Postby hometeacher » Thu May 14, 2020 6:50 pm
It is very apparent that during the current COVID19 crisis nothing different is being offered between state and private schools. Both are using a variety of online platforms and trying their best to help and educate children as much as possible. Teachers and parents all deserve medals, both have been thrown into such difficult circumstances and doing their best. What we do not agree to is the way the one private schools is treating their current parents and the 50 staff that have been furloughed. Our children are currently at this school and I am now considering moving them elsewhere due to the treatment received. I will state that I have been a content parent up until last year but feel that the current school has now gone too far in their treatment towards parents. It is well known that all private schools have been offered discounts and we believe these are as follows:
Eaton House - 30% reception, 20% class one onward
Finton House - 25%
Hornsby House - 25%
Thomas’s - 20%
Wetherby – 20%
There are many more schools outside of London offering a huge 40-50% discount during this time.
Our school Broomwood Hall/Northcote Lodge which is part of the Northwood Schools has been offered a miserable 12.5% and despite a huge percentage of parents writing to the owners/head (individually and via classes) nothing has been changed. There are a few parents sitting on the fence as they worry about causing trouble for their children and long for that head girl/boy role. Is the lack of a generous and thoughtful discount due to greedy owners and shareholders of a privately owned school? A letter was sent to parents at the end of April from one of the owners. The letter, the first from the owners during the COVID19 crisis, was not to ask how everyone was or what the school was going to do to assist many parents who have lost jobs and had huge cuts in their wages. It was however, to announce the appointment of a new CEO who will start his role in April 2021. Looking on one would think that the school would have been keen to avoid a second PR disaster, after the way they handled the future closure of Garrads Road as a junior school last year. Dropping a bombshell on current parents and forgetting to include new parents in their correspondence to start with. The owners, quite frankly were and are appalling and have become a joke. Great news on the CEO however, it was pointed out that they ‘will still be very much around’ – bad news! This week’s update was from the ‘Finance Director’ of Northwood Schools trying to justify why the offer of a 12.5% discount would not be increased at present. The current discount was in fact costing the school money (or should that be “profits”) as any further cost cutting would “impact management and shareholders, in order to give parents the biggest possible rebate”. Doing the math, the discount equates to Northwood Schools giving parents a refund of around six days. I would like to add that the online resources being used are free, nothing extra has been done or added. Yes the teachers are working hard but the parents are having to supervise anything up to seven hours a day work online. As mentioned above 50 staff have been furloughed with zero contact from the school in the form of updates or other. Is this the way a school treats valued staff? We really like the head but all suspect that her hands are tied. Perhaps those who are looking for future school places should take a look at how parents are being treated. It is all about their profit!