on the site of some disused barracks outside Woodhouse, near Loughborough. The purpose-built site was selected for its proximity to the M1 and the East Midlands Airport, and reportedly cost £38 million to develop. The school officially re-opened as Welbeck – The Defence Sixth Form College on 7 December 2005. Upon its re-opening, the school continued to admit potential officers for all three branches of the armed forces as it had started doing the year prior, and began admitting potential civil servants for the Defence Engineering and Science Group (DESG) within the Ministry of Defence. Closure On 11 March 2019, it was announced in the House of Commons that the school would be closed in 2021. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence acknowledged that the school had "produced some excellent young graduates" but said that the school was "not meeting Defence's requirements or providing sufficient value for money". In a parliamentary debate called by then-Conservative MP Nicky Morgan on 30 April 2019, Defence minister Mark Lancaster said that "the scheme as it stands has consistently failed to deliver the required number of engineers and technical officers to Defence since its establishment in 2005" and that "on average only 53 per cent of entrants have completed [the scheme] successfully, and a proportion of those have not achieved STEM degrees". He also noted that "the scheme has cost the Ministry of Defence and the taxpayer some £200,000 per student who has become a STEM graduate". The school was officially closed at the final graduation ceremony on 3 July 2021, which was attended by Princess Anne. Governance Although run as a sixth form college, the school was an institution of the Ministry of Defence and part of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, and operated by Minerva Ltd as part of a public–private partnership. It was governed by a board including senior armed forces personnel, civil servants, individuals with technical and industrial experience, directors of Minerva, as well as staff and parents. The board acted as an advisory, rather than a proprietorial body, overseeing the day-to-day running of the school, the facilities, and the provision of education and pastoral care. There were two sub-committees—academic and pastoral, and facilities—which reported to the main governing board. The school was an associate of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC). Admissions As a selective school, it required prospective pupils to satisfy one of the Single