Legal rights with private school

[darkswan2020]

Hello mums

I had a question about my legal rights with private schools.

My daughter is 3 yo. I sent her to Riverhouse montessori in Canary Wharf. I paid the full term fee and deposit before the start of the term in Sep 2018. We had a terrible experience. Her teacher was hostile with us and our daughter, always talking us down and speaking to us in a condescending way. She always had complaints about my daughter not doing things right and would blame us for it. In the few days that she went to riverhouse, her teacher did not have one good thing to say about about my daughter. Every time we spoke to her teacher or go to pick her up, we were depressed with the feedback about my daughter's inability to do anything properly. It always brought our spirits down. My daughter started going into a shell and being very quiet. I feel she started to have self esteem issues. It was a struggle to drop her to Riverhouse; unlike her previous nursery she would never want to go to Riverhouse. She was not the same happy chirpy child as she was before joining river house. She was going to Bright Horizons nursery before this and she was happy there.
I think its the only private school in Canary wharf and it is overrated. I have since then dissuaded all my friends against sending their children to riverhouse. May be other teachers might be better but my daughter's teacher caused a lot of misery for our family. At non-term time they put all children of all ages in a single room and a couple of child minders to watch them. A friend's daughter had a fractured arm due to negligence of the school staff and they were very non-chalant about it - they called and told her may be you want to take her to the GP! Their first aider pulled her arm asking to try and straighten it.

Within 2 weeks of joining, we decided to take her out of the school and put her back in her old nursery. She is very happy now.

Riverhouse is a faceless school; all communication with admin is through email only. There is no face on site. I asked if they could give me a refund of my deposit and term fees. They sent their terms and conditions stating that term fees is non refundable. They said they will refund the deposit at the end of the term.

After the end of the term, I have sent them several emails asking for refund of my deposit. My emails have gone unanswered.

What legal recourse do I have to recover my deposit?
Do I have any legal recourse to recover my fees - what does the law say about this?

It depends totally on the contract you agreed and signed and nothing else.
Pull it out and see what it says.

You can't complaint about others and what may or may not have happened without leaving yourself open to slander. You have also named the school and perhaps you may wish to remove the name?

Small claims tribunal?

If you've signed a contract then you are liable for a terms fees.

You wouid have timtake then timcourt.

You signed a contract, and you cannot break a contract penalty-free unless you can demonstrate that you have exhausted the grievance procedure and things are still badly wrong. Do you have a dossier of emails with each complaint you made to the school, and their replies; and notes of meetings/phone calls about it?

It's unusual that they do not require a terms notice to leave. Or perhaps they do, and they waived it for you?

If they have, it's quite a big departure from normal practice, and I think you need to reflect carefully before launching legal action to recover fees for the term during which your DD attended. You might find anything you are awarded is actually eaten up by legal fees.

You didn't give them much of a chance if your daughter was only there for a few days. What 'good things' were you expecting the teacher to say in that time ... that your exceptional three-year-old clearly had the makings of a Nobel prize winner?
You do sound rather silly. And it is unwise to be repeating hearsay about what may or may not have happened regarding your friend's child.

I'm surprised they didn't need a full term's notice so I'd expect them to keep deposits and the cost of one term.

I say that as someone who sent her dd to nursery and pulled her out within 3 weeks due to poor care boarding on neglect. You choose somewhere and it didn't work out. Every dc is different but the contract stands.

@katy1213 Its not like that. Its not like I am upset that they didn't have one good thing to say ever. Its the hostility towards me and my husband. I don't want to use the R word but its very likely some prejudice.

My daughter went into a shell and started being very quiet and had severe constipation as well. All these problems went away when we put her back in her old nursery. Anyway it was a very tough decision for me to forgo the full term fees and pull her out so I can assure you there was genuine reason so please stop insulting me about it.

They said in an email that they will return the deposit. I have been chasing up for the deposit but all my emails have gone unanswered. At the time I wanted to leave without any drama so I didn't do a formal complaint. I simply said that the school will not suit us. In hindsight I should have

Thank you all for your ideas and suggestions