What are my rights to withold school fees?...

[mummytippy]

Hi everyone,

I'll try and keep to the point with this very stressful and upsetting matter.

My son started at an independent school just after Easter. At this point he was 4. He turned 5 at the end of June.
We were due to move house (a move of just over 20 miles) so I decided on a school close to where we were going to and have now moved to. This was to try and ease any upheaval... as at least I hoped he'd remain at the same school despite moving house.

Upon enrollment the Headmistress advised that as the Easter term was short, and my son was a summer born boy, his progress would be monitored. She said that should he need a little more time to settle in he would continue after the summer hols in Reception and join year one after the October half term.

He settled in well. On the whole he's a very well behaved child and if anything he adapted well with the transition from nursery (free-play environment) to the more structured classroom environment.

At first things seemed fine, I found there to be small problems... little things... for example, letters home about uniform and important dates would name my son incorrectly... and I too would be addressed in-correctly (wrong surname and title). I dismissed these as felt they were minor.

As the summer hols approached I wasn't contacted as discussed by the head or my son's class teacher regarding his progress.
The head does have a reputation as quite formidable. Most parents find her very intimidating.
Instead of being contacted personally as I'd believed I would, I received a sheet of paper on the last day of term with a tick in the box telling me my son's progress was 'satisfactory'. This was not expanded upon.
I asked another parent with children in the same class... and apparently if you 'hadn't heard' it meant your child was going to start in year 1 after the holidays. I was pleased, as I felt my son must have met the required standard... in such a short term... and importantly it meant he could remain with his class mates.

After the (8 week) Summer holiday my son returned to school. After 3 days in, I found a compliment slip in his bag asking me to go into school as 'his behavior was causing reason for concern'. I was very shocked and worried... and wondered what on earth could he have done?

I arranged to see the headmistress the next morning. At the meeting (which the headmistress kept me waiting 20 minutes for) I was told my son had been sat 'twitching' at his table and 'fidgeting' with the contents of his pencil case.
I explained that this was very out of character... (usually if asked to stop, would) and perhaps as the holidays had been very long (as long as the Spring term) to maybe give him a few more days to settle in.
I was then completely shocked when the headmistress turned to me and said... 'Surely you know you have a naughty boy?' to which I replied dumbstruck ... 'Well, actually, he's relatively good at home... and has his moments... like most children' to which I got 'Oh, so he's an Angel at home and a terror here'... well his attitude has to change or you're wasting your money'!!! I did my best to remain composed and then re-iterated we were also moving house (upheaval, leaving his friends made since birth etc) and to bare this in mind and offer him additional support.

I am a lone parent and cannot say how much this shocked and hurt me to hear. Once I'd left the meeting, I went out to my car and sat and cried. Despite this, I felt I had to give the teacher and headmistress the benefit of the doubt, present a united front and had a chat with my son after school... explaining the importance of listening and learning at school.

From here, things went from bad to worse...
My son had started school being able to hold a pencil correctly but somehow now could barely do this? He was struggling to keep up too. As a result he was kept in a break times and part of the lunch hour and set extra work to do at home which I gladly did with him.

I received another note: Saying Griff's homework hadn't been done... but it had as I'd done it with him. I explained I knew it had definitely been completed as we'd had to use a blue pencil crayon (not ideal) and then the teacher sent a note saying 'It's turned up, 'my son' had hidden it at the bottom of the marking pile'. This is not something he would do... I seriously mean that... if anything he'd have to be told where to put the homework.

Then, about a week later, one morning whilst he was getting himself dressed for school he burst into tears... saying ' Please tell Mrs * (the head) I can dress myself Mummy!'. I couldn't believe how upset he was... and asked whatever had happened. He said he'd been dressing after P.E. the day before and the head had asked him if he dressed himself at home... on saying yes, she had replied with 'I don't believe you'. I can imagine he was probably dressing a little slowly... but he is only 5! I was not happy about him being demeaned.

By now I felt extremely unhappy and guilty in sending my son to school as he was clearly very unhappy... especially as the school seemed in no way to take any of the facts about our house move into consideration.

