Private school - what fee reduction have you been given for the summer term?

[BunsyGirl]

I would just like to get an idea of what (if any) fee reductions people are being offered for the summer term. We have been offered £150 discount per child to cover lunches. I am not particularly happy as our fees cover 8-6 wrap around care. I have been told that another local private school is offering a 10% reduction and their hours are shorter as after school care is an optional extra. I don’t want to get into a debate about whether we should get a fee reduction or not. I just want to get an idea of what fee reductions are being offered.

@HostaFireAndIce It is yes and has caused a lot of resentment amongst the parents who are very unhappy that the staff have been treated in this way. Doesn’t represent the ethos of the school that we bought into.

It really does seem like they might have shot themselves in the foot then. I think the independent schools who will fare best out of all this will be those who have kept the parents on side. Desperately hoping ours is doing this...

I can't understand why they haven't just furloughed for now. What are they going to do when the schools reopen in September, assuming they do. There's a tiny chance it will be before then!
Do they have a big overseas contingent? Perhaps they're assuming most of those will not return?

GCSE and final year here. School have offered to keep setting and marking work, but I can't see how I motivate the 16 year old to engage. No reductions in school fees.

We're on a monthly plan until August, and it smarts paying so much but they teachers really all have been marvellous. The maths teacher phones the house to chase up homework, and my DS respects him so much he is still doing the work.

Sorry, this is practically a zombie thread after just a week. I should have read through first.

I really think schools will open well before September. This presents a problem for the schools that have offered (or been heavily pressured into) large discounts on fees.

If the govt says schools can reopen sooner, we may find that private schools stay closed until September because of this.

I genuinely think schools will be given the green light for after half-term, reopening on 1st June. Nothing I’ve read indicates a September start - other than parents and teachers insisting they somehow know more than the prime minister.

I wonder whether some of the September belief stems from Nicola Sturgeon and Arlene Foster commenting that it was likely the schools wouldn’t reopen in the summer term. Their term dates though are quite different from the majority in England and Wales.

@SpokeTooSoon I wondered about this. My children’s school we pay in advance by DD, so we’ve paid the summer term. 3/4 of the school pay this way. So the principals have said they will make a decision mid-May and those paying termly won’t have to pay till then. I wonder if this is them wondering if the schools will open in the summer term and when. I also wouldn’t be surprised if they try and extend the summer term from 5 - 7/8 weeks and then not offer a discount (which I would be happy with).

All this talk of staying open into the summer hols ignores the fact that this would mean expecting teachers and other staff to work for weeks for free. Unless you expect them to paid extra for it in which case parents will need to pay but I don't expect many would be happy about that.

@BentBastard the problem is a lot of schools are dealing with irate parents refusing to pay fees etc (I would like to add I’m not one of them). In fairness many of those parents have loss their income overnight and are going to struggle to pay the fees. So private schools and their staff are going to have to have difficult discussions, including do they work for a couple more weeks (unpaid) to placate people. If people are having to consider taking loans out to keep businesses afloat/work for nothing themselves (and keep paying fees) then I imagine they will feel staff should maybe offer something similar. Staff don’t have to, but private school staff I’m sure will be aware if school numbers plummet, then they could be facing redundancy and they will have to weigh up what they are prepared to do to avoid this.

@HostaFireAndIce Not a massive overseas contingent. It is mainly a day school. It had 1300 pupils before this happened and a healthy reserve so it should have been able to deal with the present situation. In fact, I expected to take in children from smaller schools which are more likely to fail (which it has done previously). Was one of the reasons we chose it as we thought it was a better longer term bet than a much smaller prep which we liked (and which did actually close a few years after DS1 started at his current school).

@BunsyGirl, that’s even more odd then. I just can’t understand why they have thought this was the best course of action, especially if they’re not even passing any saving on to the parents

@HostaFireAndIce They have now offered a 10% discount which is still a lot less than its competitor schools are offering. The thing is that the lack of discount was only one part of the complaints from parents. It was the sacking of staff and the threat to remove kids from the role that really upset people!

I've had a glass of wine so I'm going to say it.

I love this.

My perfectly average state school have been incredible, plenty of varied, fun work. Individual emails from teachers and good feedback about work submitted. PE staff doing regular video exercises, staff doing 'fun' messages and dances for the kids. My 8yo old feels connected to a real community.

I'm not sure you're getting what you pay for

Well done, glad you felt the need to say that. Mine also went to a nice state school for primary, it was fine. I wanted more than perfectly average for secondary though, and my dds are very clever and sporty and are flying at their private school. Horses for courses.

