- Founded in 2009,
Cressey College (Cressey) is a multi-site special school for students aged
between 5-19 with social, emotional, and learning difficulties;
- With over 170
staff, Cressey offers onsite and offsite programs from six sites across South
London;
- The finance
will be used to support existing school site capital expenditure and the roll
out of new schools;
- The number of
special educational needs students is rising in London, with high dependency on
schools as evidenced by the increasing number of referrals received by Cressey.
OakNorth – the bank for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs – has provided a £2.5m loan to
Cressey College, a multi-site special school for
students aged between 5 – 19 with social, emotional and attachment difficulties,
particularly challenging behaviour, and/or
additional complex needs.
Founded in 2009, the specialist school, which offers onsite and offsite programs to pupils
across its six individual South London sites, has seen a rapid rise in its
average number of students over the past 5 years. The business is run by Adrienne Cherrywood and
Ofsted has graded the school as
Good, with Outstanding for students’ personal development, behaviour and
welfare, as well as for the effectiveness of leadership and management.
The debt
finance facility from OakNorth will support existing school site capital
expenditure and the roll out of new schools. In the short term, Cressey’s
future growth will be driven by the opening of a new
site in Merton and the commencement of offsite operations in Lockley.
Adrienne
Cherrywood, Headteacher and Proprietor of Cressey said: “We have seen great success over the last
decade but are now keen to take the business to the next level which is why the
finance from
OakNorth has come at such a critical time. The bank went above and
beyond what was required, and I have no doubt that their bespoke facility will
help us deliver our exciting growth plans going forward.”
Matt Leahy, Director,
Debt Finance at OakNorth, said: “Over the past
decade, this business has self-funded its growth extremely well, been consistently
profitable year-on-year, and maintained a very strong reputation in all local
markets they operate in. Cressey are a genuine best in class operator and it is
very clear that the needs of their children are at the forefront of everything
that they do. We are delighted to have supported Cressey on
this transaction and I look forward to further funding their expansion in the
future.”