Fathers say school is worth a million

SEAFORD, England, April 22 (UPI) -- Two fathers of students at a British private school have paid the school's 1 million pound ($1.8 million) debt to keep the school from going out of business.

The closure of Newlands School in Seaford, England, left 450 children -- many studying for their General Certificate of Secondary Education exams -- scrambling to find other schools, The Times of London reported.

Mike Holland, whose 15-year-old son was about to take his practice exams at Newlands, could not find a school with equivalent standards, so he and his business partner, John Summers, who had two children at Newlands, offered to pay to keep the school open.

Holland, 58, is a businessman with interests in hotels, restaurants and a golf course. It is believed he is paying more than 1 million pounds to buy the school.

"My son is dyslexic, as are a lot of other children there, and Newlands has given my son confidence that he never had before," Holland said. "In the four years he has been there, there has been a tremendous improvement."

"I have another son who will be going to Newlands, so all I am doing is investing in my children's futures," Holland said.