withholding school reports

Unfortunately, it is a grey area especially for private schools. You may need to approach and file a complaint with ministry of education and if that doesn't work, go to the courts.

Being private institutions, regulation in this area and indeed enforcement of the same is very lax.

An alternative is to approach the school board which usually has representatives of parents and school on it and they recommend and sign off on all decisions to be presented to MOE.  Maybe they can influence an outcome.

And you may not like to hear this but this practice is not at all common in the top schools eg RVIS gives reports end of each quarter and never links fees to those. Fees are paid to guarantee spots but are flexible payments and are refundable.

Thanks XTang

Fully understand your comments and appreciate them.

My thoughts are around the fact that I HAVE paid for this years education and they are now denying me (& many others) the feedback that is promised at the beginning of the school year as part of their duty of care.  I feel it is extremely poor of the school to use such a practice to try and draw out early payment from families.

With regards to the non-refunding of payments, I know this is not common practice as we have been expats in several countries over a number of years.  If only the facilities and standard of teaching lived up to the fees they are requesting..

I have written directly to the head of the holding company now responsible for the school and am awaiting a response from him  -  I am hoping these processes are a roll over from the previous owners / management and he will address them.

Let's see.  Thanks again.

Still be interested in anyonelse's opinion.

D.

I understand. And it's completely wrong of the school not to render a service for which they have already been paid. You have a clear and valid argument. The challenge is to get it to a reasonable decision making authority.

I hear you Xtang  - I have the email address for the Minister of Education's office.
Will wait for a response (if any) from the school, then maybe highlight the issue to the ministry..

Thanks again for your thoughts.

I would recommend you try visiting them with all the proof/documents you have. 
T&R

Sounds like the kind of school that only cares about money and very little about education. Unfortunately there are quite a few of those in Bahrain.

@UKiwis

Hi dear, was your issue finally sorted ?

May I know the school mane as I am passing through a similar situation but they are holding my kids documents because they want me to pay for late  notice 500 bd per child as my kids will not return to this school as I told them this 2 months before the start of new school year (deadline was 3 months before). 

Hi NewExpat11

Wow! this was a number of years ago now, but yes it was resolved.  However, this was only after I raised the issue to the then CEO and a number of directors of the mother company based in the UK.  I was told that it had been a clerical error and they should not have been held, but it seemed very strange that it happened at a time when I was holding off early payment for the next semester, due to issues with the company I was then working for ( I had been in constant communication with the school about this).

Ultimately, I did receive the reports a few days after an email from the CEO and a meeting with the school admin team ( the lady there was an absolute gem and very helpful ).

Ultimately we left Bahrain, which was a shame as we loved living there.  Shame this spoilt it a little, but we got our reports and we were able to settle the boys in schools in the UK.

Good luck with your issue  -  don't give up; but ultimately have all you facts to hand and confront them.

D.