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.

@Anniedog no because theyre still working through online teaching. I believe for the 80 percent thing you have to not be able to work.
Nurseries can't provide online work for babies and toddlers (!) So they will get the government help.

Day fees instead of boarding. Twins in Y11 so not actually sure how they’re going to justify full day fees when GCSEs are cancelled. One of the things I like about our school is they don’t have study leave during GCSEs, so pupils continue to go in every day until all exams are finished and then they can leave/finish for the term or stay on as there’s weeks worth of CCF activities/careers advice/charity volunteering etc. so this term Y11 is usually a really packed term. Oh and still being billed for exam fees!

No mention of any reduction. We pay a term in advance so they would have to refund.

I started another thread and had no replies. Anyone a member of a Fees Refund Scheme (ours is administered by Marsh). I am almost certain they will refuse to indemnify even under the infectious disease clause, but wonder if anyone had heard anything different?

No discount on account of the fact DS whole year have to be up and dressed at 9am for their webcam assembly. Nothing else happens after that 🤔. Completely pointless!
Hes just working of his own accord.

I teach in a private school. Overseas at the moment and my kids attend for nothing, but I worked a long time in UK private. I do understand your concerns but I think you need to give schools and teachers a bit of time to get used to the monumental shift to online learning. Delivering completely through technology is not what we are used to, or trained to do, and it takes a little time for everyone to catch up and start delivering lessons of almost as good quality as their normal lessons. It's a lot harder than it looks, when you are used to the personal interaction and group work that you can do in class.
This is an unprecedented crisis that we could not have foreseen - most schools are working round the clock to get their provision up to scratch. I know you don't get the enviroment you are paying for at the moment but insisting on having your money back is going to make it harder for the schools when it comes to reopening. Perhaps in some cases, where fees are significantly reduced, those schools working on slimmer margins might not be there for you to send your kids back to in September.

@BunsyGirl

Your school has keep 500 members of staff on the payroll.??

25% discount on fees and school lunch payment take off. We are getting 4-5 short teaching videos a day, plus worksheets. As full time wfh working parents, even with a part time nanny to help, we are finding it enormously difficult to keep up.

No lunch charges as billed usually in advance as additional charge.

Wrap around/ clubs is extra, but I'm not sure on that as we don't use.

They have given 10% off. No work online for my child but older children have lessons . Apparently I got a work pack but I didn't

@ploughingthrough The thing is that we aren’t just paying for teaching. We are paying for a lot more then that. There’s a whole team of after school care workers for a start. After school care cannot be provided remotely so we should not be expected to pay for it.

@Bringringbring12 Yes. That isn’t just qualified teachers. There’s teaching assistants, after school care workers, nursery nurses, cleaners, cooks, grounds staff, security guards, receptionists, sports teaching assistants, school counsellor....it goes on.

Nothing.
We should get a discount on the Autumn term for lunches.
At the moment they have just sent work home but hoping from start of next we will have online lessons. We’ll see.

No heard yet, but would not except much reduction.

It’s interesting to see that some schools are offering between 10-25% reduction and others are offering nothing!

TheMotherofAllDilemmas because fees pay for more than teacher's salaries. Electricity, after school clubs, sports equipment, facilities equipment usage and depreciation, daily cleaning, daily maintenance, stationery and much much more.....none of these are being used during this period so they should be removed from the fees, obviously.

There will also be increased IT costs to enable virtual learning to be delivered in the best possible way.
A lot of the schools' costs will not just vanish.

We aren’t getting any reductions, but school
meals and coach fees taken off. Year 6 is set work daily online and emails it in - has teacher contact online and currently marking and comments through email. Next term there will be lots more online teacher contact probably in smaller targeted groups. My DD (11) has worked hard this week and learnt a lot. I think for Year 6 and above this could all work out quite well. It is the younger children where it is harder for schools and parents. With all the will in the world how are you going to effectively teach a year 1 online? So everyone please bear the child’s age in mind. My Year 4 is set work online and also currently requires a lot of input because the work is hard. Again no discount and school
Moving to more online classroom teaching next term. The teachers are working hard in the background it seems so I am happy to pay for it whilst I can. It isn’t great for them either, as long as they try their best and listen to any concerns, I am happy.

Re those offering proper discounts, perhaps they have built up reserves? Look at their last balance sheets online.
I also think we need to work with the schools here. For example, if you have a year 2 in a very small class (say 14-16 kids) why not suggest some online 1:2 time with the teacher a few times a week. Or if you have a tech background do you have any ideas to help the school etc? Our schools have said that they will try their best and pass on any discounts in the future. Their accounts are online to view so if they suddenly have extra reserves on the balance sheet it will be very obvious.

We have had a letter from the bursar apologising for the fact the April bills were about to hit!

Then a letter saying they envisage 10% and will be amending bills. They'll also review in summer term. They will be mothballing all non eases risks eg there's a massive sports project going on.

I've been blown away by the teachers. We've had loads of teaching in Microsoft teams and there's talk that there's lots more to come after Easter. My kids are infants and they've had a story, a phonics session and activity, a maths session & activity, an assembly every day dealing with things like anxiety and grumpy parents! The local vicar did the Easter assembly. After Easter they're talking about adding in science, pshe etc. Well also be starting FaceTime music lessons

You don’t like the school or teachers very much do you?

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?
Do you want the school to reopen when this is all over? Do you want your child taught by subject specialists in the future? There’s your answer.

Or, you could withdraw your child next term and send them to state school? They might learn something about empathy, resilience or social inequality there.

@eurochick same here, also have a toddler to entertain it’s madness. We have been set a full day of homework really there is minimal
Actual teaching (some explanation videos) The projects set require huge amounts of parental supervision, not work sheets but multi media productions!! I have complained but from the watts app chat most people love it, they are not working and have older
Kids. I then feel guilty that dd will fall behind but I’m trying to keep a business that employs 60 people going.

Fees- no discount

Ds2 prep school has offered 20% off which we are happy with, they have been amazing through all of this and he is continuing his learning as normal.
We haven't officially heard from ds1 school yet (very large and wealthy independent and part of a foundation) so we're expecting something. We had a letter from the head yesterday saying they were reviewing next terms fees in light of the situation. Going rate around here (having spoken to local friends) seems to be 20% reduction if paid by the first day of next term.

flowerycurtain - your school sounds great! I think my point is that I initially also thought we should get a hefty discount but as I engaged with it more, looked at the balance sheets, how much work the teachers and school are doing etc, I am now ok with paying the full tuition fees whilst we can. In some cases, schools might be doing lots of work in preparation for next term but not communicating it clearly. I am pretty sure most heads will be worried.

Can I just add the cleaning staff are still in our school doing deep cleaning to all buildings including boarding houses etc. There are nursery staff still caring for key workers children (as are TAs and teachers). Kitchen staff are feeding them. Staff only get paid for 37 weeks a year in our school (averaged out over 12 months). A lot of staff working through this Easter holidays will be volunteering their services.
Don’t be too quick to think their pay should be cut or that they are all unnecessary.

Boarders pay day fees. Full online school offered.

15% off from 1 school. The other school wants full nursery fees.