Private school parents - fees for next term....

[STST]

So, you're already part of the tiny percentage of people who can pay for their children's schooling.

You've committed and planned to pay for schooling for 15 years (age 3 - 18).

One terms fees out of 45 is a drop in the bloody ocean. Seriously. You've committed hundreds of thousands to this. You've essentially chosen to work several extra years of your life to pay for this. That is a very very generous thing to do for your children's future.

And now people get gripey about paying for a service that THEY demand.

You CANNOT decide not to pay your fees. The gardeners, cleaners, matrons, secretaries, teachers, support staff are paid through your fees. By not paying, they don't get paid. It is really simple. If you don't pay, other families have no income.

If you are still receiving your full salary, you owe it to the school to pay your fees. In full. Without complaint. That's if you want a school to go back to when this all ends, fully staffed by dedicated teachers.

Those staff, ALL OF THEM, rely on their income to provide for their families too. You should pay. That is what you signed up to.

If everyone pays their full fees, then there is a cushion to help those who genuinely can't (job loss etc). If you are still being paid, then you should just bloody pay up.

I can't bear this quibbling over getting money off. Fucksake. What about the bloody staff at the school? They don't get to decide if they want to pay Sainsbury's for their shop, or Halifax for their mortgage. Because they commit to paying for a service that they want/require. And so should everyone else.

You chose to pay for private school. You want that facility there. So bloody pay for it. In full.

We have children in private school. We have not lost our jobs. We will pay, even if our children do not spend a second in the school between now and god knows when. Because that is what we committed to, and there is no way I could sleep at night knowing that by not paying, someone through no fault of their own might lose their job or not be paid.

Curious: if you HAD lost your jobs, what would you propose paying?

Honeylulu - nothing. Duh. If you can't afford the fees, your children don't go to private school.

Daft op though.

Amid all the tragedy in jobs and security, I feel a shred of happiness thinking that much of the private school system might sink under the strain and equality might start leaching back into our education system.

What a weird, self indulgent, self congratulatory thread.

Independent school parents aren’t a homogenous group. All have varied circumstance that means they no longer have means.

The contract is between the school and the individual parents. They are the only ones who should be considering their obligations under that contract at the moment.

Not specific to private schools but I think if you are lucky enough to be paid a salary through this shit show then you should continue to pay if you can. We only outsource dog walking, which I know is naff all compared to school fees but we will continue to pay to support our dog walker as we will need them when things return to normal.

Our school management board (part of a group) have said they're going to look at it as they appreciate they need to do something.

I'm quite uncomfortable with it to be honest. The kids are still being taught online so the teachers are (hopefully) getting full pay. The school is still open for key workers so no saving on overheads. I'm quite happy to pay full fees if it means there's a school to go back to in September.

But that's the same as supporting the local independent restaurants who are now offering delivery. I can afford to, so I will, because I want them to survive. We had a takeaway tonight and the restaurant was so grateful, it just makes you realise how much some of these businesses are suffering.

I want to agree with the OP but the fees are so high that it does seem unreasonable to pay the full fees under the current circumstances.

Is sending your children to a private school a 'very very generous thing to do?'. I always thought of it as a selfish way of buying your children an advantage and maintaining inequality. It helps ensure there is no even playing field, that the children of the rich can have their futures bought for them and the children of everybody else are kept in their place. I have no particular fight against private education but I can't agree it is a 'very very generous thing to do'. Surely the whole point of it is it make sure that YOUR children get a much better education, better experience and better connections than everybody else's.

agree, but whats the best way to tackle this

I don’t think that the schools should expect the full fees. Maybe 75% or something.
Everyone is going through a difficult time at the moment and they they also have children to feed and bills to pay.

To the PP who “feels a shred of happiness” if private schools sink, you do realise that if this happens many children will have to go back into the already, overwhelmingly underfunded, crumbling state sector.

With all of the government bail outs now there will be no money for the education system for a long time. This means more children but hardly any more teachers. Average class sizes will continue to rise and demand for the existing private schools will continue to grow due to the closure of others. The existing schools will be able to be even more selective and elitist.

If parents choose not to pay fees then that is obviously a legal issue which they would need to discuss with the school but the pupils would then not be entitled to any education provision. They aren’t going to be enrolled in a state school whilst all of this is happening and so the parents would be left to home educate without any support.

My understanding of state schools currently is children are being sent home with packs of work and being told to get on with it. In private schools, primary children are receiving weekly phone calls From their teacher, web chats and daily lessons uploaded for them to do. In the senior school, teachers are providing live lessons and resources and also online lessons pupils can go back to. There is also much more contact between subject and form teachers and parents.

Fees being paid will ensure a good provision for the children who attend that school. Unpaid fees will have a serious consequence on more than just the independent school.