The final straw was my son being refused to go to the toilet after raising his hand and asking. As a result he wet himself in class and had to change into his P.E. shorts. I was humiliated and embarrassed and I out raged.

By this point we had reached October half term and I had to come to a decision... the last thing I wanted to do was create more upheaval. We had only been in our new home just over a week.
I felt I had no choice but to withdraw him from the school with immediate effect on the grounds that I felt he wasn't being treated or cared for properly.

I wrote to the headmistress explaining my reasons... to which she didn't acknowledge my letter but left a very rude answerphone message. I again wrote to her (going into more detail) to which again she replied very rudely, insulting me, saying I was rude and that I was being unfair to my son in removing him from the school and that he should have completed the term. She also said she felt I had written my letter of complaint to simply 'get out of paying the fees' and that she believes I cannot afford the fees'.
With regard to my son staying on, I was afraid of how he would be treated if he stayed, as they didn't seem to care about him before I'd raised my concerns.
With regard to affording the fees, the headmistress is not aware my son is now blissfully happy at another Independent fee paying school.

So, going back to my point about payment... I had been paying the school fees by direct debit each month... until September, where because I wasn't happy I put a stop on the DD. I withdrew my son at Oct half term... and was prepared to pay for Sept and Oct.

I am trying to look at this matter in a 'matter of fact' way which is:
'If you are unhappy with a service, do you pay for it?'
As I am extremely upset at the way my child has been treated and am unhappy with the standard of the education too, I am close to complaining to the ISC and Ofsted.

As a result of withholding payment, the headmistress has already
consulted a debt collection agency who are not only asking for the fees up to the end of term for which my son was withdrawn half-way (winter term) but she has also invoiced me for the Spring term of next year too.

I feel the school has failed my son and we have both been treated in a despicable manner. I would be very grateful for any advice and support.

Thank you in advance.

You need to pay according to your contractual obligations otherwise the school has every legal right to seek to recover what they are owed - your dissatisfaction with the school has nothing to do with it I'm afraid, though it does seem a rather odd place!

Rocky, that's not always true, I am afraid. Some independent schools are indeed run like silly little fiefdoms with toothless governors failing to control heads properly. And some independent schools play a game of marketing smoke and mirrors to disguise their adverse selection policies and lack of ability to offer differentiated education or culturally inclusive education. Single parents are indeed sometimes actively discriminated against, more so if they are first time users of independent education, are from a minority ethnic group, have a regional accent, have a non-professional job or just don't 'fit' with the main parent body. It is shocking what goes on in some independent schools behind closed doors, and I can well believe that she has experienced problems beyond her control. However it is important that she coughs up as otherwise she'll have bailiffs on her doorstep.

pay the fees, move on and chalk it up. You sound well out of it.

What a horrible woman the headmistress is. Absolutely horrible behaviour.

A term's notice standard unfortunately. My aunt and uncle removed their child from a school due to problems with the head and did manage to get out of the notice requirement although I'm not sure how.

This is one of the OPs where the story may be completely true, or the head is completely in the clear or (most likely) the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

If you potentially look at it from the other side you have a parent who apparently is fine at the school until they express concern about the behaviour. She gets defensive, as a lot of parents do when behaviour is criticized, and promptly withdraws school fees, as far as I can tell from the OP without giving any reason. After half a term she realised she's going to be asked to pay so pulls the child out without saying anything.

Surely school fees are due before the start of term? I've never come across a school that doesn't require them up front. In which case the direct debit for September was cancelled before all this came up anyway?

The not able to get dressed thing I can also see as done in an entirely non malicious way as I've used it myself. I had 4 5yo (friends of dd1) to change hurriedly after school for another activity once. After 5 minutes when they hadn't made any progress I expressed doubt they could dress themselves at all. They told me they could, I told them I didn't believe them and left. 5 minutes later they were all changed, very pleased with themselves saying "told you so"!

As I said the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. But complaining to Ofsted or Governors will get nowhere unless there are other similar complaints or some factual evidence, which as far as I can see the only evidence will be the withdrawing of the money which is on the Head's side. Ofsted and govenors will put it down to an awkward parent trying to get out of paying, and rightly so. Because otherwise a head could find themselves in problems from one unhapy parent making up vicious lies. (not saying that is in this case but talking generally)

I think that's very wise ... ultimately the school and parent do not fit at all, for whatever reason, and it's important to move on like we are all saying.

