Eaton House the Manor: refund

[NCote81]

Hi everyone,

Looking for any advice from parents who have been through something similar...

My son was due to start Reception at Eaton House in Clapham this September. Due to a change in circumstances, he will be attending another school.

Eaton House explained our deposit would only be refunded if they could fill the place that we cancelled. This came as no surprise to us since it was clearly stated in the Terms and Conditions. We gave Eaton House a heads up in May that we wished to cancel the place, hoping that the vacancy would be filled given it was a sought after school with (presumably) a waiting list.

However we have now been told that they have been unable to fill the place and, unless any progress has been made over the next few weeks (extremely unlikely), the deposit will not be refunded.

We knew this was a risk when we chose to switch schools, but given its a significant amount of money, I was wondering if any parents who have been through something similar have any advice?

Thanks.

[AlexanderHamilton]

I would say that you are very lucky to only be losing the deposit. At most schools if you give less than a full terms notice ofvthe child not taking the place you have to pay fees in lieu.

We had to pay a full terms fees when we gave notice that dd would not be starting at an independent secondary school. We gave notice in May half term.

[NCote81]

Hi AlexanderHamilton- thanks for your reply. To clarify- it is the first term's fees as well as the deposit that's on the line here- apologies for not making this clear.

Fingers crossed for some progress over the next few weeks.

[unfortunateevents]

I think the advice from people will be that you have to pay, as per the Ts&Cs which you admit you were aware of! I'm not really sure what else you are hoping people may say? Anecdotal stories from individuals who may have managed to negotiate the return of deposit and a term's fees aren't really going to help you. I don't know Eaton House's contract specifically but I would say you were lucky that they even agreed to a possible refund if they filled the place, many schools say only that the deposit and term's fees will be forfeited if proper notice is not given.

[trinity0097]

There seems to be a blip in the number of children joining reception this September, so less demand, where I am we have a huge waiting list for Sept 18, and nearly full for Sept 19 and were full last year, yet have spaces for this September!

I believe the birth rate was a bit lower, so is official!

[Sevendaysinaweek]

We were in a similar position last year (different schools). Our DD was offered a place at our preferred school in July, meaning we had to withdraw her from the other school we'd accepted.

They explained that even though it was a popular school, as it was selective they didn't have anyone to take the place who had passed the assessment. We were a bit sceptical and DH kept up the regular (polite!) phone calls to check if they'd managed to fill the space. In the end we got the fees back. Not the deposit though, but we were expecting to lose that.

Good luck

[SherryM]

Hi All - I just registered our DS on the Eaton House website. He is 10 weeks old. Do you think we are too late? What are the chances of getting in? Also, I was surprised to find that they did not ask for a registration fee on the website when I registered. I hope I did not miss any steps :s