Private school closing- any experiences

[Brachy]

DDs private school is sadly closing- we were notified this week. It'll close in the summer.

Has anyone had experience of their private school closing? We would like to take DD out before the summer but do we still have to give a terms notice on this. DD is in Reception- she gets the Early Years funding so this term (and next term) the fees are almost halved. If we were to pull her out this term and pay for next term (but have her in a state school), what happens to the EYF, does it transfer over to the new school (state), therefore meaning we have to pay full whack to the private school.

They cannot claim EYF if she is not attending.

Thanks for that. So, she either has to be there at the school another term so we pay minimal fees...or we hope they forget about 'a terms notice' and we pull her out at the end of this term. We cannot afford to pay the full fees for next term.
Are all state schools eligible for the EYF? Is it transfered over from her current school to her new state school?

It is claimed for on a termly basis - it would (I should have thought) transfer automatically

Ok, for financial reasons, we will have to keep her at the current school for another term so that we can get the reduced EYF fees...or hope that they waive the 'terms notice' and then we can take her out next week!
It looks like we cannot pay the reduced fees for next term, yet have her in the local school.
Thanks for your help.

sorry your school is closing - must be very worrying for everyone. NOw I'm being nosey now but if you can't afford to pay full fees what were you going to do when your DD became too old for the funding??

I think I was once told by our school's bursar that they got the EYF funding in arrears - which would definitely mean that they wouldn't get it next term if your DD left now. But - can't you give a term's notice and take her out at Easter? (that's still before the summer after all) - Or do you have a state place lined up for January that you might lose? If it's the latter I would have thought that a written request to the school asking them to waive the notice would be worth a try. After all a term's notice is a standard 'term and condition' so that you don't pull the rug on the school. On the other hand this is an exceptional circumstance in which they have in a sense pulled the rug on you and left you in the position of having to find somewhere else. It's worth a try (and ahem I wouldn''t mention - willali's point - the fact that you were presumably having to move as soon as the EYF funding finished anyway...maybe that's one of the school's problems..)

THey do not claim in arrears they get part payment at the beginning of term and the rest part way through based on attendence during that term. HTH

I also understand that LEA ran nurseries/Early Years are funded directly and not through the voucher scheme if you attend an LEA one you CAN NOT claim any vouchers anywhere else even if they only attend the nursery elsewhere. This is certainly the case with Surrey LEA.

Hope you get it sorted!

"We cannot afford to pay the full fees for next term."

Eh? Because of EYF, you are currently paying about 50% of fees. You were expecting to pay 50% in Spring term and ditto in Summer term. What is the difference between that amount and 100% in Spring term and 0% in Summer term? (if you can't afford the 100% up front then you will have to arrange a payment plan; they are in no position to argue)

Forget about the money and concentrate on her education: everyone else will be leaving the sinking ship and snaffling up the best alternatives. I suggest that you get your skates on and do the same.

We had to move our daughter from a boarding school as 3 weeks after she joined they announced they were closing the boarding house . 3 years on and the school is no more.

Anyway, they knew that most the boarders would have to leave because they lived uncommutable distances away. We didnt have to give any official notice but we did have to ask for our deposit back! I was so angry at the situation the school put us in - I sure as hell was going to get my £500 deposit back (needed it really to help pay the deposit for the new school).

We had to pay a £500 deposit when we were offered and accepted her place at the school. In the schools T&C it said they would hold the deposit and offset it against the last school bill assuming the child stayed at the school until the end of year 8 (a prep school so this was their Top/final year group).

We stated that because of the closure of the boarding house it was impossible for our daughter to continue at the school and therefore "they" had put us in a postion where we had NO CHOICE but to remove our daughter from the school.

We did get it back - but I know others didnt ask for it and never received it.

So, if you paid a deposit on acceptance of a place - read up on the T&C of that deposit, you could ask for it back.

Good luck with the school move. Having been through similar - I know how stressful it can be.

I too think that as the school is closing, it would be unfair of them to make you pay the fee's if you remobve her early, have a good read through the t&c's.

However as someone else said, it's probably more important to get your dd into a new school that you are happy with asap, even if that means paying for a place that you are not using for a term. If you get her started somewhere new in January, it may be a shock but she will only have missed one term and hopefully will soon settle into her new school. If you leave her till the school closes you may find that her friends leave one by one and that can be quite unsettling over a long period of time.

Willali- Yes, very nosey! This term, paying full fees would have been hard, next term and future terms would have been fine..DH is self employed.
Fees have been waived. DD is leaving.