No right at all to withhold school fees.

You are under obligation to pay for last term and this term - although if you are reasonable in your approach, you may be able to negotiate a little of it.

But you ought to understand you are jeopardising your current school relationship. If you look through whatever paperwork you signed when you joined this new school, you will most likely find a clause stating that you have no outstanding debts at another school. All it takes if for one of the heads to find out and they'll be on the phone to each other.... That does happen!!

Op, from the info given, you need to pay up and move on.

We were unhappy with dd's previous school and gave late notice. We were able to get away with only half the next term's fees after letters from school's lawyers were met with tough negotiations.

The school was able to offer the compromise because we had documented discussions about our concerns, letters etc. And were able to show clearly that despite following proper procedure, issues weren't addressed.

Pay up. Move on.

Hi all. I found the op and huge number of comments a little difficult to wade through so apologies if I have not got this quite right.

My understanding of the situation is as follows (I am not trying to be antagonistic, but clinical - so please bear with me if it seems like I have brushed ops concerns or the type of contact under the carpet - I have put bracketed parts in to try and get points across).

1. Child enters school late in Spring term.
2. Because of age, child is to be monitored during summer term and then parent will be informed of progress.
3. School contacts parent with a 'satisfactory' report. (this may not have been in the format you would have liked, but it sounds as if this is standard and yo uhave certainly not been treated to anyone else).
4. Child starts new class with a new set of children.
5. School alerts parent of behavioural concerns via a note and asks for a meeting. This is attended by Headmistress and Class teacher (this is perfectly normal - 'he said/she said' has become the norm and in order to prevent any conflict of understanding what was said in a meeting it is common place to have another member of staff. If the school chooses that to be the head, so be it. A Head often cannot predict exactly when they will be free as things come up and the fact she was 20 minutes late is irritating, but irrelevant). The head informs the parent forcefully that the child is disruptive and that his behaviour/attitude needs to change or the parent will be wasting her money. (This may be unpalatable, but she was trying to be blunt in telling you that he was not getting anything out of class. Also as you were not in the classroom you really have no idea just how bad behaviour was. Nobody wants to think our child is being a horror, but it might have been true. As you say - needs longer to settle in could have been the reason, new children in the class, not being able to cope as well as you thought with Yr 1 as opposed to Reception, he was upset by your moving....the list goes on. The school were actually very proactive in contacting you so soon).
6. No fees are paid for September and October as Direct Debit is withheld - in effect, the fees for the term are outstanding and late in accordance with the school contract.
7. A note is sent home about homework which had not been done. Parent disputes this and the homework 'turns up'. (You were upset by this but you did not make a complaint or raise it as a concern)
8. Son comes home upset because he has not been allowed to dress himself. (If there is a class of kids getting changed it does need to be done quickly and it could well be the children were being chivvied along. As you say, he is only 5 and you have only his word that he was called a liar - that is in effect what you are saying - and no witnesses. You do not make a complaint about this, or contact the school raising it as a concern).
9. Son wets himself as he was not allowed to go to the toilet (this is entirely possible - BUT - you do not know whether he had recently been allowed to go, or the circumstances. Again, you did not raise this as a complaint or an area of concern with the school).

10. 2 letter are written tot he school by the parent giving reasons for withdrawing the child from school. The first is acknowledged by a phone call (whether you agree with it or not, she did respond by ringing you. Did you ring back following her message? Did you keep the rude message so that you can transcript it and use it as a complaint? Was your second letter responded to? You say she responded rudely but I am unclear as to whether it was another phone call or a letter. The fact is you had made no complaints up to this stage whatsoever to the school and had withdrawn your son without paying any fees. The head may well have been outrageous in accusing you of simply not wanting or being unable to pay, but the simple fact is this is a number one get out of paying tactic and it is only natural she assumed this to be the case. I am afraid she has a point about moving him mid-term when you have only just moved house and school - no school would have thought nay different. However you say he is happy now so that is excellent news).

Now we get down to the crux of this op - which is, I believe, can I get out of paying fees/how much should I pay. As I say - I am trying to be cold and clinical here.

