A Weymouth prep school is to close its doors for the final time, due to falling numbers of pupils.

Thornlow Preparatory School has announced that it will close at the end of this term on December 11, after 103 years.

In a statement, bosses at the school said they were ‘devastated’.

Rupert Fowke, a director at the school along with Naomi Fowke, said he had 'agonised long and hard' over the decision, but the collapse of the Chinese economy and the poor Euro exchange rate, which affects the number of Spanish students sent to the school, have meant pupil numbers have plummeted.

The school currently has 48 pupils aged between three and 13, but this was expected to fall to 31 in January, which Mr Fowke said is 'not sustainable'.

Speaking to the Dorset Echo following the announcement, Mr Fowke said it was a ‘sad, sad day’.

He and Mrs Fowke bought the Connaught Road school in 1998 when the previous owners retired. The senior school had closed the previous December.

Mr Fowke said: “When we told the staff and parents, everyone was in tears. We have a truly outstanding staff and they were told a few weeks ago, then given their redundancy notices, which is not easy. It’s like a family here.”

The school employs 18 staff, and the longest serving has worked at Thornlow for 12 years.

The news will be broken to the children by their parents and a special assembly will be held today.

Directors said they had considered alternatives to closing the school, including incorporating it into another school, moving it to a new premises or to sell it.

Mr Fowke said: “It has been apparent for some time that for both geographic and economic reasons the school cannot continue to flourish for long, situated as it is at present.

“People may not realise that economic events in China can impact on us in Weymouth. We have always taken 10 students a term from Spain to learn the language and culture, but when the Euro dropped in July they very understandably got cold feet and the programme was transferred to Ireland.

“We were due to have 10 children coming from China in January, then the stock market collapsed and they all pulled out.”

Mr Fowke said the school’s priority is now in finding suitable alternative education for their pupils and supporting the staff to find employment.