OakNorth Bank provides growth capital to Innervation Capital-backed, Melrose Education, to support SEN acquisition programme.
OakNorth Bank, the digital bank for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs, has provided growth capital to ICP-backed, Melrose Education, to support its acquisition programme of high-quality Special Education Needs (SEN) schools across England.
ICP focuses on investing in platform companies in essential services sectors such as education. It then works closely with the management team to accelerate growth through a mixture of organic and inorganic growth. In 2017, OakNorth Bank provided support to ICP Nurseries, and in 2019, did the same with Cresswell Nurseries – both were Innervation Capital-backed businesses.
About Melrose Education: Founded in 2021 by the sector-focused and theme-driven investor, ICP, Melrose Education is led by the previous CEO of ICP Education, Tracey Storey. Its current portfolio of six SEN schools provide over 330 places to children with SEN conditions and includes Orchard Education, an independent special school located across three separate sites in Grimsby and Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, that supports learners with Autism and ADHD, in addition to Break Through School in Belvedere, Kent, a small alternative independent school offering a personalised and well-rounded approach to education to young people aged 11-17. Melrose’s other sites also include The Learning Centre in Bromley, Kent, a small independent SEN Day School that provides support to all students with social, emotional and mental health needs, The Rowan School, an independent school for boys and girls aged from five to 11 located in Dudley, West Midlands, as well as Highgate Hill House School, an independent co-educational day school for SEN children situated on the Devon and Cornwall border.