Latest news with #StuartEllis
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
‘We spent £535,000 to buy and convert a schoolhouse. Our bedroom is the old hall'
If the walls of Theresa and Stuart Ellis's home could talk, they would ring with the sound of times tables being chanted, the squeak of chalk on slate and tuneless Christmas carol concerts. The couple fell for the charms of a Victorian-era former infant and primary school in Northamptonshire, and spent almost a year living in a caravan while they converted it into a three-bedroom, three-bathroom house with a dramatic double-height living room. They spent around £350,000 repurposing the property, earning a paper profit of more than £300,000 in return for a year's hard work. 'We were actually going to downsize, but when we found the school we just fell in love with it,' says Stuart, 67, an architectural designer who also runs a building company. He and Theresa, 65, who works for the family business, previously lived in the village of Wootton, on the edge of Northampton, in a modern house Stuart had built for them. Their three children have long flown the nest and they have seven grandchildren. The couple's house hunting led them to the village of Greens Norton, some 10 miles away where the former school, built in 1874, was for sale – along with a two-bedroom cottage, which had once been home to a succession of headmasters. After the school was closed in the 1960s, the property was used as the village hall, hosting playgroups and Scout and Brownie groups. It had been empty for a year or two when the couple found it. Stuart and Theresa agreed to pay £485,000 for the property in 2021, thinking they would redevelop and sell the school and live in the cottage. They sold their house to fund the project and bought a static caravan, which they ended up living in for a year. During that time they began to get more and more attached to the school, with its arched windows and double-height space, and decided to flip their plans. Instead of selling the school and living in the cottage, they sold the cottage for £300,000. 'The exterior looks exactly the same as when it was built' Permission for the building's change of use had already been granted, but Stuart redrew plans for the property – with an open-plan kitchen, living and dining room where the school's infants had once taken naps and learnt nursery rhymes. A ground-floor bedroom suite and a home office replaced the primary school's main hall, and the former toilet block was demolished and replaced with a new garden room. By adding a mezzanine they upped the floorspace of the building from 1,500 to 2,000 sq ft. This upper level has two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The school playground is now the driveway, while a kitchen garden behind the school is now the couple's own garden. Stuart decided that the best way to preserve the look of the school was to faithfully restore its exterior. 'It looks exactly the same as it did when it was built,' he says. Inside is a different story. Stuart built a new timber frame inside the hall to support the new layout and mezzanine, with insulation inserted in between. Work began on the site in late 2021 and caused a bit of a local stir. 'We had lots of people who used to go to school here stopping in and asking if they could come and have a look,' says Stuart. 'Of course we said yes.' By July 2022, Stuart and Theresa were able to bid farewell to the caravan and move into their new home. The work cost an estimated £350,000, which was heavily subsidised by the sale of the cottage. That meant that buying the property and converting the school has cost Theresa and Stuart £535,000. It has since been valued at £850,000 although the couple have no plan to sell. 'We love it, it is a beautiful building, and we have a lot of family in the area. It is a great place to meet up and entertain,' says Stuart. 'Our living room is where children used to go for naps' Rising school rolls and education shake-ups in the post war-era led to the closure of many traditional village schools in the 1960s and 1970s – but with their steeply pitched roofs, high ceilings and neo-Gothic doors and windows, they are ripe for conversion. Generations of children learnt their numbers and letters at an old schoolhouse in Bideford, Devon. Then, after it had been replaced by a more modern building, Lara Watson and Will Jarvis jumped at the chance to repurpose it as a family home. Watson, 43, a journalist and editor, and Jarvis, 42, a creative director, were both born and raised in the West Country and met at school. By 2018, they were living together in a rented flat in London's Isle of Dogs, but were ready to settle down close to their roots to start a family. That year, the couple exchanged the capital for a rented cottage in Buck's Mills on Devon's north coast. They began house hunting for somewhere to buy. 'My in-laws noticed there was an old schoolhouse for sale in Bideford, and we just loved it,' says Watson. 'It had so much history and so much potential. It is in a very beautiful spot in the town, near the old bridge.' Unfortunately, the couple were not the only people to fall for the charms of the school, built in 1882, and they were outbid on the property. 'We thought we had lost it, but then it came back on to the market a year later and we jumped at it,' says Watson. The building had served as the village infant and primary school until the 1960s. It was then owned by the Salvation Army for a spell, before being used as offices, an artists' studio and a holiday home. It was converted into a five-bedroom, two-bathroom house around three decades ago. 'The thing we really liked about it was that the main double-height room hadn't been split in two, cutting the windows in half, which has happened in some conversions,' says Watson. 'They go floor to ceiling.' They paid £265,000 for the schoolhouse and in late 2019, they moved in. Then they started to work out how to breathe new life into the run-down house while simultaneously growing their family. They have two sons, Wren, six, and Raff, four. 'I put a message on our local Facebook page asking if anybody remembered going to school there and I got some lovely messages back,' says Watson. 'Apparently our living room is where the children used to go down for naps every day, and I had a message from one person saying they still remember getting splinters from running around on the wooden floors.' Almost six years on, the schoolhouse is still a work in progress. 'There was such a lot to do, and to save money we are doing it all ourselves,' says Watson. So far the couple have replaced one of the bathrooms and refreshed the kitchen with new worktops and green-painted cupboards. A utility room, one of two, is now a boot room. The living room and bedrooms – one of which is on the mezzanine above the living room along with a second sitting room – have been redecorated, as have the hallways wide enough for the children to cycle up and down. They have also redone the garden and are currently working on revamping the porch. Still on the to-do list are the ecclesiastical-style windows which, while stunning, need replacing. The rendering needs to be replaced inside and outside, and there is still the second bathroom to tackle. The couple have opted not to remortgage to pay for the work, preferring to save up and do things bit by bit. 'Do we have any regrets? There have been moments obviously when we have thought this is going to cost a fortune, but it is such a special place for our children to grow up in,' says Watson. 'I am sure we will be able to make some money on the place when we do come to sell because of the work we have done and how unique it is.'
