Private school underperformed I think my friend should get a refund. AIBU?

[Rambler96]

Friends daughter did her A levels at a posh girls school in Shrewsbury and failed to get the grades she needed for her university place. Now all the results are published, it looks like the school has massively underperformed for some reason. I think she should get a refund on some of the fees.

Did the school guarantee that she would get the grades needed?

Why do you think this? Are you suggesting that results are somehow paid for in the independent sector?

Perhaps your friend’s daughter got the results she merited?

Performance is down to the child. A classic case of “buyer beware” - private schools are not all created equal, many day independents are rubbish and nowhere near as good as top state schools.

Ultimately it’s on the child to be bright and work hard for exams. Your friends won’t have a leg to stand on asking for a refund. Whether the school is any good or not, your friend will be rightly laughed out of the room for asking for a refund - you can’t guarantee results.

"posh girls school" oh bore off. Goady thread. Why is it any of your business anyway?

On a recent thread about GCSE results there were a couple of posters who admitted that paying for a private education for their children had turned out to be a colossal waste of a lot of money.

No chance they'll get a refund.

It amazes me that people think they'll have better teachers in independent schools. In my experience (working in the independent sector for decades, but also in time at state) the teachers in state are better qualified and often much, much better teachers.

Paying for a school doesn’t guarantee good grades. It’s up to the child how much effort they put in themselves, and intelligence.

‘Posh girls school’? Yuck.

Performance is down to the individual student - what did their results look like at mocks time? Were they poor then?

Just because people attend fee-paying schools it doesn’t magically make them clever.

Ok, right

Yeh there is no way she will get a refund.

Unless the school in its contract said "we guarantee your daughter will get three As at A level". Which is not likely tbh.

"posh girls school" hmm. Just going to one does not make you cleverer than you are. Or more hard working.

Bizarre.....results are down to the individual student.

OP does write that it looks like the school has massively underperformed for some reason.

So, not just one student.

Fee-paying schools aren’t just about exam results. If that’s all parents want I’d suggest state school plus paying for a lot of private tuition. It will probably work out cheaper.

Looks like it was a colossal waste of money all the local state schools out performed the school which only had an A*A rate of 18.7 according to the Britannia league table. They are pretty much at the bottom of the table, and a massive drop from the year before. Looks like there were problems at the school.

Maybe some of you are right teaching is better in the state sector???

Not every private school is academic or a good school.

Private schools are not going to guarantee academic success. If your friend thought they would, that's on her for thinking something untrue.

Well, what will happen is that if the 'posh' school got awful results, they'll take a hit on how marketable they are to the next cohort.

No, that doesn't mean they owe your mate a refund; it's very much a caveat emptor deal.

Problems in a school don’t cause a massive drop in exam results in a single year. Steady decline yes, but it’s not a drop off a cliff situation.

whats the value added like? Perhaps your friends daughter year were just more dim than average. Entirely possible in a small school.

It’s not their fault if that cohort aren’t very academic. Different year groups will have different girls with differing levels of intelligence

If it's the school I think it is, she isn't alone. We have friends whose daughter went to a private school in Shrewsbury and she didn't get the grades she was predicted by a mile. The whole years A level results went through the floor. The school didn't publish their A*/A which was sus in itself so they looked them up. You're right. The entire year was down something like 50%. If this was a state school, there'd be serious questions asked.

But no, they shouldn't ask for their money back!! They should ask the school what the hell went on. One or 2 bad grades is unfortunate but not surprising.An entire year though says there are serious problems somewhere. Hope she's got onto a course somewhere else. For every door that closes and all that....

I thought independent schools didn’t publish their results? So you could t compare them with states?

But shouldn’t they have to teach to a certain standard and if they don’t teach to that level they should be giving money back
My friend said some of the teaching was not very good in her opinion

That’s very interesting a state school would get ofsted or something probably

Britannia league tables publish a table of A level results you can check on the government website to

That's not how it works. There are good independent schools, ok independent schools and crap independent schools, just as there are good, ok and crap state schools. You just have to do your research before choosing a school, and hope it doesn't plummet in quality while your dc are there. No school guarantees grades, so your friend wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

There are plenty of expensive private schools that aren’t actually academic and don’t perform well in the league tables.