Fed up with constant demands for money from Boy1's school

It's not just his school. A's school are a nightmare - it seems like we're putting or hands in out pockets every 5 minutes. The latest is that the new HT who started in January wants the kids in school logo'ed jumpers instead of the plain black ones that have been fine all year. £16.95 they want for a cheap crappy jumper that he'll need at least 3 of and will last 5 minutes.

They also think it will be "wonderfully educational and great for building his peer relationships" for him to go on a trip to France for 5 days (spend 3 days at Euro Disney) in October and they want £750 for that. How are people supposed to afford that? Especially on top of the weekly sponsored events and "Bring a £1 to wear your own clothes/throw sponges at teacher/eat cake" that happen as well.

Schools can not require you to pay for trips. By law, they have to include the following paragraph in all letters about trips:

‘Please note that to meet the costs associated with all our school trips, parents are asked to make a voluntary contribution to cover the cost. However, where there are insufficient voluntary contributions to make the trip/activity possible, then it will be cancelled. No pupil will be treated differently according to whether or not their parent has made a contribution in response to this request. For this trip/activity a voluntary contribution of £……. is requested.’

We just had a big meeting about it at our school as our headteacher was thinking of cancelling our whole school end of year trip.

We get that - and lots of guff about the educational value of whatever it is the trip is about. And a note that 'special' classes will be put in place for those who cannot make the donation.

We get that too. They may as well send you an emotional blackmail letter telling you that your child will be laughed at and/or picked on if they are the only ones not going.

I'm assuming it's not a fee-paying school? In which case, they are absolutely NOT allowed to discriminate against children whose parents cannot make the donation...that's awful! We don't go on many trips...maybe one a year, if we're lucky? I teach in a deprived area and our parents simply can't afford to pay. So we don't go. There's no way on EARTH we'd discriminate between those who can afford it and those who can't...what about education being a right for all? You either do it for all or none, IMO. That's disgraceful.

Personally, I don't think the costs sound that excessive, except perhaps the £12 one (presumably that was a coach fare?) but then I guess it's the proximity of all the costs as much as anything?

Your not the only one. My kids have a disco to go to tomorrow night, of course it's going to cost £2 each however this isn't an isolated case, the school asks for money at least once or twice a term. In June my son goes on his Year 6 residential trip at a cost of £375. What bugs me the most is they are only going for 4 nights, I'm sending my two kids to a Camp Beaumont residential holiday in two weeks time for 7 nights and it's only costing £195 each, I'd love to know why it's costing so much more with the school

It's not money but my daughter was not able to go on a road safety walk as I couldn't accompany her and the school were entirely bamboozled by the fact that I couldn't just take time off work or send some other random adult to accompany her! Er, yeah it's just me and surprise surprise I have to go to work and earn money so my children can eat ffs. The school do ask for money but only a pound here and there so far but I am sure it will get worse as she goes up the years - she is only in reception for now!

So make a voluntary contribution of 50p. If you've contributed, however small your contribution, they can't stop your child going. This includes overseas trips costing hundreds, although of course there is the risk that the school will cancel the trip if the shortfall between the cost of the trip and the amount of voluntary contributions is too great for the school to meet.

Sounds awful! We hardly pay for anything here. There is the odd muffti day which is fine as it's only 50p or £1. This year A is going to Herm for 3 days and it's £45, they did say in the letter though if there are any problems paying to contact the school for help. Also each year they get a theatre group in and they send a letter asking for help paying for it, and every year I forget to send money in!

Spend enough money on out of school activities!

It isn't a fee paying school - and what they are and aren't allowed to do seems to be neither here nor there! They do it anyway!

It is the constant demands that get me - I think my personal favourite was the 'fund raising' to decorate each classroom. Parents were expected to help with ideas, fund the ideas and then come into school and pay to take part. Which was fine. Then when this didn't raise enough funds, the money went elsewhere (as yet unspecified).

We have quite a lot of things - various charity days, people visiting to do entertainments, school discos, school fairs, trips, swimming, clubs etc

child one's trip this term is £15 or thereabouts - not a problem but i know it must be for some of the children in her class

That's the thing - it's an annoyance to me. But I know from conversations with the other mums that it is huge issue for them. And one trip a term I could cope with. They seem to have four or five. And so many visiting 'guest' entertainers / educators.

Also, don't know if this helps anyone, but schools have funds to help out parents who are on JSA and certain other benefits who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford to send their child on trips.

At A's Primary School if his bio Mum didn't pay for him to go on trips he stayed behind with the kids who weren't allowed to go because they misbehaved. Same with his High School - though they do offer discounts for the kids who get dinner tickets (usually 40%), but it still adds up over the year.

Not just the parents - I'm a teacher and shell out about £10 a week buying things needed for our class (art supplies, craft things, easter eggs for the whole class, christmas presents, etc etc). Don't know what the government is thinking, but they throw very little money at schools and just expect that teachers will meet the costs out of their own pocket. I'm not at all arguing with you, it's a disgrace, but we're in it along with you!

To be fair, the costs of these PGL style trips are more expensive for schools during term time. When I taught in Year 6, we used to go over the last few days and weekend of the May/June half term because it was cheaper. This did of course mean we had to give up our weekend and holiday for it.

My daughters scool have something weekly. There's always a cake sale or book they have to have or whatnot, Last week i was made to pay £7 for a night out for parents that i had already said i wouldnt be attending! I must give the school at least £15 a month x

At one of the schools I used to work at, we used to get the 'criminals' (ie probabtion service) in to paint classrooms over the summer holidays every 2/3 years. It was free, all the school had to do was provide the paint.

