Absolutely fuuuuuuming!!!! (with school!) Have now calmed down ;-)

shellsuit

MrsTine wrote: »

Actually I am kinda on Rachels side here... the only thing I WOULD complain about is the schools lack of communicating clearly to parents in writing that there would be a £2 charge. Obviously now you know so you can advise them that in future you don't want your son to take part in events away from the school if they are going to incur any costs to you or him Easy peasy.
On principle yes I'd contest the money he's paid so far because I think they should have made that clear to you and they obviously didn't...

That's just ridiculous. Of course I want him to be able to take part.


We'll soon see anyway. I'll ring them tomorrow and see what they have to say.

MrsTinks

shellsuit wrote: »

If they can afford to send out over 1000 letters first class once every few weeks, rather than hand them out, then I'm sure they must have £30 (15 lads, £2 each) hiding away to pay for whatever costs?? That's what annoys me most.

Why enter them without seeing what funds are available?

Why not ask parents first if they mind paying?

I agree they should ask parents first - absolutely! And I would probably be tempted to ask them about the potential savings of downgrading their postage from 1st to 2nd class - I wouldn't question the fact they post the letters - I know how many of MY school notices never made it home LOL I just used to forget about them in my bag and would find them weeks later crumpled up :rolleyes:

And I don't see why the school should pay £30 for 15 boys every time they go to a tournament - what about the hundreds of other boys who DON'T get to go? not because they don't want to but because they haven't been lucky enough to be gifted at a sport (like me... I was never chosen for any teams... I'd have been very miffed if my school had paid for all the costs for my school friends to go to cool events and got more of my schools money spent on them just because they won in the genetic lottery of being good at sports to be honest...

Rachel83

Ok I can understand your annoyed you didnt get informed of the cost in the letter I dunno guess if you speak to the school then maybe this will be explained as to why this wasnt the case?
Dunno guess there seems to be a few posts on here lately expecting schools to pay for everything not realising money funds arn't endless. Maybe your phone call will get you the £2 back and you'll feel happier about the situation?

MrsTinks

shellsuit wrote: »

That's just ridiculous. Of course I want him to be able to take part.


We'll soon see anyway. I'll ring them tomorrow and see what they have to say.

Why is it riddiculous??? Are all the boys at the school offered the oppertunerty to go? If not then why should these boys get extra funding spent on them just because they are lucky enough to have been chosen to be on that team?
An alternative and a compromise could be that the boys should be encouraged to do fundraising to cover any extra costs of travel etc if the parents aren't happy to pay for the petrol contribution. 15 strapping lads? Shouldn't take long to wash a dozen cars at £5 a go - viola there's £60 so the next 2 trips paid for

smartpicture

Well, sorry, I don't really see what the problem is! Why shouldn't you contribute a couple of quid to the petrol costs? It was something extra the school organised, on top of basic lessons, and if you want your children to take part in 'extras' then you should be willing to pay. Schools don't have unlimited budgets, so money spent on subsiding this event (which only a few children benefit from) means less money for something else. I would say congratulations to the teachers for providing the option of extra activities, and at £2 it was a bargain!

I do agree that you have every right to be cross is wasn't mentioned in the letter though, presumably this was a mistake. Also, at our school they always add that if anyone genuinely can't afford it, they can speak privately to the school office and won't have to pay, as I realise even £2 could be a lot to some people.

However, £2 multiplied by the number of children is also a lot to a school with limited resources - especially multiplied by every occasion they put on this or any other activity. How do you think the running costs of the minibus are funded? Would you rather they chose not to organise and provide these sort of opportunities to your son? I would just be glad that my child has these sort of options provided for him, in times when school budgets are being endlessly cut.

looby75

shellsuit wrote: »

A journey which was during school hours and was something the school asked of the pupils - sorry, but even if it was a 200 mile round trip I'd still refuse to pay.


Oh now son's mentioned that the last tournament they had during school hours which was only in Sefton (so Liverpool) they were asked for £2 then too. :mad: Which he paid out of lunch money.

Now I AM angry, not with son though!

for crying out loud, it wouldn't cost £20 diesel to get from the Wirral to sefton, my sister does that trip in a land rover a couple of times a week and it doesn't even cost a fiver, even if you take into account the fact it's a mini bus and you have to pay the toll through the tunnel it still wouldn't cost more than what , about £12

looby75

sneggy wrote: »

hi shellsuit please dont shoot me down here but schools dont have a bottom less pot of money to be quite honest im shocked at the lack of money they get,
i can see your point over not being told i think i would be a bit cheesed off too and because he used his lunch money,
when my daughter played netball for primary school we had to pay £1 per away match cant remeber a letter just my daughter coming home and saying
sneggy

I don't know if it varies from council to council but up here the more out of school team sports your school participates in the more funding they get from various bodies (I think the English sports council is one of them) I know that both ds and dd's school get extra money for sports because ds's school has a cricket team and dd's school has a rowing, boys and girls football teams and a gymnastics team. The kids that take part in those teams don't pay a penny for kit, equipment or travel.

susan63

Oh I wouldn't really complain... as some people have said, it is probably just to cover the petrol expenses so that seems fair enough to me, although they should have mentioned it on the letter.

buxtonrabbitgreen

My dd has played in several away matches for the school rugby team. I have never been asked for money, and they use the school mini bus and it is usually after school hours. I wouldn't object to paying a contribution for fuel costs, if I was asked in advance. The fact that it was a fait accompli was the op's bone of contention I think.
As to school letters , our school has a good system of e mailing me with any information. they will also text, in addition to trusting the kids to bring the letters home. So there doesn't really seem to be a reason for wasting all that money on postage to me.

the thing that does annoy me though, is all these flipping out of uniform days at £1 a go. Seems to be practically every week. Do they want them to wear uniform or not????

shellsuit

And breathe.......

I've calmed down now and taken everyones comments on board. (Yes, even the ones I didn't agree with!)

Of course it's only £2 and I honestly don't mind paying it - I was just so annoyed at the thought of son paying it out of his lunch money because parents weren't asked beforehand. Plus the fact that we never get a lot of notice about things like this and the fact that the kids who get free meals don't get them on a day like today, when they should do.

My hormones are all over the place - I feel like a big barrel and can't move properly (due baby in 6 weeks), plus I've been holed up in my bedroom all day as the hall stairs and landing have been getting decorated, so I just let all the anger and stress out on this situation.

Son's not long come to me, his leg is a mess with a huge wide gash running from under his knee to his ankle - who can I sue?