Opinions please on school refusing to return deposit

JMW77

Hi All,

My son failed to get into 6th form because he didn't get high enough grades , he was only on foundation papers so he couldn't get the grades to make it into 6th form anyway .

We as parents were not made aware of this, we were surprised he seemed to want to go to 6th form as he was more a C student but the school didn't say anything ,his parents meetings on line were all positive ,we didn't ask if he was going to make his grades because we were told teachers were not allowed to discuss grades obviously as they were grading them to a degree. Anyway parents meetings all positive our son was doing well.

When he failed to get in  and was refused a place we rang the school and they told him to go to college which was the best thing for him , but the recommended course  was full up so he's ended up on a course which anybody could get into  with no qualifications  but that's another story.

The member of staff we spoke to said she aware  he would not make it into 6th form , so we said why invite him to 6th form induction day and the school trip , she replied because we have to so students don't know and they would be suspicious if some were invited and not others. This all makes sense obviously .



So the trip was announced which was supposed to happen during lockdown which was now rescheduled . My son really wanted to go so put his name down.

The letter did say non refundable  but i would mean this to mean if he changed his mind or if he was ill. 

At no point was it highlighted if you child fails to make 6th form you will loose your deposit. I am more angry because the school admitted they were aware he wouldn't be going so in effect have taken his £150 because surely they didn't book him a place when they knew he wasn't going.

So do i let this go or what ? i get the deposit part but the school admitted they took deposits from children they knew wouldn't be going.

Any advice would be great ,thank you.

74jax

JMW77 said:

Hi All,

My son failed to get into 6th form because he didn't get high enough grades , he was only on foundation papers so he couldn't get the grades to make it into 6th form anyway .

We as parents were not made aware of this, we were surprised he seemed to want to go to 6th form as he was more a C student but the school didn't say anything ,his parents meetings on line were all positive ,we didn't ask if he was going to make his grades because we were told teachers were not allowed to discuss grades obviously as they were grading them to a degree. Anyway parents meetings all positive our son was doing well.

When he failed to get in  and was refused a place we rang the school and they told him to go to college which was the best thing for him , but the recommended course  was full up so he's ended up on a course which anybody could get into  with no qualifications  but that's another story.

The member of staff we spoke to said she aware  he would not make it into 6th form , so we said why invite him to 6th form induction day and the school trip , she replied because we have to so students don't know and they would be suspicious if some were invited and not others. This all makes sense obviously .



So the trip was announced which was supposed to happen during lockdown which was now rescheduled . My son really wanted to go so put his name down.

The letter did say non refundable  but i would mean this to mean if he changed his mind or if he was ill. 

At no point was it highlighted if you child fails to make 6th form you will loose your deposit. I am more angry because the school admitted they were aware he wouldn't be going so in effect have taken his £150 because surely they didn't book him a place when they knew he wasn't going.

So do i let this go or what ? i get the deposit part but the school admitted they took deposits from children they knew wouldn't be going.

Any advice would be great ,thank you.

If the trip was supposed to happen but lockdown came, what does this have to do with him getting into 6th form?  The trip would come before 6th form, or do I have the time line wrong? 

Naomim

It's rubbish the school couldn't say what his expected grades were. My son has just finished year 11.   Since he started in year 7 they were given expected grades on every end of year report we had and at his last (on-line) parents evening every subject teacher told us what grade he was currently working at and what grade he could expect to get if he knuckled down. 

I do feel the school were correct they should have invited everyone to the 6th form induction day, ours did too.  But they were wrong to take a deposit for a school trip if they truly didn't believe he wouldn't be able to go on to 6th form. However if they have covered themselves with non-refundable without any caveats on reasons why, then you may not be able to recover this cost.
  

JMW77

Thank you , the worst part is the deadline for the trip had passed when my son decided he wanted to go so he asked if they was any possibility they could extend the deadline so he could go and they gave him till the Friday to pay. ( knowing full well he wasn't going ).

pinkshoes

JMW77 said:

Thank you , the worst part is the deadline for the trip had passed when my son decided he wanted to go so he asked if they was any possibility they could extend the deadline so he could go and they gave him till the Friday to pay. ( knowing full well he wasn't going ).

So are you saying he is still allowed to go on the trip?

I was under the impression from your OP that he had paid a £150 deposit for a trip that he was no longer allowed to go on because he wasn't in the 6th form, in which case if the school were denying him a place on the trip then they should refund the deposit.

If you're saying that he CAN still go but is not able to pay the balance on time then that is a different matter.

maman

I'm assuming this is the 6th Form of the same school that OP's child was in last year in Year 11. I'm not sure how the Covid delay comes into it unless the school is running the trip for 6th Formers who missed out last year. That seems odd to me unless the trip was open to both year groups originally. 🤔

I can see why OP is aggrieved as, although the deposit was non refundable, the child can't attend because he wasn't offered a 6th Form place. It's not like he just left the school voluntarily, he didn't have an option.

I'd ask the school, maybe by writing to governors, to reconsider and perhaps try to ask the new Year 11 pupils if they would like to take up the place.

This assumes that I'm right and it was a trip open to Year 11 last year that's been delayed by Covid. 

JMW77

pinkshoes said:

JMW77 said:

Thank you , the worst part is the deadline for the trip had passed when my son decided he wanted to go so he asked if they was any possibility they could extend the deadline so he could go and they gave him till the Friday to pay. ( knowing full well he wasn't going ).

So are you saying he is still allowed to go on the trip?

I was under the impression from your OP that he had paid a £150 deposit for a trip that he was no longer allowed to go on because he wasn't in the 6th form, in which case if the school were denying him a place on the trip then they should refund the deposit.

If you're saying that he CAN still go but is not able to pay the balance on time then that is a different matter.

He still wants to go on the trip but is being denied a place because he is no longer a student at the school .

This is a smallish school and so potentially if they offered this to 30 students and 10 didn't get the grades they got to keep their money by writing non-refundable.

The head said she offered it to all the students even the ones she knew wouldn't make the grade.

This was a few weeks before results we're announced the school knew grades by this point.

I will look back to get dates.

JMW77

The trip was sent out late June after school was finished for the holidays for his year group  . Deadline was 12th July for trip

he had it extended to the 15th July when i paid the deposit. 

maman

I'm still not sure what Covid delay is involved but the school was stuck between a rock and a hard place. They couldn't tell you in July what his grades were even though they knew what they were recommending from assessment.

It would have been better if they'd delayed collecting deposits until September but maybe the company they were using wouldn't wait. I'd still write politely and ask them to reconsider and hope another child comes forward in his place. 

pinkshoes

If they won't let him go then they need to refund.

Otherwise it would be an excellent money making scheme!!!

maman

pinkshoes said:

If they won't let him go then they need to refund.

Otherwise it would be an excellent money making scheme!!!

OP hasn't explained exactly but if this is a regular 6th Form trip with deposit paid in Year 11 then I'd agree with you @pinkshoes as no child who didn't qualify for the 6th Form could ever go. But OP suggests that a Covid delay caused the problem but don't know how.🤔