school endorsement for tutoring centre

[leosdad]

Our primary school has just sent out a letter regarding a tutoring centre. It is on school headed note paper and begins "We are often asked at the school to advise on books and study programmes to support our children's education......." it is signed by the headteacher but states that neither she or the school endorse the service (why write the letter then) Sound familiar.
I am a bit on the cross side (well fuming actually) because

1. Why should my children be in need of extra tutoring as the school should be providing all they need.

1. Why should the headteacher put her signature to a letter obviously not written by herself and for something which she does not endorse?

1. Why should I have to fill in my child's and my details on the enclosed form when I am not interested?

1. How much of a kickback is the school getting and how many of the teachers are working as tutors at the centre?

Should I complain to governing body or to the education authority.

I dislike these letters too. Just as I would if I was a teacher at the school - what message is the head sending about their faith in the teaching.

I phoned up the tutoring centre and the school received £70/£80 for sending out the letters to cover photocopying costs. So not a huge money spinner and has the negative effect of making the school look shoddy. Although I wonder if they get a back-hander for children recruited. I didn't ask this...

Someone I know did contact the centre and they sent round a salesman who assessed their children (who were obviously found wanting). They said it was hard to get him out of the door.

We have a parents evening coming up and the governors always have a feedback form, so I'm going to mention it on there.

I would never send back the reply slip. The emotive language used in the advert is laughable.

Sounds very familiar. We had just that letter for the Student Support Centre, and the school chased the children to return the reply slip. I was not happy at all, especially as the service seemed to comprise of DVDs and workbooks with no instructor at all. At least with Kumon you get an instructor even if the work does have to be completed at home.

I did return the slip with a NO, but I did not include my children's name and address as requested. All they got was my illegible signature.

I was quite unhappy about this too. When parents ask schools for details of local tutors I am fairly sure they do not want glorified worksheets which can be got from WHSmiths or downloaded for free online.

From what I have been able to find out the school actually gets money for each reply they get.

The student centre is a hard sell company which signs you to an expensive contract (£1000s ) which is very difficult to get out of.

doubt many of the teachers would be working there tho

I have just seen some of the other threads on Mumsnet about this company, and I feel quite angry that the head teacher allowed this letter to be sent out. Our school has a high level of deprivation, and the thought that parents should be tied to a contract because they believed the school endorsed this company is IMO unethical.

Complain. Vociferously. If you do a search for Student Support Centre on here you will come up with some very useful ammunition for your complaint.
IMO it is outrageous that school should be lending credence to what is clearly a substandard service that uses high pressure sales techniques in this way.

We've just had this letter from our head too Leosdad, with an attachment from Student Support Centre.
The letter does state quite clearly that the head is not endorsing the service as such, but they are nonetheless associating with it.

Our initial reaction was the same as yours; that it suggests there is something the school is failing to provide - not a very reassuring message!

Fortunately we decided not to fill in the reply slip at all. The last thing the kids need is more worksheets.

If the reports on Mumsnet about this company are true, perhaps we'd better make sure the heads are aware.

We had one asking us to fill in and reply whether or not we were interested. I assumed the school was selling our details to an educational marketing database, so I ignored it and chucked the letter away.

I got one of these and was really annoyed about it.

You were supposed to fill in the slip to say whether you are interested or not, which is obviously a ploy to buld their database of names and addresses as the school can't give out your details to them.

I threw this and the 2 reminder notices in the bin.

I am glad I am not the only person suspicious of all this, some of the mums at the school gate seem quite keen on the idea but they tend to be the ones where the first child has just started school and they haven't grown cynical of the education market.

Thanks zebedee it did not occur to me that the teachers may be put down by it

perhaps will write to governers as I think head is quite aware of what she is doing