Why are two signatures "required"?

[Over40]

Sorry just needed a quiet rant!
I filled in the registration form today for my daughter to go to the private school in our town. I noticed that on the form it said that 2 signatures were required. Well I'm a single parent and my ex would rather cut his own leg off than send our daughter to a private school.

I rang the school to ask about this and the woman on the phone made me feel like a complete freak! "Are you going to be responsible for the fees alone?" she squealed. "Well yes!". She asked me about my ex and I said he wasn't being asked to contribute. Well apparently you HAVE to have 2 signatures. Now she's not to know if I am some amazingly wealthy single mother is she.... Actually I'm not but my Dad left a wad of cash to be spent on his only grandchild's education so the money is not a problem. So not loaded, just lucky I guess.
Not encountered such a old fashioned and bias opinion for ages!

eh - what if 1 parent was dead?
Sign it twice yourself.

Make up the second signature....Kylie Minogue or David Cameron or something, they'll never know.

I had this issue with ds's pre-prep. I spoke to the Registrar and advised her of ds's family situaton - ex-p has nothing to do with him and wouldn't know where he was being educated let alone be responsible for the fees. Registrar was absolutely fine with this. If you didn't speak to the Registrar or Bursar then call and speak to them. If they have the same attitude speak to the Head.

We bought a house from a single Mum who sent her daughter to a local private girls school. I always assumed the Dad was from the sperm bank. (We used to see them quite a bit, and there was no evidence of any kind of father, and she was comfortably off and of a certain age.) This school sounds very old fashioned.

"my ex would rather cut his own leg off than send our daughter to a private school"

That's why they want 2 signatures. Otherwise they need to look into parental responsibility etc. It means that they are aware ahead of time if there is an unusual situation which could result in a child being unexpectedly removed.

Wait until you get to secondary school. Some schools insist in interviewing ex's together even when the parting has been amazingly acrimonious.

I had this with the forms for private schools, but when I explained that DH was dead, they didn't press me to get anyone else to sign. I think you need to talk to the bursar or the head.

I have no experience to draw on but I would assume that the school wishes to spread the risk by ensuring that there is a backup in case you decide to default on the fees.

I expect that it's aimed at those with NR parents who have parental responsibility - those with PR have a right to make decisions regarding choice of school.

DS' father doesn't have PR or any contact, so I just wrote N/A through the second parent section and this was always accepted.

I find it unusual that two signatures are "required". I am a single parent and do everything for DS on my own. I just fill in my details and have never been asked for Ex's.

The only thing where I felt I had to give his details was on DS's passport form where I txted Ex for his passport details.

I would query this with the school to see if it is essential incase you spoke to someone who did not realise what you meant!

I too think it is to do with the legalities of Parental responsibility. To a certain extent although you can put a preferecne you have to ultimately go to whicever stte school the LEA allocates. With private schools a non resident parent with PR could challenge the decision.

In the accompanying bumf at my childrens school they say they need to ensure that both parents have agreed to the choice of school.

edinburger the passport thing is odd. I didn't have to provide ex's passport details when I got ds his passport.

Ex does have PR (name on birth certificate) but school didn't ask about that.

black my ds's school bumf said the same but they explained this was applicable when there were court orders in place (none in ds's case).