Honestly, you don't have a leg to stand on. At no point (from what I can make out) have you raised a formal written complaint about any of the things vexing/worrying you in relation to contact from the school/treatment of your child until you wrote a letter after withdrawal. You are not satisfied with the school's response to your withdrawal letter but have not done anything about this. You have not followed what will be a written down formal complaints procedure. You have left it a further 2 months before thinking about it.

As things stand you can expect to receive a final invoice which will show a brought forward balance for the whole of last term's fees, fees in lieu of notice (as per the contract you will have signed) for next term and a refund against these charges of any deposit paid (usually). And you will have to pay it.

The only way you can try and limit financial damage here is to retrace your steos and do things properly. Construct some sort of diary of events. This should be unemotional, detatched and factual (as previous posters have said).

Contact the school, in writing, requesting a copy of the school's formal complaints procedure as well as any relevant policies concerning child care for pre-reception, reception and year 1 and the contact details for the chairman of governors. Politely request that this is received with 10 days.

When you have this, study the policies and see if there are any breaches you can identify and then write a letter enclosing your 'evidence' (diary) listing, in detail, your precise grievances. Some of the things you have raised, while an unprofessional way to deal with someone in my view, are simply not a valid reason for witholding fees.

You will likely be asked to attend a hearing which will usually contain a panel of 3 people - the head, chairman of governors and an independent person. You will likely be invited to take someone with you if you so wish. Your complaints will be heard. The chairman of the meeting will then consider things and write to you with their verdict.

From what you have told us, that is likely to be that they do not find any fault on the school's part from your complaints. You can write back disputing the findings and offer, as a gesture of goodwill and without prejudice, to pay the fees for the Autumn term, but to have that reduced by any deposit paid and to have the fees in lieu of notice waived. They are not obliged to agree, but you can ask.

I am so glad that your son is happy in his new school and I hope the staff there have better manners than the one you have left!

My god - I typed that too quickly - littered with typos and spellos - apologies all!

I'm not sure you've added anything, Dramafluff? As you'd know it you'd read any replies. All those policies will be ones the OP has already seen (as she's signed them) or can download them in an instant from the school's website. She ought not be be demanding them now, unless she wants to appear a if she can't read or understand what she's signed.... They'll also be mightily similar to what she's now signed on her new school and I invite her again to check the small print as there will be a clause about outstanding debts and she is therefore jeopardising her child's education.

I think dramafluff has done a good job in exposing how weak OP's case is. OP admitted higher up the thread that she could not locate and had not used the school's grievance procedure.

Unlike TheGrimSweeper, she does not appear to have the evidence needed.

Hi TwoPinkShoes

I disagree. If the op is genuinely going to try and get some financial limitation on what she will inevitably have to pay (and in my opinion it is not worth it, but that is not my decision, that is the question she asked), she will have to ask - she is not demanding and it does not have to be in an aggressive way - for the school's complaints procedure and follow it. Anyone who attempts to dispute school fees who has not done this will be laughed out of court and any attempt at a partial admission or a complete defence on a court claim will be dismissed with judgement being made. It will also be worth the op studying her terms and ocnditions with the school again. A number of schools have not updated their terms and conditions in some years and older contracts which do not actually state that they reserve the right to pass on information concerning any outstanding debt to other schools will actually find themselves in a pretty sticky situation if they do. There is no question that quiet telephone calls between heads and bursars, rather than an official contact, might be made in any case of course. Has to be worth checking. I would also say that if there are no fees outstanding to the current school, they are unlikely to be all that bothered about what has happened elsewhere in a 'previous life'. They would not have grounds to do anything at all in terms of suspending the child, only (if they would and I don't think it would happen) to perhaps let the op know that they are aware. The op should expect absolutely no slack whatsoever in the area of late payment of fees to the current school if they are aware that there is an existing debt elsewhere. They may however be wary about the ops approach to any small areas of disagreement or dispute and there is, certainly, a risk of being seen as a trouble maker in terms of school disputes.

Well thank you everyone for your comments.