I'd be very miffed if the funds went else where though if I'd donated for a specific cause.

I've been thinking about this subject lately. Do schools get commission on organising these overseas trips? Any I've heard of have cost far more than a similar package would cost. I was astounded at how much it cost for a young friend to go to Malta - I could have gone five star all inclusive for the same cost!

And to do with little ones .... my granddaughter is just two and in the last couple of weeks there's been a fancy dress event - most of the little ones wore bought costumes. Next week there's easter bonnets - minimum of £4 to put together if you buy the bits to make one. Not a tremendous amount of money but it could be a real source of stress if you're on a very limited budget.

If only!!!! Last three our school have done we've lost money on.

It's hard to say who's responsible for this sort of thing but it's incredibly annoying. Wee Braw is attends pre-school and there are constantly things to be paid for. every Monday we are expected to give £2 towards snacks as part of their 'healthy eating policy'. When I discovered that they were being given scotch pancakes with jam, custard creams and chocolate (not every day but still), I stopped paying. He still gets given a snack but I did offer to send a him in with a healthy snack every day but they declined.

There are 3 trips this term, various fund raisers etc. My feeling is that whilst I don't want him to be singled out, I refuse to be railroaded or blackmailed into paying out hand over fist because I don't want a precedent being set for his future school years.

x

Well C's summer school trip is to Brum to visit the back to back houses [national trust property] the school sent us a letter out warning that the trip might cost £15+ and asked how many parents would be willing to send them before they booked it.

the letter came out this week - it is actually costing £12 - but what i find annoying is that they will be leaving school at 9-30 and getting back there for 1-30 at the latest! It is probably a 30 minute ride from here to there so they arent going to spend a huge amount of time there..... gah - have volunteered as a parent helper for it tho cos i would love to go ?

since January i have had to pay £5 for a trip to a synagogue, £5 for a choir trip to symphony hall and £8 for an artistic morning at the barber institute. Plus school fund and milk money for 2 children. Oh and £1 here and there for stuff.... this week i have to give them 20p for an easter egg raffle.

oh well......

Today they need a t-shirt £2.00, and by thursday and friday we need to whip up 3 easter bonnetts, last week there was a trip and a charity and before that it was comic relief. You know the summer fetes are coming, the end of summer term trips and proms etc... more fund raising , sun cream,new sun hats ( with the school logo of course).

Surely you'd be buying that anyway though?

I'm only just entering the realms of -parent-of-a-school-age-child-hood but tbh, if things are getting that ridiculous at some schools then the parents should be collectively making the head and governors aware.

Do you not think this is all just part and parcel of them getting a rounded education though? As far as I'm aware people with financial difficulties will generally get help, and those who don't need the help can pay. The only thing I've said no too was a ski trip which cost the best part of a grand, but that wasn't compulsory so wasn't an issue.

I personally don't think it's a lot to ask, and is way cheaper than having to pay to send them to school. In Southern Ireland you have to pay for everything, jotters, school books, text books, the works. The text books in particular are super expensive.

We're very lucky here, really.

Oddly enough it's nothing like as bad at my son's (fee paying) school. Milk and snacks are included, school dinners are included. The only extras we've had are school photos, one trip in december and one to come in June, comic relief £1, children in need £1 and 50p for them to visit the tuck shop in the senior school as part of their school work (getting change, writing lists etc). I'm glad though, I'd be very narked if they expected extra on top of what we pay.

You are most definitely not alone! We have had to pay for tickets to a show, a trip to a museum, a roman village and a cathedral all since September. This is for the youngest. Oh and swimming lessons for one term.

Eldest we have had to pay for a trip to an art college, a trip to a dance college and most recently a trip at the end of term that will cost £115 for 2 days away. Not to mention clothes needed for said trip.

We don't mind paying if it's educational, however we are struggling as their mother doesn't pay a penny towards their upkeep or anything towards these trips yet is still recieving their Child Benefit and claiming fraudulently ?

Sorry should have expanded, I have four children to buy sun cream for, one set for school and one set for home, of course the school one will get lost and need replacing, or burst in their bag or the million other incidents that happen to children and objects.?

My Daughter (5) goes to a voluntary Aided school. We make an annual £75 contribution. I'd say 90% are more than able to pay this & if not there is enough in the pot for sharing.

The Parents are fully supportive towards the school & the PTA, I don't see a problem in giving not only my Children, but others the best from the school they go too. It's not just a shove them in the door at 9am & get them at 3pm setup. The big fund raiser is the Black Tie Ball which is attended by 200 Parents & raises around £25,000 - The evening is donated by the local 5* hotel.

Quite a bit is done by Parents via the Companies they work for , like a couple of years back the school got given interactive white boards & 4 laptops for each class, then a IT suite was built with 25 computers. Another Company gave funds so the school was able to build an indoor pool.

The school does not provide lunches, but through a local sandwich bar, kids that would otherwise have free school dinners get provided with a lunch. Friday it's easter bonnet day, I've not only made Isabel's but have made 3 others , the same as some other Parents have done , so there will be no child left out.

School uniform is another thing , there was a scheme set up where you contribute items of uniform when buying your childs. So when I was in John Lewis I bought extra pack of shirts & socks/tights .

So in short - yes as Parents we invest Money as well as interest into the school.