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.

Who do you give a shit? I’m going to guess that you have a chip on your shoulder that your ‘friend’ sent her daughter to this ‘posh’ school and you’re revelling in this?

So you buy good grades at independent schools? Whilst proles have to work for them?

Interesting 🤔

How did this group of children do in their GCSE results?

Apparently the head changed and it car crashed from there on in. He had to send an email round apparently asking parents to be more polite when they were complaining, as someone said earlier buyer beware choose your school carefully. If they did have to refund fees they might try a bit harder. Poor children who were let down

“Posh school” isn’t a supermarket, where you can just ask for a refund! Maybe the student in question just didn’t perform as well as she should have done?

If it's the one I'm thinking of (AFAIK there's only one private girls' school in that town) it has historically been very academic and got excellent results - when I was at school nearby, admittedly 20+ years ago, it was consistently one of the best in the county. It does seem to have dropped significantly in the last few years. While the reasons for this may need serious looking into, I don't think anyone is likely to have a case for a refund!

Private school doesn’t equal better results. Better facilities and pastoral care maybe, smaller classes and more attention but not necessarily better teaching?
I can’t see how a refund would be likely, unless you can prove negligence of duty eg failing teach a particular part of the curriculum, otherwise a lot of the success of the pupil is down to them revising.

Just because you pay a lot doesn’t mean your child will be well taught. Equally just because you send you child to a state school doesn’t mean they won’t become an academic success.

If your friend’s daughter wasn’t good enough to pass her exams, she wasn’t good enough to pass. No amount of fees or suing is going to change that.

The whole year group did badly that’s why I think she should get a refund, the school failed to perform adequately

Oh yes, definitely.

There is a reason UK state school teachers are head hunted for overseas schools. And I definitely mean head hunted. Tracked down via LinkedIn and lured in.

Despite UK parents telling us we're shit. Ofsted slating us. The government piling on more and more. And SLT implying we're only just hanging on.

Private ed is only worthwhile if you source a REALLY good school. And even then, the parents will be loading on private tutors in addition to the school day.

No. She wasn’t buying grades or a university place.
They were paying for the education not the results.

Or the year group were not bright enough to do well.

That’s for someone else to judge, not you or your friend.

Loads of kids in state schools get better exam results than those in private schools. But many private school parents choose it for all the other well-discussed reasons - succinctly, better life opportunities. There is no way on God's green earth that any kind of refund would be offered.

This.
The whole year group could have been weak. It does happen.

Well the matter of the refund aside (not happening). If she didn’t get got enough results for her first choice and she hasn’t gone through clearing or to another one of her choices, then sounds like a gap year with 1:1 tuition might be the way forward.

Good luck with that. On what legal grounds related to the contract she signed is she due a refund?

If anything, private schools seem to be able to hide any negative stuff much better than State schools!

And that’s my friends point she feels the education was poor in itself and that’s why the grades were bad not due to pupils not being clever enough or not working hard enough but due to poor teaching. I think she should get a refund

My friend hasn’t crashed her car this year, should she be entitled to a refund?

Private schools are still assessed. However, not all private schools are loaded with smart kids or get consistently high grades. It would be extraordinary though for one to be doing very well for so long then suddenly a whole cohort to be less able. Did your friend look at results patterns in the run up to her daughter joining?

The daughter got the grades she deserved. Simple as that. School isn’t going to make some more intelligent. Or more able. A state grammar school is highly selective, so they get out what they put in. Many private schools, like many state schools, aren’t selective. The parents simply prefer to send Their kids to a school with smaller class sizes, fewer disruptive kids, more respect for teachers, more extra curricular choice, nicer surroundings. It seems to be only some state school parents who think private schools should magically make kids more intelligent.

It’s a sudden massive dip in performance for the school my friend doesn’t really know why?

GCSEs were I’m told ok

Hilarious, OP! Did money not buy the grades the parents wanted? Shame. I suppose the child is going to have to re-sit and study harder this time - you know, same as the ‘poor’ kids do when they don’t achieve the grade they need.

How do you know she wasn’t ‘poor’ kid?