Term fee after withdrawal notification to an independent school

[Meg453]

Hello there! I'm looking for some advice regarding term fee charges after withdrawing my child from an independent school. Recently, I sent an email to the school head teacher, informing them that my child will not be attending the school for the upcoming term in September. However, the school is insisting that I pay the first term fee for next year. They base this on our previous conversation, which took place about two weeks ago, where I mentioned that my child would be staying at the school for the next term. In reality, my child wishes not to stay, despite our attempts to persuade her otherwise. Nevertheless, since we notified the school before the start of the new term, we are not inclined to pay the first term fee for the next school year. However, we are willing to accept a small amount of deposit. Any advice would be much appreciated!

How do you work out whether the school has benefited from double money, can they only keep the term's fees if they have turned someone away on the assumption that OP's child was staying at the school.

At what is it not deemed double money, so if a child enrolled later in the year do they have to pay back the fees?

If you just pay them they will pocket the money and you won't hear anything again. The argument is more relevant for an oversubscribed school. In my area all of the good independents have a waiting list and a September place would be snapped up. An undersubscribed school however is likely to have higher admin costs (showing prospective parents around etc) and the place could be available for longer.

In OP's case I would be asking them to confirm if there is a waiting list and if they have contacted those on it. Fees won't be due until September anyhow and she presumably knows others in the school who will be able to tell her if someone new starts.

@sodthesodoff suggest you google duty to mitigate following breach of contract. Or go to law school.

Haha charmed I'm sure

Winning over people left right and centre.

Most independent schools have a contract term requiring the parent to pay a term's fees in lieu of notice. The courts have consistently upheld such clauses on the basis that it is a reasonable pre-estimate of the loss. The school would not be taking action against OP to recover damages based on its loss. It would be taking action to enforce the contract.

@prh47bridge not for an oversubscribed school.

Hi - can I ask what you decided to do in the end ?
We are stuck in a similar situation.
Thanks

Im stck in the same situation and its so frustrating. My dd was threatened to be permanently excluded so to avoid anything on her record i had no choice but to withdraw her. Today got a letter from the solicitors saying i need to pay £4500.

It’s in the contact you sign that you need to give a terms notice usually. Withdrawing her wouldn’t negate this?

What record does it go on if someone is permanently excluded from a private school? I wonder if they were scaremongering with that (and I also wonder whether you would have been liable for the fees if it was them that withdrew the place).

So she started school 6th September and I withdrew her on 6th October. I was told that if i signed her up gor another school the current school would have to fill out a form and that they would put down she was permanently excluded. So in a panic i just withdrew her!

Private schools request a reference as well as recent school reports from your current/previous school when you apply. They’ll also often ring the head for an informal chat about the family and pupil.

Withdrawing won’t make much difference if you’re looking to move to another private school tbh.

If it is an HMC school (many are) demand they send you the most up to date Code of Practice. You will see they are encouraged to return deposits and fees … they have agreed amongst themselves not to double charge or unfairly compete, amongst other things. Don’t be aggressive - just ask questions…. Then ask if you can make a complaint to the HMC.

Just stumbled on this fascinating thread. I do hope I can add a bit more complexity to this.
I’m in a similar situation.

I notified my private school in February that my child was taking the 12+ and asked for a copy of their results to date to share with the LEA as part of our application/appeal to grammar school entry. We were only informed by the LEA in July that we had a place (after appeal). Immediately informed the private school that we wouldn’t be returning for September. Now we have received the dreaded first term penalty.

I’ve visited the school asking for a meeting, written a number of times with no personal response. Just had another chasing letter. My argument is that I believe the place was easily filled and I have provided as much notice as I possibly could as well as indicating my intentions very early in the new year.

Has anyone else been in this position or able to offer advice please?

@Grateful71 - The test for enforceability is not whether the school has suffered a loss, as some on this thread appear to think. The question is whether the school has legitimate interests, and the penalty (one term's fees) is proportionate. This was set out by the Supreme Court when it upheld the ability of Parking Eye to charge a motorist £85 for overstaying in a free car park - a situation where they had clearly not suffered any loss. Even if the school is able to fill the place easily, the fee may still be enforceable.

@Grateful71 your situation is no different , you signed a contract that requires a terms notice and you didn’t give them a terms notice . Telling them you were trying to leave doesn’t count .

@Grateful71 agree with the poster above. The last point at which you could’ve avoided the September’s term fees was the day before the Easter term started.

Schools are quite clear on this point. Maybe they did fill the place, maybe they didn’t - but your contract still required a full term’s notice which you didn’t give.

Bear in mind that if for any reason your child doesn’t get on in their new school, you’ll want to be able to return, or move to another Indie school - which you won’t be able to do if you owe fees anywhere.

If you can’t afford to pay the outstanding fees, write an offer to them to pay in instalments. They don’t have to accept but may well do. Their next step could be to involve debt collection or factoring companies which will increase the debt significantly and if you do not pay, you may affect your credit rating.

Thank you for your advice everyone! I get it, very frustrating though as feels like a penalty rather than a charge and I know of parents who withdrew children at no cost because of alleged bullying issues at the school.
I would still like to discuss this in person with someone from the school so hopefully they will respond to my latest correspondence before pressing the big red legal button!

Of course they can’t charge people where children have been removed because of bullying because they have broken the contract on the schools side as they are unable to keep the child safe .

@Grateful71 I think the fact that you informed them in Feb that the child "might" be leaving is a bit of a red herring. As long as you still expected them to have a place for them still available come Sept, you had not actually given notice.

This doesn't change even if you said they were "probably" leaving. It's a 0/1 thing - either you'd formally given up the space and no longer expected access to it in Sept, or you hadn't. You didn't do that until July. Saying the child might leave is not giving notice, however much you feel that it should count.

I completely understand why it feels like shades of grey or complexity to you. There's even a possibility that had you asked them in Feb if they could adjust their notice period in this particular case, they might have agreed. But there was no such agreement. If, on say the first of July, you still had the security that a place would be there for your child in Sept then you had not given notice. FWIW you made the right call by your child to hang onto the place as long as you needed to, but it does mean you owe the term's fees.

The only occasion I know of where a private school did not insist on a full terms notice was the tragic case of a parent being killed in a car crash just after Easter. The bereaved child and her father were to move to live with relatives elsewhere and everyone agreed that it should take place in September. In every other case at my old school the full terms notice was required.

What does your contract say? Re notice? Isn't it normally a terms notice?

Unfortunately exactly the same as the others. 1 full terms notice required.

I removed my child with just over half a terms notice and it wasn't planned - he was being bullied and was a really small school in Cambridge and their USP of being "small and nurturing" was anything but that! I have experience of several private schools and they all say one terms notice so we knew it was a long shot. The head and the trustees could have used their discretion however they were utterly unscrupulous and inflexible and even refused deposits and accused us of not paying the large deposit in the first place!! Thank goodness we had recordeds!! They can definitely bend and flex the notice if they want but be under no illusion, even at the softer, fluffier private schools, once your child is just £££££

It would depend on the exact cicumstances of the given case. In many situations, it is almost certainly deemed a penalty clause. Likewise, if the school was the party that actually stated that the child could not stay after the parent was informed that fees would be charged, it would make it difficult for them to then charge fees in lieu. It would also need to be considered if the headmaster confirmed the school was at capacity or the bursar confirmed the charge had noting to do with actual losses incurred by the school.

Whatever the case, it should be remembered that internet forums are not great places for legal advice as anyone can write anything. It certainly should not be relied on as evidence in court proceedings and I would be highly suspicious of the credability any lawyer attempting to do so.