Parents are in turmoil after receiving letters telling them their children's school has been closed.

The letters, which arrived by private courier between 8pm and midnight on Wednesday, said Westbrook House Preparatory School, in Shorncliffe Road, Folkestone has shut - leaving more than 100 pupils with no school to go to in September.

The shock announcement came completely out of the blue, but it has since been revealed that management team were aware it was going under due to lack of funds.

The school was for children aged two to 11, with fees costing from £450 a term for two mornings a week in the nursery, to just under £3,000 a term for Year Six pupils, aged 10 and 11.

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One parent, who did not want to be named, said: "Some families have gone on holiday and will return to find their child doesn’t have a school to go to in September.

"The local primary schools have already allocated places for the next school year and all that is left will be places that no-one wants. There’s no way we will get our children into the good primary schools. We feel let down."

Westbrook House was established in the forties and Folkestone businessman Roger De Haan was the chairman of governors. The former Saga chairman sponsors the Folkestone Academy.