I would like to point out that all the problems I experienced with the school are genuine and at no point did I not intend paying for the time my child attended the school. I only wish is that none of the incidents had happened, and my son would still be there. The last thing I wanted to do after a house move was unsettle him again.
I'd like to assure everyone I certainly did not take the 'behaviour' comments from the head 'personally', I was genuinely shocked and initially presented a united front where now with hindsight I should have given notice. I did feel the 'twitching' was not a behaviour concern but a concentration issue.
I was making monthly payments by Standing Order and not by Direct Debit (sorry my I made a mistake here) and when the amount increased I needed to change the payment but as I wasn't entirely happy and was preoccupied with a house move, I'll be honest it wasn't my first priority.

Since my last posting on here, I sent a cheque to cover the period up to which i withdrew my son (Sept and Oct £ 784.72 on the 19th December) and asked in view of the circumstances, the head to please accept it. I've been monitoring my bank account and keeping a eye on my post for some form of communication from the school.

Today I received a County Court Summons (dated 11th January 2012) for more than the original amount which was being requested... and still have not had any correspondence from the Head.

Despite not complaining in the correct way (as Dramafluff and others pointed out) at no point have I meant to be un-reasonable.
I removed my child as he was seriously unhappy and I felt that the school failed him both through lack of care and the standard of the education.

I feel that the head is being completely unreasonable here (in not communicating with me and simply having a court summons issued despite me forwarding payment).

In my opinion the school seriously failed my son... and as the head told me in her very rude answer phone message, she had a child for my son's place... the school will not suffer financially.

I am going to visit the local citizen's advice bureau tomorrow as the head appears to be acting as though I haven't even sent my payment.

The letter and cheque were went by Recorded Delivery.

Any thoughts or advice now would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

Mummy,

I suspect it is going to be a difficult one for you to win. And, to do so, I think that you need to be a LOT more proactive about it.

This is a civil case in contract law. They are claiming that under the terms of the contract, you owe X sum of money. You are claiming that the school failed to fulfil their obligations under the contract. Firstly, I would withhold fees not only for the period your son missed (unless they have cashed them already) on the basis that, during this period, the school failed to provide an adequate education to your son under ITS contractual obligations. That will at least leave you room to negotiate without paying all the fees and leaves room for you to find an honourable solution as a compromise, that being your original proposition of paying the fees to the date that your son left.

If I were you I would contact a solicitor and get him/her to craft a good letter stating exactly how you feel that the school failed to meet its obligations under the contract and what you expect in return. This should be as factual and evidenced as possible. You would also want to try to marry it up to the official complaints procedure. I.E If you demanded a meeting even informally, you could say that it was clearly a complaint under section whatever of the contract. They would of course say it wasn't. But, law is never that black and white and a clever lawyer will create shades of grey for you. What you are after is a situation where the school is more fearful, for its reputation among other things, of you than you are of it. At this point you can offer an ex gratia settlement of fees to the date he left and they will (hopefully) bite your hand off.

I am not a lawyer so the above is just my opinion. What I am sure of is that the CAB will be of little use and that, if you do nothing, you will end up being made to pay in court. You either do battle or decide discretion is the better part of valour and pay up.

Thank you Larrygrylls,

I understand that the CAB can sometimes be a waste of time in that they don't specialise so I will contact a solicitor and see if they can send a letter as you suggest.
I do not actually have a copy of a contract from the school... and the only reference to the school's grievance procedure is in a newsletter where it simply states 'there were no complaints this term'... (term prior to my son joining the school).
I did have another meeting with my son's class teacher a few weeks later where I made it clear I wasn't happy about my son being labelled 'naughty'.
I genuinely believe that the Head singled both myself and my son out and made things so bad so that I would withdraw him.
Also when my son joined his new school they carried out a couple of basic assessments and said they were shocked to see he couldn't even hold his pencil correctly and that there were high frequency words they believed he should know and didn't... Evidence which backs up my decision to move him.

I am appalled and think it's really unprofessional that the head hasn't even had the decency to acknowledge receipt of my payment and has simply had a CCS issued against me. It makes me feel that it was only ever the money she was interested in?

The head is known for being difficult... and I've genuinely struggled to communicate with her on the occasions I tried to speak to her. When I expressed my concerns at the early meeting she simply talked over the top of me when all I was trying to do was discuss the best way forward.

