Oxford Montessori Schools. Learning Environments Based on Children's Developmental Needs
01865 358210 / www.oxfordmontessori.co.uk / oms.schools@btconnect.com
Wolvercote, Iffley & Forest Farm School. Elsfield. Oxford. OX3 9UW
OMS Terms & Conditions...
Fees are invoiced per term and due one month in advance of the new term’s start. Beginning of August for Autumn Term. Start of December for Spring Term and the end of March for Summer Term. You will receive an invoice to remind you. This invoice is normally sent one to two weeks prior to the payment due date.
Fees are set per term regardless of the term’s actual length, typically 13 weeks.
School Fees received after due dates will be subject to a £5.00 per day surcharge.
Fee Calculations. Fees are calculated termly. There are three terms per year. Starting in September, January and April.
Mid-term enrollments are accepted subject to availability and you will be invoiced in whole months for the remainder of the term.
Late entrance for a new place. The whole term will be charged as we must keep the place free from the beginning of term.
Place change for a child already at the nursery. The term’s fees will be calculated into whole months, you will be charged for the original place in whole months and for the new place in the whole month/s remaining.
We charge different rates for children under 3 and over 3 years. If you child turns 3 during term you will be charged at their date of birth at the terms start date.
Fees paid for all year round discounts. Refunds are possible if correct notice is provided (one full term). Discounts given will be removed and any outstanding balance calculated.
An administration fee of £500.00 will be made for reversing yearly discounts.
Yearly discounts are calculated on the basis of 3 whole terms. If a part term is included, it will be added to the three whole terms calculation.
If you wish to withdraw your child from the school we require one full term’s notice in writing. This applies to children waiting to start at the school and those already attending. If the correct notice is not given, the following terms fees will be due in the case of children already attending the school and the first term’s fees will be due for children waiting to take up a place already confirmed. There can be no exceptions to this rule as tuition and all material costs are made in advance on the assumption that numbers remain constant.
Waiting Lists & Place Planning: We have very few places available in the nursery schools, the primary school and the senior school now. If you are considering increasing your child's time with us you must let us know as soon as possible. Because you currently have children with us, we try to give your places priority for both increased sessions and for when you require siblings to join us. However we have recently agreed to provide places for Oxford University employees/students. We anticipate that waiting lists will grow during the busy times (now) and may become a permanent feature each term / each year. While we can try to prioritise for you, we can't do this effectively unless you help us plan to meet your needs.
Grace Periods. To avoid getting into tangles with notice periods (we require a full OMS term's notice) you will be asked in the first week of each term to sign a document stating if you intend to continue with OMS for the following term. This information is vital to us and we hope the system is fair, giving you the opportunity to reserve a future place and allowing us to plan ahead for attendance and finance. Please remember that if you book the following term you are committed to paying for it. We have been running the 'grace week' system for 3 terms now in the nursery schools and it has dramatically reduced the number of disputes we have had regarding notice failure. Ultimately this is good for the environments and your children because it allows us to plan ahead effectively - we have great staff teams, notice periods are crucial in sustaining them!
Late fees and collections: We use the services of Redwood Collections to deal with serious outstanding fees. The company is professional and accredited. After polite reminders have been issued debts are automatically handed over to Redwood. Please note the cost of collection fees is typically 15%, we reserve the right to add Redwood charges to the outstanding debt.
Late Fees. The late fee surcharge is £5.00 per day. It will automatically be added to any unpaid termly invoice or any monthly payment that is missed.
We hope you understand why this is necessary - in the past few terms a huge amount of time has been spent tracking, reminding and chasing late fees. We are very keen for this administration time to be rededicated to supporting you and your children's time with us.
Suspended Places: If you have an invoice that is over 20 days overdue, a late payment fee of £100 will have accrued and will result in your child's place being temporarily suspended. The place will be reinstated once all overdue balances have been paid. If we have to chase payment further the place will be fully suspended and may be given to another family on our waiting list. Please note all fees will still be due. Late charges will continue to accrue and fees due in lieu of notice will be payable.
