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.

Then again my school has also paid for some additional online memberships for all children for the duration and sent home whole sets of exercise books to use, plus online video lessons and such for the children - I spent my last day at school scanning in near enough every reading book (think Floppy’s Phonics, Songbirds, Biff and Chip) so that reading could still be set 3 times a week. That was tedious I can tell you. Children without a laptop, iPad or computer to access for the most part of the day have been loaned one of the school ones which is a big deal because that could cost a fortune if they all get broken!

Nothing yet but haven’t recurved invoices yet either. Staff will be working remotely though apparently. The schools seems to think that the children will go back some time next term. I’m not particularly confident.

@bananaskinsnomnom That’s what I was expecting but no, nothing but £150 for lunches. Also a very harshly worded email saying that if we don’t pay up our kids will be removed from the role at the end of April.

I’m pretty pissed off with mine

They’re not even doing remote teaching, just an endless pile of worksheets

I’m really unhappy, they could have given us a bit off after lunches, a couple of hundred quid would have gone a long way in terms of maintaining goodwill

25% and they are doing full virtual schedule and online classrooms

@BunsyGirl I don’t begrudge schools still seeking the fees but I don’t see why you should be paying for wrap around! And my Head has very much said we need to give value for money with the home educating.....

Nothing originally except lunches . Now revised to 20% yesterday . Also getting online support, possibly too much my DD would argue!

We have been told our teaching jobs are safe until September. we are all dependent upon each other I guess. If parents don't have jobs then they can pay the fees which means the teachers and support staff lose their jobs.

I fear a number of schools and nurseries will not survive. Parents may well be scrambling around looking for alternatives in the autumn.

I am waiting to hear. I really don’t see why we should have to pay boarding fees but would expect to pay for tuition.

Our school is rubbish too. Lots of photocopied sheets and you tube videos. No reduction in fees. I’m really unhappy. The state schools are doing much more round here.

@Stirmecrazy Was that as a result of parent complaints?!

No lunches or transport to pay for but full fees for Summer term due In April. One week in I’m not impressed with the organisation of work load, all subject leaders seem to have dumped a lot of work onto a system that is usually just for homework tasks. But, I’m giving them until after the Easter hols to sort it out. Apparently they are going to implement MS Teams for remote teaching, My som is y7 but won’t stand a chance of catching up on a terms worth of work without some interventions as he is low ability.

@BunsyGirl yes it was . Not me personally I have a year 13 student so was already not expecting much value for money from this term as year 13 would have been going off for study leave early May. But from other years absolutely and it was stated as the main justification for the decrease plus recognising that parents are potentially facing their own financial difficulties which is commendable from the school

@Stirmecrazy I simply don’t see how DC’s school can justify paying a full salary for a sports teacher uploading a couple of videos per week (that’s just one example) when parents are receiving pay cuts, being furloughed and suffering significant reductions in income from their own businesses. Crazy!

No reduction but we do have full lessons on line with teachers supervising and chatting with the kids. Work being marked as submitted, homework set - basically the normal school day. It’s working really well and keeping the kids engaged socially as well.
I want teachers paid and the school on good footing for next year. They may have parents who will struggle with fees going forward so numbers may be down and I don’t want to add to that issue. They’ve contracts which they need to honour so I doubt there is a lot of wiggle room.

We received a letter saying fees are going up next term! Received on the day schools were closed. Oh and ours closed half a day earlier than they had to “to give those of you leaving London a head start” (!!!) No fee reduction offered since.

Meanwhile we have had very little provided for the past week of missed school. A teeny tiny amount of suggested work sent home, zero contact from teachers, no suggested timetable, definitely no remote classrooms or feedback. Generally massively unimpressed.

I’m generally of the “give schools the benefit of the doubt” persuasion, and I know it must have been hard to prepare with little notice, but having seen what many other schools have been able to provide I am pretty unimpressed. They seem to have decided it’s an extra week of (already long) Easter holiday. Let’s see what they come up with for the summer term but at present I feel I am owed a week of school somewhere and/or a significant fee reduction.

I’m on the side of schools on this.

Salaries make up the vast majority of the school budget. They have to continue to pay the staff. Remote learning requires financial investment. Most private schools have charitable status. They’re not trying to profit.

DD school seem to have invested a lot in getting google classroom and other tech up to speed. They are assuming more disruption next term as well so I suspect a fee increase on its way. Considering the job they’ve done I won’t complain, but would feel differently if they’d just waved a merry farewell.

@SpokeTooSoon Why are their staff more important than all the other people (including some parents) who have had salary reductions, been furloughed or who are seeing the own collapse of their own businesses? How can you justify a full salary for a sports teacher making a couple of videos per week or a music teacher doing nothing? How can you justify charging fees for an 8-6 day to offer full wrap around care, not just tuition, and then not even offer virtual lessons? This particular school has reserves of £3 million last year. If it cannot call upon its reserves at the time of a crisis the scale of which none of us have ever experienced before, when can it?

I expect the schools are absolutely bricking themselves and realise they may be losing a lot of parents in the next few years. I know staff need to be paid for but like many businesses they need to change/adapt to keep the money. Most are providing an revised service probably to make sure there are no complaints. However if some are not, why should we pay in full. I don't pay the supermarkets for the pasta they don't have, I pay for what I receive. I know some schools have contracts on this type of things, but others don't. Am going to see what they do next term.

Useful discussion. Ours offers nothing. I'm livid. I think they're risking losing their customers with this approach. I'm in active discussions with the head and other parents. They're not providing full service and cannot expect fees to be paid in full. A number of parents are considering stopping payments altogether until we reach a more fair agreement.

It's not about making a profit, I'd expect schools to be actively looking at cutting costs. With all the trips, concerts, fixtures, parents evenings cancelled, surely there must be a way? Do they retain all their staff and continue to pay them 100% including cleaners for example? I'm no longer paying my own cleaner, I'm not prepared to pay the school's cleaner either when they're unable to provide the service.

I teach in a state school and we are still open to a large proportion of our pupils ... we were also delivering lunches to hundreds of pupils.., i also check in daily with my eyfs pupils to see what they've been up to and share offer ideas!

I despise the idea of private schools and the fact you seem to be getting barely anything despite paying a fortune makes me even more determined and proud to teach in a state school!

One of my D.C. has ASD and the support he gets in nursery is incredible!

OP I'm sure you didn't want a debate on state vs private schools but in this time of crisis I'd expect more tbh given the fees they charge!

We're not getting any discount yet. Teaching has been lots of worksheets sent out in the morning, no direct teacher engagement and no marking. Trying to wfh and manage all the work has been almost impossible.

My DSIS is a HT and is appalled tbh. As she says we could print out work and answer sheets ourselves.

Aren't teachers in private schools covered by the government's commitment to pay 80% of employees' salaries?
I dont have kids at private school but our private nursery has said we don't need to pay any fees beyond March as salaries are covered.