Anyway, thank you again for your time. I will see if I can find a solicitor and keep you informed.

I can tell you about a friend of mines experience with a prep school. She had her daughter in the nursery which feeds into the prep school and when she removed the child and sent her to the state school in reception she recieved a bill she wasn't expecting.
The head suggested that my friend should have given a terms notice of her intention to leave. My friend said that the terms applied to the school not the nursery and since she hadn't started for the main school no notice was required.
Anyway a solicitor took on my friends case, cost her £250 - the school wanted £2300, his advice was that most parents would buckle under the threat of legal action and just pay up, private school parents tend to do as they are told apparently when faced with solicitors letters.
Your school OP will be hoping they intimidate you into paying up, it's up to you if you think it's work incurring the court costs, but don't assuming you will loose, my friend didn't. The judge ruled unfair contract terms and threw the case out.

Thank you Heswall,

I'm sorry to hear about your friend and it would seem they were billed on 'assumption' which is most definitely wrong.
I think you are right that the school's simply think they can threaten and intimidate parents and scare them into paying up.
In my case, with the fact I have now sent payment for the time my son was there, I am simply contesting the notice period.
The fact is, my son would still be at the school had they treated him properly!!!
In addition to everything I actually feel the Head I'm dealing with told me she has a child to fill my son's place just to aggravate the situation further.

Thank you for your advice, I will contact a solicitor as I feel this could quite easily happen to someone else.

If they have filled the place then they have suffered no loss, worth mentioning to the solicitor too. Heck it might not work and if it doesn't offer to pay them in full at a pound per week.

It's good that she's filled your child's place, it shows that she has not suffered an economic loss. This goes in your favour.

Thanks Heswall and LadySDC,

I hope it does help and truly that things go in my favour. I have the voice recording of the head saying as much. The whole thing has been a nightmare... now I just need to find a good solicitor who will simply write me a good letter... and hopefully justice will be done.

Thanks again.

Hi again - can I ask if the school cashed your cheque? If they did, then rightly or wrongly in some cases that can be used in legal action as showing that they accepted that as settlement. Did you send a covering letter with that cheque? Sorry to keep banging on about it, but you must get hold of a copy of the terms and conditions etc by requesting it in writing. Any solicitor you go to will need to see it in any case.

Glad to hear he is doing so much better, but whatever the new school says to you, it is unlikely they will want to write any kind of supporting statement for your case - they might of course, you can only ask....

Regardless of what a crap head this previous school seems to have, my experience in this area tells me your case is not great, but not hopeless. Heswall's comment is interesting that school's buckle if they get a solicitor's letter - they don't. Most are covered under recovery schemes and it will all be dealt with for them. HOWEVER - not always the case, particularly in a small school. Did you get a statutory notice of 14 days and 7 days warning you of court action? If not, you should put in a defence (take legal advice if you wish) stating that no notice was given of their intention to sue and that you are disputing the amount due because..... it is VERY important that you respond in a timely way to the court papers - if you do not, judgement will automatically be made against you and then it is a real mess to sort out afterwards. The amount being more than the original fees is standard. A County Court Summons will always include the statutory filing costs and statutory interest.

Reading your last post again I believe they have NOT cashed your cheque, but have not written to you either to explain why. Well worth putting that on the claim form as well if that is the case saying that you have offered payment for the period of attendance.

The result with a solicitor involved on the parental side is often that middle ground will be agreed on and you will still end up paying something. I still do not think (but good luck!) that you will get out of paying any more than you have offered and think you will have to pay. In this case it appears the Head is certainly taking things personally and will see taking it through to the bitter end as a personal vendetta.

When responding to the CCS try not to write an essay - bulleted points that are clear and concise are usually much better.

Keep us posted.

Heswall - apologies - I misread your post - PARENTS buckling under pressure - very true because 9 times out of 10 the school fee recovery scheme offers them infinite advice and legal assistance that parents cannot afford.

Sorry drama but under contract law the part payment of a debt doesn't mean that they have accepted a settlement. They can still sue for the rest. This is different if the part payment has been paid by a third party though.