Entry and Registration
Children are accepted from the age of two into the Nursery and from the age of four into the main school. If you would like to visit Skippers, you are welcome to attend any of our forthcoming Open Mornings or, alternatively, please contact the School Office to make an appointment for you and your family to meet the Headmaster.
Admission is non-selective and for Years 3 to 8 is subject to interview with the Headmaster (and assessment where appropriate). Offers for places at the school are made following your meeting with the Headmaster.
When your child is offered a place at the school, we ask that you complete the accompanying Application for Admission and send it to the Registrar along with the non-returnable registration fee of £50.00, which reserves a place for your child at the school.
Acceptance and Deposit
When your child is offered a confirmed place at the school, a completed Acceptance Form as well as a copy of your child’s birth certificate should be sent to the school within fourteen days. We also require a £250 deposit which will be returned when your child leaves Skippers, subject to any outstanding amounts. The only exception to this is if the date in which your child is due to start is over twelve months from the date on which they have been registered. In this case, we will request the deposit twelve months before they are due to start.
If, after accepting a place at Skippers, you subsequently decide to withdraw your child from entry, you must inform the school by the first Friday of the previous term in which your child is due to start. Failure to provide this notice will result in you owing the school one full term’s fees in lieu; if sufficient notice is given only the full deposit will be retained.
The receipt of your completed form, full deposit and copy of birth certificate confirms acceptance and will close the place to other pupils.
Fees
You can view our current fees here.
The school reserves the right to re-assess the fee levels at any time. Current practice is for new fee levels to take effect in September.
Fees are payable each term in advance on or before the first day of term, when any other charges and disbursements incurred during the previous term are also due and payable.
The school reserves the right to refuse admittance to any pupil whose fees remain unpaid on the first day of term. Where any fee or part of a fee remains unpaid by the due date, the school reserves the right to add an administration and cost charge at a rate of 3% over the bank rate (for the time being) of the school’s bank per month, or part thereof, or as maybe revised from time to time. There is a requirement to notify without delay and in writing both the Headmaster and Bursar of a change in personal circumstances which may inhibit the payment of fees by the due date.
The signatories of the Acceptance Form shall be liable for the whole of the fees due and any and all supplemental charges. In the event of a default in the payment of fees and supplemental charges, each of you is also liable to pay all debt collection and legal costs, fees, disbursements and charges reasonably incurred by the school (including irrecoverable VAT) in relation to recovery of any unpaid debts owed by you to the school, regardless of the value of the claim.
You consent to our informing any other school or educational establishment to which you propose to send the child of any outstanding fees.
Scholarships and Bursaries
Scholarships and Bursaries may be awarded annually to external applicants, on performance in the Open Scholarship Examination. This examination is suitable for boys and girls of any educational background. Candidates should be over seven years of age on 1st September of the year in which they sit the Scholarship Examination.
Awards may be made to those who show particular promise in the fields of Art, Music, Dance, Drama or Sport, or to boys and girls who show outstanding all–round promise and attainment.
Further details concerning Scholarships and Bursaries may be obtained from the Headmaster.
Insurance
The School’s Insurance Brokers offer an Insurance Scheme whereby parents may recover a proportion of the fees when their children are unavoidably absent from Skippers because of illness, accident or infection. This scheme is voluntary but parents should note that the school itself is unable to grant any remission of fees on these grounds.
The same brokers also offer a Students’ Personal Accident Insurance Scheme. Participation in this scheme is compulsory for all pupils. Full particulars of these two schemes are sent to parents with joining details.
Parents are strongly recommended to ensure that their own personal property insurance will cover their children’s personal property while at school, or on any school sponsored activity away from the school. Skippers itself is unable to accept responsibility for the loss of, or damage to, pupils’ personal property.
Notice of Removal
The Headmaster reserves the right to require the removal of any pupil at any time if, in his opinion, it is necessary in the interests of either the school or pupil. No remission of fees will be granted for the remainder of the term during which the pupil has been removed or suspended.
A full term’s notice must be given in writing to the Headmaster before a pupil’s removal from the school. In default of such notice, payment of the school’s fees for one term must be made. It is important, in order to avoid any possible misunderstanding, that this notice should be made in writing and addressed to the Headmaster, and received and acknowledged by the school prior to the commencement of the final term.
Closure of School
Closure of the school during a term due to illness, epidemic or other circumstances beyond the control of the school, shall not give rise to any liability for reimbursement of fees paid or due for that particular term.