Financial hardship. *Please do contact us as early as possible if you anticipate having difficulties paying an invoice. While we can not waive notice periods we can sometimes help by restructuring payment arrangements. We may in these circumstances be able to remove late fees on the condition that agreed payments are not missed.
Checking You Invoice / Admin Errors on Invoices. It is your responsibility to check all invoices before due dates and inform us before they need paying if you believe there is an error. If you inform us after due dates we will ask you to pay the invoice in full before we make an adjustment or offer a credit to correct any errors agreed.
Terms & Conditions: OMS terms and conditions are vital for the school to run, essential for the provision of high quality nursery and school places. We appreciate that people's lives change and the unforeseen can make adhering to our terms and conditions difficult at times. If you feel your circumstances warrant waiving specific terms and conditions regarding notice periods please see the acceptable 'life change event', criteria, these are the only circumstances we will consider ....
A “Life Change Event” as defined by OMS is....
- death of an immediate family member or dependent which effects you ability to pay fees
- long term sickness, or starting receipt of long-term disability benefit
- long term sickness of a child
Create Holiday Club: No refunds are made for cancelled places, due to administration costs.
Please note, notice must be given in writing. The office will provide a receipt when correct notice has been provided.
If the place you have requested is not available on application the nearest alternative will be offered in the letter of confirmation. If we do not hear from you within 10 days to say that the alternative place is not acceptable, fees for the place will be due.
A term’s notice must be given if a parent wishes to decrease the number of sessions attended per week, per term. Failure to provide notice will mean that the next term is invoiced at the same number of sessions as the current term.
If a parent wishes to decrease the number of sessions attended per week, during term, allowing for the notice period, then fees charged for the current attendance levels will still be due up to the end of the current term. Notice of withdrawal and notice of changes to attendance are very important as they allow us to plan ahead with the school’s activities and waiting lists. As we may turn down other applications in order to ensure that the place you have booked with us is available, we must know that the place will be taken.
Full and part time places. If you choose less than 5 days each week you may be required to swap your days to allow us to spread attendance levels out over the week. Only in this way can we ensure that parents requiring full time places may have them.
Holidays and days off sick. OMS cannot make refunds for days not attended within the term as the school’s running costs remain constant.
The OMS reserves the right to ask for a child or parents to leave the school if circumstances make it absolutely necessary. This is a rare occurrence and is only considered when there is the possibility of continual disruption to the school’s activities. The return of fees is discretionary and subject to all terms and conditions.
We aim to continually improve our core curriculum and peripatetic activities. For this reason we reserve the right to make alterations to the daily timetable and peripatetic sessions.
£75.00 admissions fee is charged on completion of the application form for Children’s House, Elementary School and Senior School. Please note, if we cannot offer you a place the full admission fee will be returned. £200.00 is taken as a deposit for places when children are coming from overseas and we are unable to meet families prior to starting at the school. It is returned as a reduction in first terms fees. The deposit is not returnable if the place is not taken.
The OMS reserve the right to refuse entry to children who are unwell or suffering from infectious diseases.
While all efforts will be made to contact parents in the event of an accident or illness the OMS retains the right to take such action as the Principal thinks fit. This includes hospitalisation in an emergency.
Children should come wearing practical clothing suitable for every activity within the nursery. During winter, parents are requested to make sure their children come with cold weather clothing suitable for outdoor recreation. Parents are also asked to supply a change of indoor clothing.
Photography: We sometimes take pictures of the schools educational environments and community life to log our activities to show parents and prospective parents the range of activities on offer. We understand the sensitivity around this issue. If you do not wish your child's image to ever be used in this way please email to oms.schools@btconnect.com to inform us.
Shoes: Children should attend wearing slip-on or Velcro fastened shoes.
Access: where parents are separated the school will retain the right to ask for signed letters detailing agreed rights of access to children prior too or in the event of any dispute.
OMSAP (Oxford Montessori Access Programme). If you are receipt of a bursary to reduce fees and subsequent checks show that information about income is incorrect OMS reserve the right to ask for unpaid fees in lieu and cancel places at short notice.
OMS reserves the right to ask for the withdrawal of any child or individual or family unwilling or unable to adhere to school policy. Terms and conditions relating to notice periods will still apply.