having to pay a terms fees when leaving the private school

[mummymooch]

Hi , just thought i would get some advice . We moved to a new area so put our child into a private school ( nursery) . However it wasn't great the teacher had very poor attitude and found out she wasn't even qualified to teach just assist .
We are moving to an area where the local schools are very good and also my husband has lost his job there is no reason to want to send our child back into this private school - i told the head we are leaving for the money reason as husband lost his job and she said to write to the bursar where the directors will decide if we need to pay the terms money anyway .
Would it be best to say i wasn't happy with the school as to why we are leaving or should i say it was down to the losing work or both ?
We was only at the school for a term before the break so we lose a £500. deposit that they keep if you leave the school what ever reason but they also want the terms fee's on top .
sorry for being vague i'm very tired :)

Do I understand you are moving again after just one term?

You will have signed a contract with the school. To get out of this I suggest you take legal advice.

Given your financial situation you might be able to do a deal with the school that you pay a certain percentage of what you owe in monthly instalments.

If you want to go down the route of accusing them of not having qualified staff again you will need advice. The rules on qualifications for staff at fee paying schools are different from those for the maintained sector so you will need to check your facts.

Losing a terms fees is normal. If you are critical of the school they are likely to be less minded to waive this than if you are full of praise but just 'simply unable to commit to the cost' IMHO.

Read the school contract. Some of the schools state quite clearly that one terms notice just be provided or you forfeit the deposit.

Try and appeal to them on the basis that you simply can't afford it and leave on good terms, no sense burning bridges by accusing them of having unqualified staff at this point.

It is normal to have to provide a terms notice or a terms fees in lieu of notice. Often this is written on the bottom of each terms bill to remind you.
Unless the school has broken the terms of the contract it is unlikely that you will be able to not pay the fees.

I don't think it matters what you say - the decision is theirs. Every private school that I know of has this clause in the contract (which you have agreed to by attending the school)- if they choose not to enforce it, it's purely at their discretion.

It is unusual for schools to be able to hang on to a deposit - you might want to check the wording of that, but pretty much always a deposit is refundable or to be set off against something you owe. Them keeping the deposit and requiring a term's fees does not feel right.

Re the term's clear notice being required otherwise fees need to be paid, that is pretty standard, I'm afraid, and I expect you have signed up to it. If you have, I don't see how you can legally get out of it, and I don't think saying "well, we didn't likethe school" will do it. However, if they are able to fill the place before that term is up I think you have a very good chance of having a legal right to the money as the school has not suffered a loss. So my recommendation is (i) to be very pleasant - if they let you off the fees they are doing you a favour; (ii) plead change in circumstances and say you cannot pay - I think you may want to be v clear about this as they may decide it is just not worth the hassle; (iii) if they insist on you paying the fees, ask them to let you know if they fill the place and whether it will change the position, stating clearly that you believe it may. (You may be able to get some idea about how over subscribed or otherwise they are by getting someone to phone and pretend to enquire for a vacancy in that class).

My gut feeling is that they may let you off the term's fees but keep the deposit, as they actually have that and won't need to chase you through the small claim's court. But I think it probably really comes down to how easily they can fill the place.

This is standard with all fee paying schools.

You may be able to appeal to them to be lenient due to your DH losing his job, but that is all you can do. They can chase you for the money as you will have signed a contract. The only exception is usually when the school asks YOU to leave.

A very usual condition which you will have signed up to by paying a deposit for the place. The reason won't matter either way although given your financial situation the chances of them recovering the term's fees in lieu in the near future are probably quite small, so may be that is worth mentioning.

Pretty standard. Check your contract - you probably committed to a term's fees. Plus, private schools are not required to employ qualified teachers, so you're likely to get pretty short shrift if you complain on that basis.

I would stick to financial reasons as the basis for your decision to leave. You may get lucky with a sympathetic bursar... I wouldn't count on it though.

Also, you say the teacher wasn't qualified but wasn't it just the nursery class? So a nursery assistant wouldn't need to be a qualified teacher? Or have I missed something obvious?

Giving a term's notice or paying a term's fees in lieu of notice is pretty standard. The schools have to be able to adapt to changing pupils numbers.

This is a standard clause. And unless you have a very well documented trail showing that you raised grievances as they occurred you won't be able to argue that the school was unsatisfactory in order to justify breaking the contract.