Hi All,

I have a child who has just finished high school.  Due to a forced move (employment) she changed schools at the beginning of her final 2 years of school.  She had left her previous school passing all subjects, some average, some above average.  although a highly intelligent child she has never been academic and we did not have unrealistic expectations of her.  She has just finished year 12, and not passed one subject.  All previous 3 semester reports for year 11 and 12 show her passing all her subjects.  we know she submitted all assessments and were never alerted by the school that they felt she was going to have any issues passing year 12.  We were even told on report cards that there was no necessity for parent teacher interviews.  This leads me to believe that there were no issues that needed to be discussed.  Now I know parents have a level of responsibility in ensuring the kids are doing the work and studying, however, my question is - if I am paying $20000 per year for school fees, am I not entitled to be notified and have a regular dialogue raised by the school when they recognise that she is not up to speed and going to fail?  Is this not like purchasing any other service where if you don't get the service then you don't pay?  I know my reasoning may seem a little screwy, but we have honestly struggled to put a child in what is supposed to be one the best schools in the area and we are left feeling like we should have bought a new car and sent her to the local public school, where she probably would have done a lot better.