Mint
09-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Charter Schools Financier Blames Bankruptcy on Spat With Backer
(Bloomberg) -- A major financier of US charter schools filed bankruptcy, blaming pandemic-era subsidies that reduced demand for its services and a dispute with a top stockholder, New York investment firm Orthogon Partners Investment Management. Charter School Capital has provided funding to about one in eight of the 8,000 charter schools in the US, the company said in court papers filed Monday. The company said its struggles go back to 2022 because public schools, including charter schools, accessed federal cash in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic, CSC did $300 million a year in business through its Money To Run Your School program. In 2024, that number had dropped to $32.6 million, according to court documents. 'Schools generally remain in relatively strong financial condition with limited need for additional funding,' Stuart Ellis, CSC's chief executive officer said in a court filing. CSC said rising interest rates and property values also hurt the company's real estate business, which involved arranging sale and lease-back deals with charter schools. The company said a dispute with Orthogon pushed CSC into bankruptcy after the investment firm won a $3 million arbitration award earlier this month related to a 2024 land sale and refinancing deal. CSC says there were errors with their financial reports, which started the dispute. The company's other top debts include an $8.5 million, real estate loan guarantee and $700,000 in unpaid vendor and lease claims. The company had just $1.3 million in cash when it filed its case on Sunday. The bankruptcy is Charter School Capital, Inc. 25-11016, US Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware. More stories like this are available on
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Yahoo
Police officer caught stealing spider
A police officer has been given a written warning for stealing a decorative spider from a suspect's garden. PC Stuart Ellis intended to make an arrest at an address in Brighton on 5 December, but when there was no answer, he took the eight-legged Halloween ornament from the garden instead. His actions were spotted on a doorbell camera and reported to Sussex Police. At a misconduct hearing on 25 and 26 March, the 47-year-old's behaviour was found to be discreditable conduct and a breach of the professional behaviour standards of integrity. He was given a written warning, which will stay on file for 18 months. The panel was chaired by Assistant Chief Constable Peter Gardner. It heard how PC Ellis "was seen to walk over to a Halloween decoration, disconnect a decorative spider, and place it in his pocket". "He then walked away from the garden and towards the police vehicle, having taken the item from the front garden", said Sussex Police in a statement. "The item was later recovered and returned to its owner after they made a complaint to the force." The misconduct hearing also considered the actions of PC Sophie Douglas, 33, who attended the address alongside PC Ellis. The panel found that PC Douglas had no case to answer. Det Spt Andy Wolstenholme, deputy head of professional standards at Sussex Police, said: "Where Sussex Police receives complaints from members of the public about the conduct of our officers, it is right and proper that we investigate." He added the misconduct process meant staff "can account for their actions in an open and transparent process". Follow BBC Sussex on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@ or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. Sussex Police
BBC News
27-03-2025
- BBC News
Sussex police officer caught stealing suspect's spider
A police officer has been given a written warning for stealing a decorative spider from a suspect's Stuart Ellis intended to make an arrest at an address in Brighton on 5 December, but when there was no answer, he took the eight-legged Halloween ornament from the garden instead. His actions were spotted on a doorbell camera and reported to Sussex a misconduct hearing on 25 and 26 March, the 47-year-old was found to have breached the professional behaviour standards of integrity and discreditable conduct. He was given a written warning, which will stay on file for 18 months. Written warning The panel was chaired by Assistant Chief Constable Peter heard how PC Ellis "was seen to walk over to a Halloween decoration, disconnect a decorative spider, and place it in his pocket". "He then walked away from the garden and towards the police vehicle, having taken the item from the front garden", said Sussex Police in a statement."The item was later recovered and returned to its owner after they made a complaint to the force."The misconduct hearing also considered the actions of PC Sophie Douglas, 33, who attended the address alongside PC panel found that PC Douglas had no case to Spt Andy Wolstenholme, deputy head of professional standards at Sussex Police, said: "Where Sussex Police receives complaints from members of the public about the conduct of our officers, it is right and proper that we investigate."He added the misconduct process meant staff "can account for their actions in an open and transparent process".
