why are schools always asking for money!

xmaslolly76

DaisyFlower wrote: »

Schools simply dont get enough funding to provide the extras so have to fundraise via the PTA. At the end of the day its for the childrens benefit so I am surprised to see so many people moaning over it.

I have no problem helping out with costs for trips and doing the odd sponcered thing its all the other costs that i object to. recently the school decided to put on a film premier at the local cinema which was lovely idea but then said the children had to go dressed in their best ie suits or at the very least shirts and ties for the lads and proper prom dresses for the girls having two children attend ended up costing me nearly £60. They just dont seem to think about the knock on costs to the parents when organising this kind of thing. Then there was the end of year trip for my daughter who is going on to secondary school in sept. They were invited to drayton mannor for the day trip costs £19 they then attached a sponcer form for a walk to try to raise funds to bring the cost down, What a good idea you may be thinking until you actually sit down and do the sums. The walk will only bring the cost down to £15 so thats a £4 saving however majority of sponcer forms will pull in i would expect at least £5 per child. My child in question would have been sponcered to the tune of around £20 so now she would be taking in £20 sponcer money and the £15 charge total £35....... I think not i sent in the £19 saving me and the rest of the family a grand total of £16 so we were able to give her a bit of spending money on the day.

mum26

Of course having a big family is expensive, lol! And yes I was aware of that fact when planning my family, my point being even if you have just one child and are on a limited budget the constant forking out seriously damages your budget. I have a friend who is on a severely limited income (different part of the country from me so different schools) and she often gets letters home asking for £10 in a few days for school activities and £10 out of a very tight budget is not doable, yet she obviously does not want her daughter left out.

My point is some schools are able to provide trips, events and activities out of their budget while others seemingly never stop fund raising, my main argument being that the vast majority of this fundraising is done in the half term preceeding christmas and the half term preceeding the summer holidays - low points for most with regards to spare cash?

I fail to see where the child free fit into this thread? I am sure you will want my children's taxes to pay for your pension, medical care, transport infrastructure etc when you need it, and it will be needed given the birth rate and aging population coupled with the economic situation.

Janepig

mum26 wrote: »

Of course having a big family is expensive, lol! And yes I was aware of that fact when planning my family, my point being even if you have just one child and are on a limited budget the constant forking out seriously damages your budget. I have a friend who is on a severely limited income (different part of the country from me so different schools) and she often gets letters home asking for £10 in a few days for school activities and £10 out of a very tight budget is not doable, yet she obviously does not want her daughter left out.

My point is some schools are able to provide trips, events and activities out of their budget while others seemingly never stop fund raising, my main argument being that the vast majority of this fundraising is done in the half term preceeding christmas and the half term preceeding the summer holidays - low points for most with regards to spare cash?

I fail to see where the child free fit into this thread? I am sure you will want my children's taxes to pay for your pension, medical car, transport infrastructure etc when you need it, and it will be needed given the birth rate and aging population coupled with the economic situation.

I was wondering that myself :rolleyes:.

Jxx

bunny999

They are the people paying for your kids "free" education, child benefit, child tax credits etc etc. You don't want to fork out cash for your own kids so why the hell should we.

mum26

Do myself and my partner not pay tax then?

How would you feel when you are old and need care if my kids say "None of my tax to pay for that person, they didn't have any children to pay into the system so they cannot take now".

It is hardly a "perk" of having children that they get an education is it?

And who asked you to pay for school fete stuff anyway, you've totally misunderstood the point of this thread!

Why are so many childless people so bitter? Or are you childless because of the bitterness?

Janepig

bunny999 wrote: »

They are the people paying for your kids "free" education, child benefit, child tax credits etc etc. You don't want to fork out cash for your own kids so why the hell should we.

I "fork out" plenty of cash for my own kids (and interestingly, I have no complaint about what my school ask me to contribute towards). I work and contribute my fair share thank you very much. There are spongers amongst the childless as well as those with children.

Jxx

hbloomers

I can't remember much about my primary school, but my high school wasn't too bad for money grabbing. At the start of each year, students (or their parents :P) would contribute £35 (or £60 per family) that would go towards trips, printing credits etc for each student. As for charities, as it was a catholic school, for a few years we supported the trocaire campagain, and then, when I was in lower sixth, the school moved towards their own charity project, which was to build an orphanage in Kenya. Yes, there were lots of events on, but they were always completely voluntary and no one felt guilted into taking part. At the end of the school year, a group of volunteers would go out to Kenya for a fortnight to help out with the kids, which they completely funded themselves, or through sponsorships. We could see the benefits of our money, and we felt truely proud of the money we raised, which amounted to £50k+ over three years.

KellyWelly

Nobody forces anyone to pay or contribute or donate anything in school - but I'm willing to bet on it that the ones moaning about being asked to would be the first in line to complain if their children weren't included on the trips and weren't given sweets or a book or didn't get to use the equipment bought with the money raised.

Very few trips are actually vital to the curriculum. The curriculum could still be delivered without visiting the farm park or going to the theatre or having a poet visit or going on an exchange and it would be a lot less work and hassle for the staff involved but the trips are run to enrich the education and experience of the children. The money can't just be found down the back of the sofa in the staff room - it has to come from somewhere and that's either from fundraising or parental contribution.

Also PTAs do work very hard and donate their time for free and for the dedicated few it can end up taking up all their free time. That is time away from their own children and partner and time they could spend earning money but they choose not to because they want to make a different to the lives of your children. There is a great deal of responsibilty on their shoulders as well, they are legally liable for the safety of your children at events and have to jump through all the legal loop holes. And at the end of the year they are gossiped about and treated with suspicion by the other parents and hardly even get a thanks. There is an incredibly high burn-out rate amongst PTA members - which I personally find sad because at the end of the day they're doing it for your kids.

bonty44

mandragora wrote: »

You shouldn't have. Make sure you put in a claim next time - the school will have funds for that - it's the head's discretion - and if he/she really cannot find £3 from a budget of hundreds of thousands -or in the case of secondary schools, millions - then why on earth should you? I'd go so far as to say you should put in a claim this time, anyway. If you don't want the hassle of arguing the toss with them over it, then claim for something you wouldn't normally bother with, like a travel claim for a short school journey you've undertaken; printer ink you've used at home, phone calls you've made from home etc etc.

TBH, I'd only get it in the neck for not pricing the event so that I didn't have to fork out, but if I'd raised the cost of the event then that would have prevented more kids from going ....

the_other_mce

KellyWelly wrote: »

Nobody forces anyone to pay or contribute or donate anything in school - maybe not 'forced' but I know of quite a few children who are asked for the money at registration EVERY morning until they bring it in. I really feel for the kids who have parents who can't afford or won't pay. As another poster pointed out on here - there are children at schools who should be helped by Children in Need not coerced into bringing in their mum's last tenner to give away. It is emotional blackmail of parents using the children. These days there are a lot of companies making a good living out of 'selling' their wares via schools with the whole hearted approval of the school - regardless of the knock-on effect to some of their pupils.
Also there is a difference between school trips (organised by the school, which no parent really complains about, and which I contribute to and also take time off of work to go to) and the relentless fund-raising that goes on in between. It is that which drives parents to distraction. I think the schools should organise things differently so that educational events funds are collected via the teacher and charity/pta type events have a 'drop off box' in the hall.