Frustrating - Teachers discount

[DonnyDontDoDat]

Hi all, Just wondering if anyone agrees with me on this.
Where I live there is a chain (or Trust) of private schools, they have a couple of senior schools/all through schools, some prep schools and some nursery/pre-schools.
We send our DD to one of the pre-schools, no intention of sending her to the prep school or beyond, but it is open term time only (I work term time only not as a teacher though) and has longer hours than the other term time only options around us and took kids from younger than the other term time only options.
Today I found out that the teachers at any of the schools (Pre-school - Sixth form) get a 50% fee reduction if they work at least 3 days a week or equivalent and 25% if they work less than that at any of the schools, so a sixth form teachers child could be getting 50% fees on pre-school for example. This excludes lunch which is billed separately and the breakfast and late clubs (so 7.30-9 and 3-6).
AIBU to think this is really frustrating? I feel like I'm basically subsidising fees for teachers who aren't even at my child's school?
Why would they do this??

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

You are not personally subsidising anyone.

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??

Is this news to you?

But companies up and down the country offer staff perks.

Why would they do this??

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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!

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.

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.

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 🤷‍♀️

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.

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