Mayhemmumma if I’d chosen to go private on the basis of the remote learning provision I would entirely agree with you (although based only on one week, things may change).

But we didn’t choose their school for its remote learning, and once this is over, whenever that may be, all the reasons we chose it will be back again.

You on the other hand will still be the kind of person who is delighted that other children are not getting a great education for a few weeks, simply because their parents are spending more than you. Nice.

Well my privately educated teens are getting a fantastic online education which is so much better than the local state provision in this instance that it's almost embarrassing.

In which case you're getting what you paid for and should be cock a hoop.

@Mayhemmumma

Tonyaster I don't quite understand what you mean by horses for courses comment. Are you implying that only clever children go to private school and kids in comps aren't terribly clever and sporty
If so, I've got news for you!

25% reduction and no lunch fees. They have cancelled teacher raises, are committed to continuing to pay the lunch staff & support staff and have cancelled some upcoming capital projects. I'm happy with all the steps they are taking!

Are you implying that only clever children go to private school and kids in comps aren't terribly clever and sporty

Not at all. I'm saying that skme families are super happy with state education and some families are super happy with private education. Different things suit different people!

I was laughing incredulously yesterday as we receive a video message from DS's school asking for MORE donations as they've had extra expenses during lockdown, such as paying for deep-cleaning the school!

Firstly, what's happened to the money ppl have already donated this year and secondly, our kids aren't having the full educational experience right now (they are having online classes, but not a full schedule obviously) so why the heck should we give you more money?!

The mind boggles. Luckily DS is leaving at the end of this school year anyway.

I teach overseas and my son gets a reduced rate place in.my school. After 3 weeks of no school, I can honestly say these have been the most stressful weeks of my teaching career. Not only had it been getting used to new teaching methods, learning new technology, motivating my team to take on the challenge, home-school my own son etc, but the biggest stress has been the pressure from parents from day 1 moaning about everything. Please tell me which business could.move seamlessly from face to face to remote over-night, literally, as we were expected to do. We were advised o. The Thursday as kids were leaving school that there was no more school from that moment onwards. Initially we were closed for 2 weeks but this keeps getting extended.

We are a private school, but a not-for-profit organisation which has no owner, just a Board of Governors and have existed for over 50 years. The onslaught from some parents has been brutal from day 1 even though we are using remote teaching, live classes, Google classroom/hangouts, daily feedback on work etc from Nursery through to Y13. School lunches were cut from day 1 and since then we have been forced to furlough all cleaning and kitchen staff, most admin and maintenance, TAs have been put to 50% but all teaching staff are still on 100% and most are working their socks off.

However, the savings passed on to parents only amounted to 15% and parents were not satisfied. So as not to affect teaching and learning we have been forced to take out a loan to pass on a saving of 50% on fees to parents. But this to be repaid.

I have seriously despaired at the attitude of some parents during this crisis. Our provision was not great the first week but we provided work every day. This has improved beyond all recognition due to the hard work of the staff but this appears to have gone unnoticed by many parents. There have been some wonderful emails of encouragement from some parents who are supportive and understanding but sadly it's the ones who shout loudest and demand more and more that will eventually cause the school to fall apart and not be there for their children in September.

@BocaDeTrucha

I'm certainly not criticising the teachers, I can imagine that it's very difficult adapting the curriculum to remote learning and I hope that most parents are grateful for your efforts, I know I am.

What I can't understand in the case of DS's school is the request for additional money on top of the usual fees. PPl already donate so why do they need more?

@Mayhemmumma

Just the one glass of wine?

* My perfectly average state school have been incredible, plenty of varied, fun work. Individual emails from teachers and good feedback about work submitted. PE staff doing regular video exercises, staff doing 'fun' messages and dances for the kids. My 8yo old feels connected to a real community.*
I'm not sure you're getting what you pay for

Because it’s strange that you can’t grasp that, just like state schools, there are variations in private schools! So yes, some may not be delivering a full on, flashy provision (doesn’t mean they’re necessarily a poor school. What they do next term will really show that).

I have one son on a bursary at one of the most highly regarded prep schools in the country.

My daughter is at a phenomenal state school. We moved here from London for this school.

Does my son get a better, full and richer education. Yep. He’s in a class of 15. She’s one of 33. Does he have a wealth of eye watering opportunities? Yep. Does my daughter? Nope. Is my son “ahead” of what his peers are doing at his previous state school (same as DD’s), without question.

Are both happy? Incredibly
Is the private school better and delivers value for its steep fees? Without doubt.
Will my daughter be moving to the same school as my son? Yes, from September