MN Code of Practice For Private Schools

[zanzibarmum]

Based on Mumsnet contributions and the fact that private schools are providing a 'public good'(in the economic sense) here are the first few clauses of a code of practice that such schools' collective bodies might institute. (Please add your own clauses).

We being members of the HMC, GSA, GDST etc follow this code:

Our charges for registration shall only cover costs of administration and the exam marking;

Offers will be made in line with national offer day timetable;

If we take your child we won't kick them out at end of GCSE's unless for behaviour or attendance reasons;

If we offer your DC a reserve place we will tell you where on the reserve list you are;

All children can receive their marked exam papers within 8 weeks of offer day (after all their yours and you did pay for them);

When we interview your DC we won't ask where else you have applied to;

We do not interview parents;

More to follow??

[LauraIngallsWilder]

May I be the first to offer you a

[BelleDeChocolateFluffyBunny]

We get the exam papers back??

Can I add:

We will do exactly what we say we are going to do for your child before you sign the registration forms and pay up.

We will not give your child dry pasta and dry chicken nuggets for lunch and expect them to eat this as there's nothing else.

We will not ask you or your children what faith you are.

We will have a sense of humour and will be understanding of your child's quirks, we will not endevour to turn them into stepford children as we respect the individual.

[zanzibarmum]

Our head teachers will run the school and not write books,take sabbaticals or spend their time criticising state schools in lurid and headline catching ways

[SueW]

You lot must apply to some fairly hideous schools.

[BelleDeChocolateFluffyBunny]

Head teachers shouldn't be biased towards single mothers and suggest they send their child off to a boarding school with a 'firm male housemaster' because they don't like a child's quirks.

[BelleDeChocolateFluffyBunny]

Hi SueW (it's fluffybunnygonebad).

Ds tops the hideous school league

[zanzibarmum]

We will not parade the Grade 8 year 7 violin prodigy at open days because her parents pushed her to be that good, not us

[BelleDeChocolateFluffyBunny]

Will not boast that children are reading way ahead of their chronological age because of all of the hard work that the school has put in, it is infact the parents that also listen to the children read and in some occasions, children do infact start the school already able to read fluently so they have infact, done naff all.

Children who are moving to another school should never be ignored at the end of year awards ceremony when they have worked so hard during the year and have recieved a reward or three every year since starting the school. It's spiteful!

We will not tell the child of a buddist/hindu/muslim/pagan parent that all faiths other then christian are "brainwashing occultists"

[BelleDeChocolateFluffyBunny]

We will give a child who is so good at chess that they have never been beaten a place on the chess team and will not give this place to a child who needs extra lessons as they have never played before.

[zanzibarmum]

For children switching schools after GCSEs we will not deliberatley underestimate the child's predicted grades to their school of choice

We will clearly set out the. NC level for likely successful entry candidates

We will not tell parents 'don't tutor your children' while also demanding the children answer exam questions on topics that they will not have studied at state schools

[BelleDeChocolateFluffyBunny]

We will not show prospective parents the work of the brightest, neatest child because we want them to have an accurate view of the school.

[bellissima]

Hmmm. As the rain pours down and my two DCs endeavour to spend half term killing each other - could I possibly have the contact details of that school that turns em into Stepford Children????

[MrsGuyOfGisbourne]

Interesting insight into some strange behaviours by schools! However, at least you can vote with our feet, or rather cheque book, and ask these questions upfront fo a school before you take the place - clearly enough people are prepared to let them carry on this way, so until the punters dry up, they are free to run the business any way they like.

[BelleDeChocolateFluffyBunny]

You never really know what a school is like until your child is there, moving them around isn't good for them

[senua]

Ah, there's another one fluffy:

We promise not to close down the school, because we found something more lucrative to do with the land, with only a term's notice.

[MmeBlueberry]

Are you bitter about something, zanzibar?

[frakkinaround]

Flame me if you like but I don't see them problem with some of those. I do, bviously, with others but:

interviewing parents? Surely that's important for some schools where parental involvement is expected?
faith? If it's a faith based school does this also apply?
post-GCSE automatic entry? Does that mean all schools which have entrance requirements for 6th form (as some state schools do) should no longer apply them?

These 3 jump out as being quite illogical things to ask schools not to do.

[MrsGuyOfGisbourne]

Bele, agree about some of those points, but soem will be obviouslf rom the start - eg unrasonable amount for reg fee, refusal to wait till offer day for acceptances etc. If they unreasonable before they have a big wodge of dosh, unlikely to be any better after

[islandofsodor]

I agree totally with frakkinaround with regards to 6th Form entry. If a child has not done well in their GCSE's then carrying on to 6th form is pointless and they would be best advised to look at more suitable options, possibly vocational or re-taking GCSE courses.

[zanzibarmum]

mrs guy of gisbourne - most of them are not "businesses" they are charities with favourable tax and other treatment. All of them are providing public goods - private water companies can't do the hell what they like.

New clause:

We will not illeagally collude with other private schools to fix fees (ok we have done this before but this time we really promise)

(no not bitter but exercised as it seems others are - thought private school heads with highly socially and academically selective intakes slagging off state schools does annoy. Surely they could market their offer without feeling need to slam the competition)

[campion]

What would you do with those marked exam papers once you'd ' got them back' ( not that they were yours - you paid to take the test not to own the papers. The school has copyright. )?

[KittySpencersEmerald]

we will not make your kid wear a boater

[KittySpencersEmerald]

we will not tolerate lines such as " oh well it gave me so many advantages in life"

we will nto put hearty red faced children on the website"

we wil not avoid haveing proper ofsted inspections in

we will make sure all our teachers have teachign qualifications

[zanzibarmum]

What I would do with the marked exam papers would be to see how DC did; what they got right and what they got wrong. Simple as that;

Transparency around academic entry standards - and the meeting of these or not - would also make it more difficult for schools to admit "nice but dim" kids (the Royals for example into Eton; or perhaps in some cases the children of rich celebrities who can fund the new concert hall etc - I won't mention any names but I am sure we all have suspicions);

As for interviewing parents I can see no case for this - even in faith schools the adherence to the faith can and is usually checked by reference to the priest etc. Truth is so called faith private schools seem to do little or no faith check (not saying they should but they don't). Interviewing the parents - in a minority of schools - is surely part of the social selection that goes on in some of the schools. Besides, how can you judge parental commitment in a 10 minute intereview

General point is that private schools do have a public duty and that perhaps some of the breaches of this code by some of the schools gives a bad reputation to them all.

The other point is that if private schools hadn't engaged in a facilities arms race over the past 20 years they might well be educating more than 7% of the age cohort. Some of the heads of these schools continually criticise state schools but the private sector has hardly grown its market share - to me that suggests that the private schools are not doing everything that is right; that's all

[frakkinaround]

Private schools are now charitable companies limited by guarantee not charities any more (in most cases).