Is this email legally binding?

[Everyoneiswinginit]

My DS won a bursary from his school that gave him a few hundred pounder per term towards stationary, trips and study guides. I sought clarification of how much exactly he could claim from the bursary towards an expensive trip he is going on next year. I received an email from the finance department stating £300 per term(3 terms). I acknowledged the email and we planned our finances accordingly. When my son tried to claim the amount by filling out a form at school, he was told they had changed the rules and he could now only have a total of £300 towards the trip, not £900.
I have contacted the school, sending a copy of the email from them confirming it would be £300 per term. They have apologised but said the decision stands. am I right in thinking they can't do that?

goodbyestranger: the South African hockey trip at DDs school was £2500 a head years ago! Fortunately she wasn’t in the hockey squad! Argentina would be even more. The flights are circa £900. I’m curious too! Curriculum based in y13 summer term! My guess is New York! For Art.

Glad the headmaster agreed with you.

Blimey Bubbles! I might ask someone at the DfE if this type of bribe is a legal use of funding, because I don't believe it is. I'm wondering how it can be justified if the household income isn't used as the criterion. Also, where does a cash strapped state sixth form that kind of money from? It's really not ethical at all. I wonder how widespread the practice is? And yes, I'm aware I'm a grinch but hey :) (the talk of expensive 18th's didn't help!).

The Sixth form in my town offers a £4k "excellence bursary" to students who achieve 8 x 6-9 (B/A/A*) with 4 of those 8 at 7-9. It just pays the student 4 x £500 during each year directly into their bank account. Its apparently given so the students dont have to worry about work and can concentrate on their studies (although one of DD's friends who took up the offer is also looking for part time work now!). It is non means tested.

Hope your DS enjoys his trip ...school trips are so expensive DD is off to Japan at a cost of £2800 next year but neither myself or DF would have taken her (she has been keen to go to Japan for several years) so I guess it works out cheaper than it would have done if I (or DF) had taken her.

There was a trip run by DD's school to India in July/August (just gone) which Yr13's attended...

Oneteen there's no reason why high achievers need to worry less about earning than lower achievers. Arguably it should be the other way around. It's very dodgy. I think the DfE should look at it.

Interesting about the Y13 India trip. But yours is an Indie isn't it? They go in for swanky trips a lot. Our school thinks really hard about which trips to run so that no curriculum related trips are exorbitant (and there's a fund to help those who need assistance, as evidenced by P60s/ Tax Credit Awards etc).

*goodbye Totally agree - there are in fact two institutions near us one STEM and one Sixth form that are fairly new (under 5 years old) and both are offering incentives - one £2k and one £4k...I suppose both are keen to attract high achieving DC's so they have better results and attract more students but whether this will work who knows...I think both only attracted a few girls from DD's school and one girl is already returning!

DD's school just tends to offer one or two big trips each year - this year it was India (open to Yr11-13), next year it will be Japan ...all the other trips are not too badly priced (CERN - £200) apart from the skiing trip which is ridiculous!

I'm glad they've decided to honour their commitment OP. One less thing for your son to worry about during a very important year!

So now that its sorted, what is the trip that takes place in the summer of Y13? I'm just curious, because I've never ever heard of a curriculum trip at that time. Is it a sports trip to someone like S. Africa or Argentina?

Why would anyone reply to this after you've harangued them? Do you usually have trouble with normal social interaction?

The OP has already said the trip is subject not sport related.

No problems whatsoever, usually :) I think I'll very possibly survive without knowing but I find the idea of a state school running a trip costing over £900 in the summer of Y13 extremely odd. I also think the giving of bursaries as a bribe to stay (and thereby boost results) very questionable from a legal perspective and would thought it capable of challenge, even if the school is an academy.

I guess if anyone says they want £900 rather than £300 for a non curriculum trip because an 18th birthday is expensive, then it's not unreasonable to say - whether an indie bursary or a state school bribe type bursary - that actually, that isn't what the school is intending to fund, and others' needs may have greater priority. If that's haranguing, so be it.

To be clear, no trip taking place in the summer of Y13 can be curriculum related in the sense of enriching the student's experience ahead of, and for, the relevant exam, because by definition it's too late.

Honestly goodbye , if you read back over this thread you will see that you are overly invested in it.
You have really overplayed the 18th birthday comment. I think OP was just saying that when you think you don't have to pay for one thing, you perhaps can be more generous with another thing. The school were responsible for that change in financial planning. I understand that. if somebody said they would pay your car insurance for a year and you got that in writing, you might decide you could afford that gym membership after all.

Really glad it worked out OP. Hope your DS enjoys his trip and 18th.

To be clear, no trip taking place in the summer of Y13 can be curriculum related in the sense of enriching the student's experience ahead of, and for, the relevant exam, because by definition it's too late.

The OP hasn't said its curriculum related. It sounds like an optional post exam trip for students interested in the subject beyond the curriculum/exams. If the school said they'd pay for it it's not unreasonable to be annoyed when they suddenly rescind that offer.

If you're against the whole concept of the bursary/bribe, you're free to write to the Department of Education and launch a campaign.

Yes I agree with you Akanamail. Whether the school bursary in this case is morally right or wrong is a separate issue to the OP's thread. It was made quite clear that the 'bursary' was a reward for high achievement and to entice students to stay with them for A Levels. I don't blame school for doing with this when Ofsted continues to peg schools on exam results.

I'm not 'over' invested misshaversham, merely responding to posts addressed to me and I am interested in the general concept of a 'bribe' bursary which I hadn't previously been aware existed. The original post asked for legal advice and quite aside from the narrow point of whether the OP can exert legal pressure on the school to dish out the full £900, I think the legality of these payments could conceivably be open to challenge. Akanamali it really would only be a quick call to the DfE - it's hardly a campaign thing! I think it's certainly worth asking someone there to check whether or not this is an ok way to use scarce funding in the state sector, because it seems to me that it isn't.

I'd say you're definitely over invested and I'd guess that nearly half of the posts on this thread were posted by you. You were nitpicky from the beginning and you took the 18th birthday comment out of the context in which it was meant and ran with it like a dog with a bone.

You're free to disagree with the school's use of funds and hopefully your phonecall with the DfE provides a satisfactory answer.

Akanamali I haven't counted my posts but I don't think I've done 34 - perhaps I have. You're free to count :) Yes I would expect it to. Schools have strict rules for expenditure in case you weren't aware.

19

.....and counting.

For all you know, the bursary might be funded through private sponsorship.