Montessori misrepresenation

[tess1e]

Just want to warn other mums so no one ends up in my boots!

I am being sued by the Brighton and Hove Montessori for fees but they completely misrepresented their school so I am fighting this through court currently. In total they are asking for just under £7,000!!

Expect to see it hit the papers soon.

I placed my sons there in Sept 2007 aged 4 and 8 1/2, my eldest has mild aspergers so we wanted a school small enough to deal with his needs but also somewhere they could go together even for a few years in Junior school. We haven't had holidays for 8 years, don't go out much and save every penny to do this as my eldest was not severe enough to get statemented.

Anyway...they claim to go up to 11, when they are only registered with Ofsted and the DCSF up to 9. They are also NOT accredited with the Montessori (very misleading this one) and are also not registered for children with special needs with Ofsted either.

Had I known all of this I would never have placed my kids there. The Ofsted report came out Oct 25th 2007 (too late for us sadly but I did check the website before and nowhere mentioned age limit...perhaps this should be made public on their site?) and I withdrew my kids after that. I also had 3 different invoices with 5 different amounts calculated for 1 terms fees for 1 child alone and they only deducted £147 for nursery grant when it should have been £589. Again this is not right!

Ofsted, DCSF, Trading standards and Office of Fair Trading are all investigating but I don't want any other mums to get caught out like we have. Ofsted and the DCSF confirmed it is illegal for them to advertise an age group they are not registered for as it voids their insurance!

Check schools out and don't necessarily believe what you read to be true. Especially with Independent schools as they are not under the remit of the Local Authority and seem to be able to say what they want which astounds me in this day and age! They are not checked nearly enough nor is their advertising!

www.isbi.com/isbi-viewschool/926-Brighton_and_Hove_Montessori_School-1.html

www.brighton-montessori.org.uk/

www.brighton-montessori.org.uk/additional/ofsted% 20report%20juniors%20october%202007.pdf

www.montessorieducationuk.org/schools.html

Sorry to hear about this - sounds a right mess. Surely the school knew your son's age and sn when they took him on? Did they actually ask him to leave because he was too old?

I don't know much about Montessori tbh, but do know many children who go the the ASC there and they all rate it highly. I also know they have been very active trying to set up a state funded primary school, in Brighton, which looked quite likely until last year when the council refused planning permission.

I hope you get some answers soon though - a bill for £7k seems excessive for the time they were there.

What have you done about schools now - the area does have a problem with oversubscription I know...

I removed them for several reasons...finding out they weren't registered, accredited and also because the behaviour of my kids just completely deteriorated after a couple of weeks...I thought I'd give it to half term but when I found out all the misrepresentation I just took them straight out and they are demanding this terms fees on top which I'm fighting. Our solicitor says it's cut and dried misrepresentation especially with so much evidence but all the same it's stress and upset we don't need.

Coincidently someone I have work dealings with has just removed his child yesterday aged 3 because he found out he was spending hours polishing with Brasso which is hazardous to children!

I've completely lost faith in that place and wonder how on earth they've got away with it for so long

I've settled them at the Fold now which is just lovely and their behaviour especially my 8 yr old has calmed right down. He'd started hitting his siblings (got a toddler girl of 17 months as well) and swearing.

Complete nightmare place and I don't suppose the other parents have much idea they are not what they claim to be. The kids were there less than half a term and £7,000 is just ridiculous. I'm seriously considering asking for my money back in a counter claim.

The stress and tears we've been through was the worst though, it's hard enough trying to decide what school to go to without having to figure out whether they are telling you the truth!