Invidious scholarship conditions

[cogarch]

My DD is in Yr 11 at a London private school and we are looking possibly at other schools for sixth form. Meanwhile she is good at art and has quite a good chance of winning an art scholarship in her existing school. The headmistress however has informed us that merely by accepting an invitation for an interview we are committing to accept a scholarship if awarded and to continue at her present school. Does this seem reasonable -- or legally enforceable? I can hardly imagine she can impose this condition on external candidates.

Are they legall able to do this?
What would be stopping you from giving a term's notice at any time for example?

Unless there is something in your current contract (and would it even be enforceable?), then no.

Accept the interview and if you want place / scholarship that too. If not give notice as per your contract with them.

I can't imagine that would be legally enforceable. You can normally turn down any 'offer' if you don't like the details.

If you are concerned, I'd probably read through whatever you signed when she took the place at the school and see if it has some weird clause about this. Then if/when you get a letter inviting her for an interview, make sure it doesn't have any odd legal stuff in there.

If you haven't been told in writing, and agreed to it, then they can't start putting unusual and restrictive conditions on your arrangements with them.

Thanks for all the quick responses. I feel slightly reassured. I would really like to preserve good relations with the school for my DD's sake. However to me it feels most like when you park for over an hour in a supermarket car park and you receive threatening letters because merely by parking there you are deemed to have entered onto a contract with some fly-by-night car park operator...

No, that's not reasonable. I can see that if you accept a scholarship, they would expect you to follow through because they might otherwise have given it to someone else, but it is quite reasonable for you to factor cost into your choices and, who knows?, your daughter may get scholarship offers from other schools. It's not worth getting into a row with the head about at this stage (although bear in mind that she seems very keen for your DD to stay on and won't want to annoy you any more than you don't want to annoy her), but scholarship interview or not, you need to make the best decision for your DD. End of.

The headmistress however has informed us that merely by accepting an invitation for an interview we are committing to accept a scholarship if awarded

So does that mean that you can't haggle over percentages?

How much would the scholarship be worth? Some are worth almost nothing these days.