I don't agree with sending children to private school. I think it's elitist and breeds inequality. However, teachers and staff working in private schools deserve to be paid. A lot of the teachers I know are continuing to educate their students remotely via video. If you can pay, pay. That teacher who is teaching your child also has to live, feed their child and pay their bills too. To the PP who said "they need to pay their bills" (as in the parent paying for private education) yeah, and so does the poor teacher who's teaching your DC.

If your school is providing continued learning via online resources (which is what our school does as standard, so not new to the students from year 3 - 12), and you expect your child’s place to be there if schools reopen, then you need to continue to pay fees. I would love to ask for my $50,000.00 (about £25,000.00), which I pay upfront at the start of the year to get a 4% discount, back for the rest of the year, but if I do, my twins will have no online learning or school place available.

For people generally having financial difficulties I would encourage you to contact the school and discuss, as I assume many schools will be understanding at this time and may pause fees in the short term if you can them commit to a payment plan in the long term. However, if like me you can afford to continue paying, then you need to to hold your child’s place.

We live in Australia now, so school only started in February, however I don’t anticipate school to reopen until at least October, which takes us up to Term 4 and leaves approximately 7 weeks of school for the year. Term 4 is normally not a lot of learning as it’s wind down time. I think Australia, at least, will have a generation of children who complete an extra year of school - going into the same grade next year as they started this year.

I don’t work so can supervise their online learning, and I plan to beak it up with other activity - PE, home ex, craft, reading, coding our robot, etc - but I think the novelty will wear off pretty quickly. Best of luck to everyone!

Surely the teachers that work in the private schools will be entitled to the governments offering of 80% of their salary? In the same way it has promised to most other employees?

If the school can’t pay the salaries of its employees it’s unlikely they won’t get paid

I’m of the opinion if someone can afford to pay for their child’s education then good for them. As a pp pointed out, it’s one less child trying to secure a place at a local comp.

I do however have a problem with the grammar school system. I speak as a parent of a child who passed the assessment with no private tutor and is number 6 on a waiting list.

The grammar school system should be about natural academic ability and only that. Sadly it’s not, as I discovered after chatting to a private tutor who advised me that most children ‘practice’ and have private tutors for up to two year prior to assessment.

Very frustrating knowing you’ve got a child that meets the criteria for grammar school education yet many of the places have been ‘bought’ 😡

Amid all the tragedy in jobs and security, I feel a shred of happiness thinking that much of the private school system might sink under the strain and equality might start leaching back into our education system.

@namechangedforthisreply7 and where do you think all those children will go? The state schools are struggling enough without them needing to find thousands more places for each year group!

Thank you op. I'm a teacher in an indie school. It's great, non selective, incredibly friendly, a million miles from Eton in every sense. We will fold if parents withhold fees. We are open for key workers kids and providing good interactive home learning. Parents are getting a refund for lunches since that is a cost we can disburse but most others are fixed. As the op said, if you are able to continue paying and you want a school for your kids to go back to, please continue to support it.

I would imagine they don't pay if they can't because they've lost their livelihoods overnight. Does that clear it up for you?

The staff at a private school can be paid under the job retention scheme

Amid all the tragedy in jobs and security, I feel a shred of happiness thinking that much of the private school system might sink under the strain and equality might start leaching back into our education system

I don't think so. The super-rich are far more insulated from this debacle than the middle classes and already the better endowed top public schools have offered to cut fees in the worst case scenario. Eton, for example.

@Wishihadanalgorithm absolute tosh. State school teachers are slaving away. Like we always do. I am so tired of smug idiotic private school parents who assume stare schools are shit. The teachers are generally better qualified, better managed and have far more up to date teaching methods. And I am working my butt off providing really good lessons every day, AS ARE ALL MY STATE SCHOOL FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES. You know nothing.

So it's more a case that the aspirational/less well-off ones will be forced into the state sector, and the private sector will become more a preserve of the elite than it is now.

@Namechangedforthisreply7 you realised that the end of private schools just means the state sector will be even more strongly split in excellent schools and sink schools? we would just do what all the other (cheaters) do and move next to an excellent school, and pay the 100k more for the house.
i prefer to do the honest thing and pay for my child‘s education (as i can afford to) and leave some decent state school places to people who are less money.
and yes, most schools in poor areas are pretty desperate around here (miles below national average)

Our school have offered a 20% discount. To be honest I don’t care, I think if we can pay our bills as normal we should to try and keep the economy going as much as possible. I’m still paying my dog walker, I don’t need her as I’m home, but she needs the money more than me. Perhaps if people hadn’t panic bought a months worth of supply chain from the shops they could afford their normal monthly bills.

btw, not the teachers fault. they work like crazy. but with attendance rates around 80% and complete disinterest from parents, they don’t stand a chance

I was a Governor on the board of 3 private schools. Others have given reasons why fees should be paid, but if you're in financial difficulty speak to the Head or the Bursar. They will work with you to find a way to keep your child at school. Some even have a special fund you can apply to in cases of extreme hardship.