Has anyone any experience of The Student Support Centre?

[duodec]

The school sent a flyer in the bookbags. I ignored. So, they've sent another flyer urging every parent to fill in the reply slip accepting/ refusing further info about this company.

Is it any good?

[baffledmum]

There have been previous threads about this. Avoid! Avoid!

I used to work in a school and your school will receive some money for each slip it returns, but for goodness sake, do not complete your contact details, just return the form. An empty form still means money for your school.

[duodec]

I just found this... www.mumsnet.com/Talk/education/67325-should-i-bother-to-complain-about-this-privatised-homework-scheme?

We are not in Kent and we don't have the 11+ but the covering letter from the HT did seem to endorse the scheme even though it explicitly said the opposite.

How much does the school get for each referral? £5 maybe?? I'd rather write them a cheque than be harassed forever.

[duodec]

Wideawakemum - i agree.

Half of me wants to contact the HT and point the school at the reality of this i.e. a scheme that costs £1000s and preys on parents insecurities. The other half is embarrassed to draw their attention to how little due diligence they did before getting into this scheme.

I am certain that several parents have returned the letter with the "tell me more" box ticked so now they will be opening themselves up for a hard sale all the time believing that the head thinks its a good idea, but just can't officially say it (which is the message you get if you read between the lines of the letter and the fact that there was a reminder last night in the book bags).

At the very least, it will affect the school's credibility with both the parents who realise that its a scam at this stage and with those who will feel scammed later.

[bruffin]

The school gets paid for sending out the letter and getting replies.

[duodec]

does anyone know how much the school gets paid per child? 10p per lead up £1 per quality lead is what you'd pay google

[gabsid]

I would be interested to know how much the school gets for this. We have had a flyer each year (2 different schools), and I am sure the schools know exactly what sort of company it is. 2 years ago I asked a school govener about the letters and she was quite short with me, saying that all schools do it, end of conversation.

I think its unethical for the school to get involved with companies like that, they are betraying parent's trust by exposing them to organisations who quite cleverly use the school to put their name to it and then use hard sell and play on parent's insecurities to promote their overpriced CDs (I think it just is CDs more or less).

[Houseworkprocrastinator]

we had one of these recently and out of interest looked up the cost. it said the average family payed £17.50 a week. there is no way that the average family in my area would be able to afford that amount of money. my worry is that because it basically is saying "if you care about you children's education you will do this" and this letter is signed from the head teacher not the company, that people will ultimately get into debt to pay for this. it is not right.

the letter stated that many parents had asked the school if there was anything they could do to compliment the children's education. surly if this is the case then there should be a more useful letter with examples of things that can be done for free e.g. visit the library or useful websites like the bbc bitesize etc.

[gabsid]

Our letters always said that parents have approached the HT about tutoring. I think its one of their standard statements.

When I ask the teacher how to support DC during the year then she told me specific things to practice and we got flyers at the beginning of the year on how to support DC with maths and reading.

No mention of the SSC. Also don't they ask to pay for several years which adds up to about £2000?

[Houseworkprocrastinator]

this is from their website...

"However, you may purchase the programme from as little as £1180. To make the programme affordable to everyone, and because it is a long term learning course, you are able to spread these payments making it £11.35 per week. The average family spends £1830 making it £76.25 a month or £17.60 per week."

[MagiMingeWassailsAgain]

We got a flyer about this last year. I looked at previous threads on here - it sounds very expensive and very hard to get out of the contracts.

I may ask the school how much they earned from sending the letters out - we are in a very deprived area and I would be very surprised if even 1% of the parents could possibly afford it.

[bruffin]

For some reason I think I read the school gets £160 for the admin., not sure where.

[bruffin]

I may ask the school how much they earned from sending the letters out - we are in a very deprived area and I would be very surprised if even 1% of the parents could possibly afford it.

But for the £1000s they charge for a few cds and worksheets most of what they make from signing just one is going to be profit.

[MagiMingeWassailsAgain]

True. I felt especially peeved because at the time, the school was in Special Measures.

It felt like it was a letter saying - this school won't teach your children very well. Why not pay ££££ to make sure someone makes sure they learn properly.

[sleepingbunny]

[[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/9018047/The-2700-tuition-hard-sell.html Student Support Centre Article][

[sleepingbunny]

Sorry www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/9018047/The-2700-tuition-hard-sell.html

[AmandaStuart123]

Hi, I am in an awful predicament. After the school posting I was approached by SSC Ltd and talked into purchasing the programme. I was in a vulnerable situation, having just lost my partner and 11 year old son's father, and I deeply regret signing up. I am now faced with a £4975.00 debt for a programme that my son will not use. I feel I was pressed into it. I was forced to purchase the whole 5 year programme before being given a chance to really establish whether my son would be able to do it. Both my son and myself were traumatised at the time I signed up and it has caused me extreme stress every day since. Off all the DVD's and books I have only opened two of them. Can anyone give me advice about anything I can do?