25 to 29 St David’s Hill in Exeter, has gone into creditors’ voluntary liquidation. Shareholders of St. Wilfrid’s School (Exeter) Limited passed a winding-up resolution on 30 July 2026, and Jonathan David Trembath and Samuel Adam Bailey of Richard J Smith & Co, the insolvency firm at 53 Fore Street in Ivybridge, were appointed joint liquidators the same day by the company’s members and creditors. Both notices were published in The London Gazette on 7 August. (The Gazette, resolutions for winding-up, notice 5188281; appointment of liquidators, notice 5188282)

The liquidation follows the school’s closure. The Department for Education’s official register of schools records that St Wilfrid’s School closed on 8 July 2026. The register lists it as a non-selective mixed independent school for children aged 3 to 16, with a capacity of 125 and 30 pupils recorded on its roll, under headteacher Ross Bovingdon. (Get Information about Schools, URN 113567)

What the notices record

The Gazette notices give the company’s principal trading address as St. Wilfrid’s School, 25 to 29 St Davids Hill, EX4 4DA, and record that its registered office has moved from the school to the liquidators’ Ivybridge office. A creditors’ voluntary liquidation is the procedure directors use when a company cannot carry on because of what it owes: the company stops trading, the liquidators take control of its assets, and whatever is realised is shared out among creditors in a set legal order. (The Gazette, notice 5188281)

A school on the register since 1988

St. Wilfrid’s School (Exeter) Limited was incorporated on 29 July 1988, and its registered nature of business is primary and general secondary education. Alexandra Macdonald-Dent has been a director since July 1996, with Eric Arthur Macdonald-Dent as company secretary since 2003; Ross Bovingdon and Katherine Bovingdon joined the board in May 2019. The company’s last filed accounts cover the year to 31 August 2025 and reached the register on 29 May 2026. When we checked on 12 August the liquidation paperwork had not yet appeared in the company’s filing history, which is normal in the first weeks; Companies House still showed the company as active. (Companies House, St. Wilfrid’s School (Exeter) Limited, company 02282025)

The school’s most recent Ofsted inspection was on 1 October 2024, when it was rated Good. Ofsted’s register now also records the school as closed from 8 July 2026. (Ofsted, St Wilfrid’s School, provider 113567) The school’s own website at stwilfrids.devon.sch.uk would not load when we checked on 12 August, returning only a service-unavailable message.

What it means for you

Families whose children attended St Wilfrid’s will already know the school did not continue beyond July; the DfE register is now the formal record of that closure, and Devon’s state school admissions are handled through Devon County Council.

Anyone owed money by the company, including suppliers and staff, should contact the joint liquidators. The Gazette notices give the contact directly: Tom Simmons at Richard J Smith & Co on 01752 690101 or tom.simmons@richardjsmith.com. (The Gazette, notice 5188282) Employees of a company in liquidation can claim unpaid wages, holiday pay, notice pay and statutory redundancy from the government’s Redundancy Payments Service rather than waiting on the company’s own funds.

The liquidators must file a statement of affairs setting out what the company owed and to whom; we will report what it shows when it reaches the public register. Our Exeter news section carries our continuing coverage.