Surprise! Teaching training day on my only day of work next week...

**greenfaerie** · 15-07-2015, 06:20 PM

I only look after two term time only children part time, and now apparently I'm not working next Tuesday. So it's the Summer Holidays for me I guess. I can't bring myself to be happy about it yet, I had plans for that last day!

Thankfully I've rounded off all the activities that I wanted to do with the children today!

Frustratingly today at pick up time (on the last day, apparently) was the first time that it was mentioned to me. (From now on I'm going to ask school at the start of every school year!) So it's already been paid for, and I was so flustered and worried that I'd got the dates wrong that I've said I'll refund that day on the September invoice. Oh well, I'll learn by it and it won't happen again.

Happy Summer!

**Mouse** · 15-07-2015, 06:33 PM

That's a bit disappointing when you've planned activities.

Has the school got a website you can look on for dates? I never trust parents to tell me that sort of thing, so I like to check for myself

What I actually do is set my term time contracts by the LA term dates. I go on their website at the beginning of the year, print out the dates and attach a copy to the contracts. It doesn't matter if school has inset days, closes early for holidays, opens late at the beginning of term etc, I charge as per the LA dates.

If I were you I would contact parents and say sorry, you were flustered by the sudden announcement that the children had finished with you for the summer, and made a mistake over payments. No refund is due and you'll look forward to seeing them in September

**greenfaerie** · 15-07-2015, 06:48 PM

I wish I was brave enough to say something, but I'm far to awkward and anxious to ever be able to say something like that. I like to hide behind pre thought out policies and rules. I really shouldn't have let this one stump me! My Fees policy does define a "chargeable, term-time day" as what is defined by the Council. I just completely forgot that schools will decide on their own TT days. I even wrote down all of the days I was charging for and showed it to Mum before we signed contracts and I sent out the invoice with 1 day next week clearly written on it, so they should have picked up on that really.

I think for any new customers I'll make it completely clear that TTO is defined by the council website and no individual school days will be taken into account. For this family I'm just going to say that if they give me the TT day dates at the start of the school year, then I won't charge for them. Though I'll have to refund £50 each time, since family has requested to average out payments. Argh, stress.

I was even looking into buying little gifts to say thanks for the term, just something to practice skills that I'm encouraging at the moment.Glad I didn't order any now!

**Mouse** · 15-07-2015, 06:59 PM

Originally Posted by greenfaerie

I wish I was brave enough to say something, but I'm far to awkward and anxious to ever be able to say something like that. I like to hide behind pre thought out policies and rules. I really shouldn't have let this one stump me! My Fees policy does define a "chargeable, term-time day" as what is defined by the Council. I just completely forgot that schools will decide on their own TT days. I even wrote down all of the days I was charging for and showed it to Mum before we signed contracts and I sent out the invoice with 1 day next week clearly written on it, so they should have picked up on that really.

I think for any new customers I'll make it completely clear that TTO is defined by the council website and no individual school days will be taken into account. For this family I'm just going to say that if they give me the TT day dates at the start of the school year, then I won't charge for them. Though I'll have to refund £50 each time, since family has requested to average out payments. Argh, stress.

I was even looking into buying little gifts to say thanks for the term, just something to practice skills that I'm encouraging at the moment.Glad I didn't order any now!

It's tough to be tough!

I wasn't always as forward/outspoken/confident (chose the most flattering word!) as I am now, but it does get easier with practice. That's a big advantage of text and email - you don't have to speak face to face if you don't feel you can