THE SHOCK closure of a long established independent school in Knutsford has left staff, pupils and parents ‘deeply saddened’.

Yorston Lodge Preparatory School will shut its doors for the last time on July 14 – almost 120 years after it opened.

The award-winning school on St John’s Road has taught generations of children aged three to 11.

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Headmistress Janet Dallimore said: “I am so proud and honoured to have been part of this very special school for the last 28 years.

“Together with all my staff, pupils, present and past and their parents, we are so deeply saddened that Yorston Lodge School will be closing at the end of the summer term.”

Looking back, Mrs Dallimore has described how this unique school began.

In 1904, Grace Brydon announced that she was going to open a private school for children from the age of four.

The 20-year-old decided to start the school in a house called ‘The Nest’ in St John’s Avenue.

Grace was born in Scotland where her dad was postmaster at Bridge of Allan in Stirlingshire.

He had three more children, Nan, Robert and Daisy, before moving to become a postmaster in Knutsford.

Mr Brydon returned to Scotland some time later, leaving Grace, Nan and Daisy to run the school.

In 1920, the school moved to its current home on St John’s Road and was named Yorston Lodge after the sisters’ great grandmother, Grizel Yorston, who came from the Shetland Isles.

Mrs Dallimore said: “The premises were purchased from a baker who kept his horse in what is now the kindergarten classroom.

“The hay for his horse was kept upstairs.

“Miss Grace, Miss Nan and Miss Daisy built up a thriving school.

“In more recent times, Ian Cumpsty owned and ran the school, enhancing its already excellent reputation.”

Dedicated staff led the school to success in many national awards, including Junior School of the Year and Small Independent School of the Year in the Independent Schools Association Awards.

Yorston won an innovation award at the Guardian Education Awards last year.

The school prides itself on creating ‘a nurturing place with happy pupils, who are motivated to achieve their academic potential and pursue their passions’.

Mrs Dallimore said: “I was very privileged to have met, by chance, the niece of the Brydon sisters, introduced to me by an 80-year-old gentleman, a former pupil of the school.

“She and her husband attended our centenary celebrations in 2004 and regaled us with so many tales of such a happy and unique school.”

Montague Place Limited, a global provider of independent school education, which owns Yorston Lodge, was asked for a comment by the Guardian but declined to issue a statement