Pay for montessori creche when its closed?

redman

Is anyone else here got a child in a part time montessori creche?

We have ours in three mornings a week and last month they were closed for 1/4 of the months days that she was due to be in for. Yet they still expect the same monthly amount.:mad:

I would have thought you should only pay for the days the child is there not if there are closed on holidays, especially as it's only three mornings a week.

Any comments/opinions?

NoreenMF

I have a 4 year old and he has been to a number of different nurseries/creches over the years as we moved house a few times. For me, it has always been the case that you still paid for bank holidays/Christmas/Easter etc and when you didn't have your child in due to holidays or sickness. Their argument is usually that they still have to pay their staff for the bank holidays etc.

If your child is only in part-time, I would suggest having a look around for a creche that only bills for the days they are in. You might find one!

parsi

Its normal practice. Just like if you usually work on a Monday and it turns out to be a Bank Holiday you get paid for it. Creches are businesses too and they have to pay their staff just like everyone else...

popppy

Hi there,
I work in a montessori school, we add up the total amount of weeks we are open per year and then devide it by 10 months. Therefore we only charge for the weeks we are open, not christmas/easter etc. Perhaps you should ask your childs school if this is how they work out their fees. It's possible that that is how they do it

Victor

redman wrote:

We have ours in three mornings a week and last month they were closed for 1/4 of the months days that she was due to be in for. Yet they still expect the same monthly amount.:mad:

What does your contract say?

Why were they closed? If it was because of staff absense, renovations, etc. you should not have to pay, but may have to contractually.

Lorcul

My son attends three morning a week in montessori. We the parents have to pay when child is sick, or does not attend for whatever reason. The only time we do not pay is two weeks summer and week at christmas. the reason is to pay staff and to keep your childs place.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

but if the montessori itself is closed then they are not fulfilling their contractual obligations ( i assume, but you will have to look at the contract) and therefore you should not have to pay

Oryx

I pay for 52 weeks of the year in the creche my kids attend (weekly rate, x52 / 12, paid monthly) I pay if my kids dont attend thru sickness, holidays etc. They only attend two days, but this week because one of the days was a bank holiday, I was offered the option of bringing them another day, which I think is fair. It is expensive, but this is a good place with great staff, whom I trust, and sometimes the peace of mind is worth it.

redman

Well it gets funnier as it turns out we are now being asked to pay more for longer months! Even though we got a monthly rate with 3/4/5 day options, we have been asked to pay more for March. It was never in the paperwork we got.

Seems clear that they haven't thought it out or are trying to rip us off.

Also on paying for the staff holidays, when I look at the difference in rates if we have our child in 3 days, proportionately we are paying more that those in on the 5 days who effectively pay for the same holidays.

Also unfortunately, the won't let us use other days if their closed days
coincide with the days our child is in.:(

I wouldn't get away with this in my business.:mad:

Well I look forward to more competition in the area and have the child booked into another close by once a space that comes free which has better T's&C's.

po0k

parsi wrote:

Its normal practice. Just like if you usually work on a Monday and it turns out to be a Bank Holiday you get paid for it. Creches are businesses too and they have to pay their staff just like everyone else...

Now hang on.
Bank holidays are largely few and far between.
If the place is closed 75% of the time it agreed to be open, they don't strike me as being particullarly interested in their business or customers.
Disasters/extenuating circumstances excepted, I'd tell them to go jump if they came looking for cash for days they weren't providing me with the service.
They may have staff to pay, but we* have mouths to feed.


*I am not a parent. Yet. But you get what I mean.

oulu

Do u get paid from your job ie for Patricks day,yes and so should they
I knew a girl whos Mother's minded their child and when Xmas came they where off for 2 wks no payment to Mother for the 2 wks but they got paid from their bosses, this Mother then let them know she is no longer minding their child , but this was pointed out to them by a sibling resulting in all been sorted out paid holidays 4 wks a year plus all bank holidays

redman wrote:

Is anyone else here got a child in a part time montessori creche?

We have ours in three mornings a week and last month they were closed for 1/4 of the months days that she was due to be in for. Yet they still expect the same monthly amount.:mad:

I would have thought you should only pay for the days the child is there not if there are closed on holidays, especially as it's only three mornings a week.

Any comments/opinions?

mountainyman

redman wrote:

Also on paying for the staff holidays, when I look at the difference in rates if we have our child in 3 days, proportionately we are paying more that those in on the 5 days who effectively pay for the same holidays.

Also unfortunately, the won't let us use other days if their closed days
coincide with the days our child is in.

The thing with the three days is just how it is my friend. If you were truly infuriated you could switch to tuesday,wednesday,thursday. Everyone pays creches for holidays and lots of places won't take part time.
We have to pay during our holiday.

If some difficulty on their part causes the creche to be closed other than for apublic holiday they should not be charging you.

MM

redman

Good news, we have another creche with much more flexible terms than described in my previous posts. Switching after the summer break.

Thanks for the comments.

sharonlarkin

I have a young child in a preschool and I have to pay when the school is on midterms. The reason for this is so that the staff can still be paid. Which I think is understandable, We don't pay for Easter Holidays or Christmas Holidays or Summer. At that stage the staff have to go onto unemployment assistance. And we have to pay if the child stays off for any reason at all.
I don't mind this at all.

My problem is that they seem to be off a day every week or so for inservice days for the teachers. And because the preschool is attached to a main school. If the main school is closed for half a day the preschool is closed for a full day. The amount of days of is absolutely ridiculous. My daughter was off last Thursday and Friday. And then I walk in on Wednesday and am told that she is off this Friday as well. And then for Easter they are off from the 6th April to 24th April, which is totally ridiculous..