A business management centre at St Bees School is set to reopen on Monday.

The venue – which features rooms for meetings, seminars and functions as well as an auditorium – will be available for hire by businesses.

It is the latest development in the short-term and future plans for the school, which closed last summer.

A virtually new board of trustees has also been appointed. They are looking at how facilities can be used at the school, as it is, and how the site can be opened as an education facility in the future.

Kate Wilson, one of the trustees, said: “The whole point is to stabilise the assets so that we have a working base as a team to look at all the opportunities for the school.

“We are just looking forward. We all think there is a viable solution.

“We want it open as an education facility. Our job is to review all the options.”

In addition to the business management centre opening, other facilities will continue to be let on a short-term basis to help maintain the assets.

An estate manager has been appointed and a new greenkeeper has been recruited for the golf course.

And an advert has been placed in the Times Education Supplement for possible partners to come forward to support the re-establishment of a school.

Newsletters with updates are available and the St Bees School website is now back up-and-running.

The current trustees of the school are: Mark Rocca, chair of the board, Mark George, Shaun Kelso, Alastair Lord, Adrian Simper, Harry Strong, Kate Wilson, Mark Roberts, Sara Gough, Robert Miller and clerk Tom Kelly.

The board says its current priorities are:

  • To maintain the existing assets and infrastructure
  • To generate the income needed to sustain our necessary maintenance activities
  • To identify the most appropriate operational model for the school
  • To secure the necessary investment and support to enable movement to the chosen school model.