Change of school

Hi all

I have been divorced for a few years and have a Consent Order saying that I pay for private school fees for my daughter which I have always done. In the order we included a local benchmark school for reference as the costs for private schools vary widely.

My ex is not happy with the current private school and is trying to force me to agree to send our daughter to a school that is significantly more expensive.

Am I on firm ground to resist this? On what grounds would a court force me to comply with this?

Thanks

Why is your ex not happy any more with the current school?

She had raised some issues because of turn over in the Teaching Assistants and because there had not been notification regarding some spelling tests (this is year 1!). I have discussed this with the school at length and these have been addressed. They seem fairly minor. Our daughter is making good progress and is in the most able stream in the class.

These do seem to be minor issues. There can be many reasons for the turnover in teaching assistants. The children do get attached to them, but staff in other schools change too. You can check the school''s performance on the Independent Schools Inspectorate website where you may get further insight into the ethos of the school.

There are also reasons why the teacher may have given the children an unseen spelling test. They could be words the children would be expected to know.

An important factor is whether a change of school after Year 1 is a good idea. Friendship groups have been formed and she will have to make new friends in another school. It seems a shame to put her through that without good reason to.

Not sure about whether you can refuse to pay for a more expensive school. Unless your wife has fairly strong evidence that the school is failing in it''s provision for your daughter, it would seem reasonable to refuse.

Hmmmm, logic tells me that these are very minor problems that were simply explained. The public schools I have worked in have periods of change but these are often followed by long term settled staff; and the spelling tests thing can happen at the best of schools.

Your daughter could have gone through any of these at any school she attends. If it was something more significant like bullying that had been mishandled, safeguarding issues, emotional difficulties arising from school or academic difficulties then maybe she would have a point.

Hopefully you will get an official confirmation from a more qualified wiki xx

I am a teaching assistant in a primary school and have worked there for 15 years. During that time, some TAs have come and stayed and many others have left.

Generally the children are really sad when they leave and have almost forgotten them a week later!

The same is true of the teaching staff. People leave their jobs in schools for the same reasons other people do - promotion, partner''s move, illness, family responsibilities, pregnancy, etc etc. There is no guarantee that any school will have a low staff turnover. In fact, although it''s good to have stabiity, new staff bring new ideas and fresh approaches.

As for the spelling test - I''m not convinced spelling tests are much use anyway. So many children learn for the test and then just don''t apply what they''ve learnt when they are writing in class. I can''t see why a "surprise" test is a problem.

In the early years, what matters is how secure and happy the child feels at school.