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BOARD OF GOVERNORS

20th January 2020

Dear Parents

Parents Meeting and Approval of School Fees – 1st Term 2020

The positive news is that the school enters 2020 with a sense of confidence. Whilst 2019 was a year of many challenges, from a financial perspective Chisipite Senior has emerged well intact. Conservative fiscal policies formulated by the Board and implemented by the school executive have left us on a sound financial footing for this coming year. Of more importance perhaps is that from an academic point of view the students of the school once again achieved a very high standard in their results in the various public examinations taken. To provide more detailed feedback, a presentation of both the academic and financial performance of the school for 2019 has been scheduled for 5:30pm on Monday 27th January at the school.

Also on the agenda for that meeting will be the approval of the proposed school fees for the first term of 2020. As has been stated on several occasions, in a high inflation environment the biggest challenge for the school has been the retention of value of the fees collected. At the risk of stating the obvious, to collect fees today for expenses that will only be incurred in 3 months time is problematic. The Board had considered various options to mitigate against this including introducing monthly fees as opposed to termly fees, or charging an initial deposit with top-up payments called when necessary. Against this the Board is well aware that such measures are deeply unpopular with our parent body. As such we believe that the best option is simply to budget for a degree of inflation and collect sufficient money up front to allow for this. At the last parent meeting this issue was raised from the floor and whilst not able to give 100% guarantees I did state that resorting to top-ups would be our last option. I am relieved to be able to state that we were able to complete the term without asking for additional payments. This will remain our intention. We will invoice parents for the term with the clear objective that this would be the only fee to be invoiced, albeit adjusted for inflation for late and instalment payments.

With the above in mind we have been invoicing parents as follows as of 14th January 2020:

Tuition Fees for the term: ZWL$40,075 Boarding Fees for the term: ZWL$34,350

I am pleased to be able to say that our accounts department reports a positive response from our parents, and for this we thank you most sincerely. We are however obliged in terms of the Education Act to formally seek the approval of our parent body. This will be the main purpose of the meeting next Monday.

Whilst we encourage all parents to attend the meeting, for those unable to do so we ask that you complete the proxy form attached to this letter and indicate your approval or otherwise of the proposed fees.

Once again may we state our appreciation for the support given to the school.

Yours faithfully

Alastair Wright
Chairman, Board of Governors

http://chisipitesenior.com/download/2020-term-1-proxy-form-for-parents-meeting-monday-27-january/
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