Last-minute website for school places
Parents will be able to snap up private school places at short notice as easily as they book a last-minute hotel room when a new website starts operating in WA.
The School Places website allows schools to offer vacancies online with fee reductions of up to 50 per cent.
The company's chief executive Natalie Mactier said its founder Jeremy Wein had been inspired by the Wotif website, which offers discounted travel deals.
The service, which has had about 80 private schools sign up in other States since it started a year ago, is expected to include WA schools in June.
"We find we have a mixture of schools and it's probably more the middle tier of schools where most of the demand is coming," Ms Mactier said.
"We've struck a chord with the Australian public that are looking at ways to access private school education for their children but at a much more affordable price."
The average school fee discount was between 20 per cent and 30 per cent, with some as low as 5 or 10 per cent.
Ms Mactier said that schools with vacancies missed out on government funding as well as fees and carrying that vacancy for several years could add significant costs to the school. Offering discounts for vacancies that might otherwise be unfilled also helped keep fees down for other parents.
"It's our view that it's better to generate a percentage of revenue to the school than leave that classroom seat vacant," she said.
"It's all about trying to fill last-minute vacancies that would otherwise remain empty.
"It's not about eroding a full fee paying audience for a school."
The discounted period lasted for between one year and six years, with places reverting to full fees after that.
Ms Mactier said the commission the website took was similar to the percentage a travel agent would make on a booking.
Association of Independent Schools of WA executive director Valerie Gould said though it was up to individual schools whether to use the website, School Places could help them keep fees down by covering costs and providing resources for all students.
But she cautioned parents using the service to look closely at how many years the discount would last so their child's education would not be interrupted later if they could not afford the full fee.
Anglican Schools Commission chief executive Peter Laurence said it would not object to schools using the company.
