School fees for next term Post Reply

[Monion]

The amount saved by furloughing a small amount of non-essential staff for two months wouldn’t add up to a substantial refund once spread across all the pupils. If parents are happy to accept a token amount then that would be ok, but something tells me many won’t be! They’ll want a large reduction and that will only be achieved by permanent job losses and other cuts.

[It's-tricky]

Maybe some wires are being crossed here. I don’t think people are suggesting that the schools should get nothing - but that there could be some compromises - the main one being that the forgo one terms PROFIT - I don’t think anyone wishes for anyone to lose jobs and of course there are plenty of costs that need to be covered.

I believe it’s only the privately owned schools which are unwilling to budge...... they aren’t able to provide much of what people make sacrifices to pay for. I believe that the outrage is because we are being asked to pay 100% for only 60%. I don’t think any other businesses would dare to Do the same.

I would also like to point out this article which is totally incorrect: Wetherby are actually offering 20% discount and Thomas’s are NOT being kind as they have offered 0%

[BFW]

Completely agree with the poster above.  I would hope that no teachers / caterers / ground staff loose any income but schools in my opinion should give a small discount as clearly the service provided is not what people sacrifice to pay for.  My children schools have done between 10% and 15%.  And will return the amount allocated for school lunches which I feel is a fair compromise. The school is clearly not going to be spending the same amounts as if the kids were all in school ? Most educational trusts from what I hear have offered a discount.  Most businesses (mainly private prep schools) have not.

[chorister]

I have absolutely no connection with it, but I suggest those of you moaning about Thomas's do just a tiny bit of research.  Companies House will tell you that it is a Private Unlimited Company and the shareholders are the Thomas family.  This means that if it becomes insolvent then they could be personally liable and could for example lose their homes.  Is that what you want?

[Lulubear]

An unlimited company doesn't file accounts at companies house so the finances are secret.  However, judging by other private preps in the area a sizeable profit is likely not to mention substantial accumulated wealth over the years from the profits from the school.  Everyone else is having to tighten their belts so hefty fees for some basic online tuition is not good value for money.  I think many people will be worried about their financial future and hence wondering whether private education is worth it or viable going forward especially for what they are getting.  We don't know at the moment how long this is going to go on for but I would say the next 12 months in private education could be very poor value for money with a long period of home learning possibly punctuated by a short return to school in Sept for half a term and then back to home learning again.

[Beancounter]

If you don’t pay the fees they won’t have your child back - and why should they? You’re plainly not making an effort to benefit from the online provision. Hope the state schools near you have space.

[Beancounter]

If you don’t pay the fees they won’t have your child back - and why should they? You’re plainly not making an effort to benefit from the online provision. Hope the state schools near you have space.

[Lulubear]

If the provision is not what was stipulated in the contract are they in breach of contract?  Or can you invoke the Force Majeur clause and withhold payment until such time as they can fulfill their side of the contract?  I would love to know what a lawyer thinks?  We have a child in reception at a local school that is not offering a discount.  All they have done so far is provide printed sheets or written instructions online so parents can step into the roll of teacher and carry out the lessons.  The amount of dedicated teacher time devoted to this can only be a fraction of the time that would be allocated if the children were at school.  And clearly they cannot claim to be delivering the same quality of education.  Written instruction sheets for a child in reception who would not yet be considered old enough to sit down and read such instructions and follow them through isn't really providing teaching in an appropriate format is it?  It is relying on the parents to do the school's job for them but still cheekily charging full fees.   We also don't have access to the resources the school uses as part of reception education.  Whilst they have sent links to various online services they use or are suggesting we could use at home they all require subscription payments.  Therefore, we have to spend additional money on top of the fees!  It all seems very wrong to me.  I think there may be a lot of moving around of schools for younger children in the coming months depending on the approach particular schools have taken on fees!  It seems likely this disruption will continue on and off for a year or more before things are close to normal again unless a quicker way is found to reduce the impact of this virus.  Schools are going to lose a lot of goodwill and business if they think they can charge full fees for a much reduced service!

[Astounded]

I am genuinely shocked by the self entitled nature of sine of these posts. The teachers working so hard to provide online lessons, NHS staff risking their lives, key workers keeping the country going and of course is the wealthy who feel they gave the biggest problems. And you want to not pay your school fees then Don’t. Lose your place. Save yourself some cash then when it’s over look for a new school or perhaps boarding school (seriously why does anyone have children to ship them off?!)

[Lulubear]

Teachers at my child’s school arent doing much for the reception children.  I dont blame the teachers though, I blame the school proprietors.  We won’t be shipping our reception child off to boarding school.  What a ridiculous, irrelevant response to my comment.  We face hardships like everyone else at the moment but school proprietors think they can carry on as though nothing has happened and charge full fees for hardly any education!  Astounded, I assume you are connected to a private school since you are trying to detract from my comments.  

[SW11er]

Lulubear - seriously, why not stop paying take them out altogether and send them to one of the great local state schools?

[Lulubear]

We are thinking about this....

[Janet14]

‘Astounded’ you might be surprised that some people send their children to boarding school because they went themselves and absolutely loved it or because their children really really want to go. A lot of parents I know really don’t want to send their kids but after much pleading from their kids have given in. In our instance I doubt we can afford it but having both loved it ourselves would certainly not see it as ‘shipping’ them off. There are plenty of reasons why some choose boarding school and boarding is very flexible these days so I wouldn’t make assumptions. Anyway, this is off the point of fees.....!

[Lawyer78]

I'm a lawyer and I can tell you that the school is in breach of contract. It's services have been reduced considerably and completely different to what you signed up for. The fact that it's charging you full fees is pretty awful.

We are currently fighting against school fees too. As parents, we collectively came together and wrote to the school. We managed to go from 15% to 50% for kindergarten, 35% for reception and 25% for the next two years. We are still lobbying for the rest of the years.

As far as I'm concerned, our school is owned by a big corporate who couldn't care less about parents and pupils. If it was a small independent, you could be sympathetic but a school that's part of a huge corporation with wealthy investors, there's no excuse.

[runningmummy]

You don't need to be a lawyer to realise they are in breach of contract. That is not the point. I'm am saddened and also disgusted that people would want to drive businesses such as schools into the ground when they are in such a difficult situation that they have not caused. We are all in this together. Just pay the bloody fees and pay your cleaner unless you absolutely financially cannot and if that is the case then yes you should review whether to take up these services. This virus clearly highlights that there are two sorts of people in this world. Unbelievable.