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.

Except I haven't commented to advise, I've only said it's weird plus to counteract some misinformation stated by a couple of PPs.

That may be the case. But the school doesn't guarantee results so I doubt a refund is going to be forthcoming.

Predicted grades for UCAS are notoriously unreliable - I think it’s only about 16% that are accurate, with about 3/4 of them being over-estimates. Particularly if this was a specifically low-attaining cohort - through departure for other 6th forms, through particular students joining at A level or simply throughout their careers - the school may have been over-generous in predictions, conforming more to the school’s historic norm than the pupils actually in front of them.

I agree about a refund. That would have to have been a very clear breach of contract - like not providing a teacher at all, or having A levels taught by teachers with no knowledge of the subject. It doesn’t sound like that happened here. But if the teachers knew the results were sub-par and didn’t raise it with the parents and pupils, or if they didn’t know, then there have been failures. My DC sat mocks and tests right up to the exams so knew very well how they were getting on.

And what did she do about it during the course of A levels? Did she complain during that 2 years?
You do know it's not a money back guarantee and the children still have to do their bit

So if she was told she was on target when she wasn't at what point did she decide the teaching wasn't very good?
What happened at parents' evenings? When the parents asked if the child needed to do anything to improve or where to focus?

My kids are at an independent school (not a posh top one, just an average day school). I don’t think I’m buying them a better education than they could get at a good state school, and I’m not expecting them to get better results than they would at a top state school. I completely agree with PP that for perhaps even the majority of kids, it’s a waste of money and the children won’t do any better than they would in a good state school.

What we are paying for with private education is smaller classes in an all-through school to help with their anxiety and lower confidence, reduced social problems (the state schools in this area have a tough catchment) great facilities and an easy school commute. We weighed up the pros and cons and made the decision we felt was right for our kids. If we had grammar schools nearby that they got into, it may have been a different decision!

If my kids don’t get the results they need to university that’s on them. They are receiving adequate teaching and if they put in the effort they need to then I believe they will reach their academic potential.

If your friend thought they were buying guaranteed exam results, they’re an entitled fool. They should have spent their money on homeschooling with top tutors instead as that might (and I do mean only might) have made a difference to their child’s results.

Perhaps when they didn’t get clear feedback or lack of things like tests or marking?

Your “friend” should have acted years ago if she thought the teaching was poor. But there is absolutely no chance of a refund for you, OP. That is not the contract you made with the school.

You know, it’s actually not a bad thing to encounter some obstacles in life. To have to decide if you really want something and are prepared to work harder and better and longer to get it. In ten years time, if any of them still feel this has ‘decimated their dreams’, that’ll be on them, not the school.

@cantkeepawayforever - really interesting stat on predicted grades. Certainly been my experience of both my eldest and his peer group. I think ds would have been less disappointed had his grades reflected the predictions and they were still good grades, matching his 1st choice uni and he’d worked hard for them. I think gcse results are probably a better predictor.

Exactly this. It is across the whole year group. Many of them got 7-9 across the board for GCSEs so this does indeed seem more than lazy or not very bright kids.

The OP has said that the parents made complaints and that the head had to send an email round asking them to be more polite.

So whatever was going on in this school it sounds like it wasn't just the teaching.

You can't raise it if you're being told everything is on track!

I suspect the OP actually is the parent.

Well precisely yes.

Their child hasn't performed well and they are looking to blame the school.

And we only have their version of events.

I know of a couple of teachers who were being put through ‘capability’ procedures due to underperforming. They left in the end and now work at private schools. Imagine paying all that money to be taught all year by a teacher who wasn’t good enough for state primary!

Someone else mentioned sending your child to state school and then paying for private tuition if needed. A much better use of funds.

Private schools are notorious for overestimating for predicted grades, while state schools have a tendency to underestimate.

It is probably worth noting that a post was made earlier this year asking whether this particular school was to close - and that post attracted one or two if the same names as this one has.

I don’t know whether this is a case of a hard-working smallish school being badmouthed by some disgruntled parents / relatives / staff after results from an anomalous year group (I have known attacks on a head or school of this type) or whether it is ‘no smoke without fire’.

I think kids are partially responsible for their grades, as are parents. If you don’t revise enough, even if you’re the smartest kid in the world you’ll struggle to get straight A*s. It’s only the same at uni, the students with a first are generally the ones who put massive effort in whereas people finishing with a 2:2 or heaven forbid a third don’t give a fuck. I say this as a lecturer.

So then maybe independent schools aren't the bastion of privilege they are made out to be if they are just full of state school teacher rejects?

Unfortunately being put on "capability" no longer means that you are a bad/poor teacher.
Its a very popular way of getting rids of expensive teachers, or teachers that the head doesn't like.

Exactly!

I don't know about that. This precisely mirrors what happened to the child of friends of ours at the same school. Talking to them, it is across the whole year group.

I know some incredibly bright people who got a first, at a time when hardly anyone got them, despite drifting through university, and some incredibly hard workers who got 2:2.