Frustrating - Teachers discount

You are not personally subsidising anyone.

Perhaps a bit surprising that teachers working very few hours still get the same perks. However, I wouldn't complain. Teachers at private schools have a very early start, so having to drop their own child off somewhere else might make it impossible for them to do the job. Also, with school fees so high at the moment (and likely to rise with the VAT), I'm surprised someone working 25% can afford even half fees.

It’s a private business. Lots of employers provide employees with benefits.

I expect the teachers' children are also a good bet, results wise. They will be children who are supported in their learning at home and whose parents value education.

I'm a good teacher with an excellent degree and I wouldn't work in a private school because of the potential pension issues. Money off school fees wouldn't sway me at present but it's about the only thing that possibly could.

‘Subsidising’ is an odd term to use. You pay them money for a service, they run their business however they like.

So, you'd be OK if the teacher worked in the preschool section and got 50% off for sending their own kids to the preschool? It's not the teachers' or the schools problem that you've decided not to send your child to the school after preschool. If your child stayed for sixth form, they might have this teacher at some point.

My DS (and from next year DD) attends my school. He has done so since preschool. I work in the primary section and because I've been there a while, I get a 70% fee reduction. If I sent my DC to our local state school or a different nursery, I'd need to adjust my hours and wouldn't be as available for my employer. It's in my school's interest for me to have the childcare in place in order to work the hours they'd like me there. Other employers offer similar incentives or have workplace nurseries, for example.
One of our friends is a pilot for a major airline. His children got places at the airport nursery because they want him to work. Nothing unfair about that, either. (It's really hard to get any nursery spaces where they live.)
Another friend of ours got her children's places at one of our major private schools paid for in full by her employer. Again, they wanted her to be available to work and the wraparound care made that much easier.
It's no reason to feel hard done by. My DC's fees are actually paid by my employer, not the other parents.

Yes I have worked in 2 private schools and this is a standard employee perk

This is standard practice in private schools. I know of a private school which gave staff 100% off their DC's fees. It was single sex and had a loose connection with another school for the opposite sex and the 2 schools offered free places to staff in the other school. The number of pupils involved was around 1% of a combined school roll of over 600 so it wasn't a big cost. Sibling discounts were also applied across the two schools.

It's normal - I applied to private schools when my SDCs were approaching transition points in case their parents wanted to take advantage of any discount. I knew that would create the need for me to stay for 3/4/5 years, but I was looking for longterm employment, rather than jumping to and from assorted yearly contracts, so it made sense.

As it was, they didn't - but it's how they attract sought after staff, encourage them to accept lower pay and keep them far longer, which is good for all the kids attending them. Same way that state schools can have an admissions category that prioritises children of staff after the legally required EHCP/LACs.

It's also very poor business accumen

It's a workplace perk - perfectly reasonable for all the reasons above.
This is a rare thread - 100% think YABU so far..

You're being ridiculous - it's very common to provide staff with a perk. It's a good way of retaining them. Secondly you won't be subsidising them, the school will instead make a hit on their profits.

Just when I think that private parents can’t surprise me anymore with their pettiness and whining, along comes another one with yet another reason for me to be glad we avoided private schools and the parents there.

How is it different to any workplace perk?
Supermarket staff get in store discounts
Fast food workers get free food
Theatre employees get free tickets
Airlines workers get free/reduced travel

If they can recruit a sixth form teacher when their dc are in nursery and the dc go on through the schools then they keep the teacher for 14/15/16 years. More if they have more than one child.

There are a lot of blue light discounts, for example. So people who work in emergency services get discounts for all kinds of things. Supermarket workers get discounts on food, airline staff and train staff get free travel.

Would you also object to bursaries being paid out of fee income? A family on a teacher's salary at my school would pay no more than a member of staff.

This is normal for independent schools to attract and more importantly keep the best teachers they can secure. A lot of independent school teachers have to do more extra curriculum activities than state school colleagues. When I worked at an independent school it was mandatory to offer at least 1 extra curricular club or activity every week after school hours, some did twice a week. Any teachers DC got a 50 percent discount for first DC then 40 percent for any subsequent DC from nursery through to Sixth Form.

Are you going to have a strop about supermarket employees being given staff discount? Bus drivers getting free travel? Airline staff getting perks? I could go on. Suck it up.

Could you imagine the optics if private school teachers sent their children to a different a school.

I thought this was common knowledge and I didn't attend private school nor have children who will. Many companies offer discounts to staff eg my BIL works for a car manufacturer and he gets a small discount.
Get a job there if it bothers you so much.

It attracts and retains good teachers. Swop your kids to state with numerous supply teachers all year for their GCSEs if you don't like it.

Standard - been going on for ever. This was common practice when I was at school 50 years ago !

YABU. You are not subsidising anything. This is an employees benefit that helps the school attract good teachers that will stay long term. The school recognises that this will benefit their students so that’s what they do.

This is a massively helpful way for school to attract and retain staff. So it's up to you whether you want the school your children attend to be fully staffed by qualified people.