Frustrating - Teachers discount

My friend worked in an independent school until recently. Every TA job was staffed by a parent or grandparent there to get the percentage off. Also teaching salaries in independent schools are often lower than the state sector- this is one of the perks. It is similar to the reason I continue to work in the public sector for a wage far lower than my skill set and despite years if stagnant pay- pension, decent sick leave etc.

My colleague's wife works for the railways. He only pays a nominal amount £1.60 per day rather than the £30 I spend.
It's called a perk of the job.

What a particularly mean spirited and short sighted post from OP.

I (and my siblings) got a free private education because our parents taught at the school. Whilst I am not ungrateful I honestly think that the school got much more out of it than our family.

• the 100% commitment of 2 excellent teachers for 20+ years including loads of extra curricular and pastoral stuff they both did. My parents were exceedingly valued and well loved by generations of students and were frequently invited to weddings and christenings by ex students. When my mum died despite that no one could attend her lockdown funeral still the streets were lined with people come from far and wide to pay their respects as she had made a difference in so many peoples lives.

• the good publicity of 2 students (my brother and I) getting into Cambridge which was highly unusual for the school which was non selective. Believe me they worked that for years even inviting me back to speak to pupils years after I'd left. Teachers kids tend to be clever and hardworking and an asset to the school

For some kind of tax reason I was required at some point to take an entrance exam and as it turned out I would have easily qualified for a scholarship anyway so I guess I would have had my free education via another route

A lot of them do this. It helps drive recruitment and ensure teachers stay in the job for a good number if years. It therefore improves the experience of all pupils.

You do come over a bit self centred to see this however.

why does it make any difference if the kids are not at the same school as the parent? If they're all owned by the same chain then the money goes into/out of the same pot. A teacher at the secondary might have kids at the primary and vice-versa so it would work out the same as if they only got the discount for the school they worked in.

A lot of private schools are 3-18 anyway in which case it would be silly for the child to only get partial funding for half of their school career and then have to drop out, so sounds like they are just replicating the same ethos, and viewing their different schools as different 'sites' but all coming under the same overall chain.

NCT friend teaches at a very famous, very good private school, and qualifies for her child to go FREE to it, and 2nd to have 80% off And STILL chose to send her kids to state school.
Sometimes it’s not about the money.

I taught in a private school in Switzerland for almost 20 years. When my children were there, I had a 90% discount so paid 10% of the fees. It meant I could afford for them to go there. Very normal situation.

My friend is a teacher in a private school. All of her children attended state school.

This is normal and I wouldn’t begrudge anyone getting perks from their employer, this is their own. People who work in retail for example get some percentage off as well when they shop, it’s a way of getting the staff to use the service and this perks in turn help to retain staffs, etc. you are not subsidising anyone , you knew what the fees were and you were happy to send your child there, what they do with the money you pay is none of your business.

You do know that, through taxes, your money is also subsidising state schools 100%, right? 😂😏

Helps recruit + retain staff - but also ensures staff are super committed to the school. Nothing incentivises a parent more than their own children’s well being. I’m very aware that the parent-teachers at my DCs school are huge above-and-beyond contributors to the well being of the whole community.

I am grateful that so many of the teachers are so deeply + doubly committed to their roles. They also, in my limited experience, tend to have children that are enthusiastic + involved in school life. Also means that my children are at school with a very slightly more diverse group of students. It’s only a good thing as far as I’m concerned.

Of course, my preferred option would be that schools would just pay their staff a salary that would allow them to afford full-price fees 🤷‍♀️

Recruitment and retention, simple. FWIW my school offers 50% fee remission for staff kids, but fees have gone up so much more quickly than salaries that I can't afford to send my own kids, which has left me feeling very resentful. It creates a clear class divide between parents and staff, despite the fact that I am almost certainly better qualified than the vast majority of our parents.

I put in long hours providing support, enrichment, and extra-curricular activities, which takes me away from my own kids evenings and weekends, when my own kids aren't getting anything like these opportunities.

Throw in just a handful of parents complaining that whatever extra we offer, it's somehow never quite good enough, and I'm now looking elsewhere.

Supporting staff in bringing their kids to the school increases staff commitment and loyalty to the school, and their enthusiasm and willingness to go the extra mile.

This. Recruitment is costly. Needing cover and supply teachers is costly and disruptive. Also if teachers have their children in the school they are more likely to be flexible e.g. staying later because their child can join them e.g. to after-school club or in a corner somewhere as is appropriate.

OP you are being so unreasonable. If you want good teachers who don't move to another school every year or two, you should be VERY glad the school is offering thr fee remission. I get much more than 50% fee remission for my kids by the way... wouldn't work there otherwise!

Parents like you are one of the reasons I stopped (as a teacher) doing trips abroad, frankly. You seem to think you are subsidising teachers and are bitterly moaning about it.

I stopped doing trips abroad because there was absolutely no gratitude at me giving up a week with my own family to take pupils on a Battlefield trip to Ypres - just the odd snide comment about 'nice little jolly for the teachers' from arsehole parents who complained we were getting it for 'free'.

It's not 'jolly' working from 6am to 10pm, or being woken at midnight cos 'Sarah's been sick'. It's not jolly taking 56 Y9s away for a week with all the extra work, the planning, risk assessments and organisation (done in your own time). And the fuss over 'teachers getting a free holiday' was fucking ludicrous.

Do parents actually think I'm going to pay £350 or so of my own money for the privilege of looking after their kids for a week? If I am going to pay money to go abroad, it will be with my own family - not someone else's.

Lots of private schools don’t pay that well and some have opted out of the TPS, they need incentives to attract.

80 years ago my DF attended a top private school because his parent taught there - for some reason my DM was looking through old school records with the school buster and my FF didn't seem to exist. We think because he attended for free. He won an awful lot of athletics awards, which other parents would probably have been annoyed about if they knew he was having a freebie (or maybe they just couldn't care).

YABU

A lot of teachers on a teachers salary would not be able to afford to send their kids to these schools without the discount. It’s therefore not a cost to the school it’s actually marginal income they otherwise wouldn’t have had. And it’s a great recruitment tool.

If you don’t like it then go somewhere else. Them’s the breaks.

This my cousin was stuck working ft becaise she had twins.....

Why would they do this??

because they want to attract and retain good staff. Funnily enough this is a good thing for you!

But companies up and down the country offer staff perks.

Is this news to you?

Private schools are businesses, they can offer benefits - like cheaper fees - or take away benefits - like the Teacher Pension Scheme - as they see fit.
It’s not your business. Are your worries that your children will have to mingle with commoners, Op??