why are schools always asking for money!

tessie_bear

i always try to support the school with their fund raising but when ds came home with raffel tickets priced at £5 a ticket and a note saying how many books could we sell ? i decided they could take a running jump....i couldnt bring myself to ask friends and family for a fiver a pop so we have sold zero....last year when they were a quid we sold and purchased loads

bigmomma051204

pipkin71 wrote: »

I don't think it's always a case of if the parents are actually interested in their child's well-being Dippychick.

Parents living to a budget can find it an extra burden to have to find different bits of money for different things, which often all come round together, and then they are faced with pressure from both school and child.

Some schools seem to constantly be asking for money for various things, yet others don't and however interested a parent is in their child's school life, if finances are tight it makes things difficult.

Well Said!!
Have to say, this thread is panicking my as my son is going off to primary school in Sept. We live in an affluent village full of very "well off" people and i can very much imagine that the school will "enjoy" this fact by doing pricey things lol

...my partner had a major car crash in November last year and is off work for the forseeable future due to major injuries. I work full time so cannot be classed as a carer (despite having to bath him, lift him into and out of bed, dress him etc etc - he is 6ft 1 and 15 stone and i suffice to say, am not LOL) and we currently are surviving on my wage alone, which although an okay wage of £19,000 pro rata, is about half of what we need to live on!! You live to your means etc but we were already living to our means Before the accident and obviously cannot just move to a cheaper house etc like That *snap* (lol)
Anyway, we recieve no benefits as i earn "too much" and although my partner has applied for Disability living allowance, we have been warned that we will probably only get the minimum of about £20 per week. Which although it will help, will not help enough We are struggling...and i have just been sent the "uniform requirements" from the school. These include polo tshirts @ £11.50 each. Jumpers @ £16.99 each , pe bags @ £7.50 each and school hats @ £8.99 each. Now i now this is not making the school any money, but £11.50 for a plain white tshirt? :eek: that i could buy from tesco for 75p??? We have been told that the school requires all children to order their uniform from the particular company that they use as it has the correct "logo" on ALL the items. Anyway - i guess i am just trying to say to all those people who say we should appreciate having a "free school system" that although i am glad that we do (although as others have mentioned, there is that little point that we already "pay" via the taxes system in UK) i think parents pay massive amounts of money for school related things already without charity requests and expensive novelties etc!!!
I have worked out that my little boy starting school is going to cost me about £150 if not more. Ouch. i do not begrudge him obviously but i do wish things could be cheaper

Okay, rant over! :o:o

KellyWelly

the_other_mce wrote: »

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.

It's not intended as emotional blackmail and the only way of getting reminders home is through the children. All that the parent needs to do is put a note in their child's bag or to verbally inform the school secretary or the teacher that they can't/won't be paying for X/Y/Z and that will be it. Most parents don't bother to say I can't afford it or I won't be paying it so it is assumed that they have forgotten and therefore we send a reminder home. If we know you won't/can't pay, we won't ask. We can't mind read.

There are some children who definitely need help rather than helping others, although I don't think being poor means you shouldn't be charitable or you shouldn't have to pay your way in life. The money has to come from somewhere, if 40% of parents refuse to pay for something (not unheard of) that money has to come out of the main budget which means in turn there is less money for books or equipment, which in turn means there is more fundraising to make up for it.

I think there is a lot to be said for the idea of charging parents a termly sum to pay for all the extra curricular things. It would be a lot easier and more straightforward.

bigmomma051204

KellyWelly wrote: »

It's not intended as emotional blackmail and the only way of getting reminders home is through the children. All that the parent needs to do is put a note in their child's bag or to verbally inform the school secretary or the teacher that they can't/won't be paying for X/Y/Z and that will be it. Most parents don't bother to say I can't afford it or I won't be paying it so it is assumed that they have forgotten and therefore we send a reminder home. If we know you won't/can't pay, we won't ask. We can't mind read.

There are some children who definitely need help rather than helping others, although I don't think being poor means you shouldn't be charitable or you shouldn't have to pay your way in life. The money has to come from somewhere, if 40% of parents refuse to pay for something (not unheard of) that money has to come out of the main budget which means in turn there is less money for books or equipment, which in turn means there is more fundraising to make up for it.

I think there is a lot to be said for the idea of charging parents a termly sum to pay for all the extra curricular things. It would be a lot easier and more straightforward.

Which would only help the people who can PAY a "lump sum" every term. For those who can't (which would possibly be a fair few),would the school spread the cost over the term...so therefore pretty much the same as it is already and still meaning hassle for afmin staff etc ...? I see your point but there is no way i could afford to pay, say, £150 in a lump sum. Or even £50 at the moment to be honest!!

the_other_mce

KellyWelly wrote: »

It's not intended as emotional blackmail and the only way of getting reminders home is through the children. All that the parent needs to do is put a note in their child's bag or to verbally inform the school secretary or the teacher that they can't/won't be paying for X/Y/Z and that will be it. Most parents don't bother to say I can't afford it or I won't be paying it so it is assumed that they have forgotten and therefore we send a reminder home. If we know you won't/can't pay, we won't ask. We can't mind read. I don't see why parents should have to inform a teacher about their financial situation. Most people like to keep these things private. Maybe that's why they don't inform the school.

There are some children who definitely need help rather than helping others, although I don't think being poor means you shouldn't be charitable or you shouldn't have to pay your way in life. The money has to come from somewhere, if 40% of parents refuse to pay for something (not unheard of) that money has to come out of the main budget which means in turn there is less money for books or equipment, which in turn means there is more fundraising to make up for it. Most parents are not against the idea of charity - but there are limits. Out of the £107 I paid out last month to the school NONE of it was for school trips and the only charity was THE SCHOOL. Interestingly the school my neighbours kids go to asks for very little in the way of donations - certainly less than a quarter of the amount requested by my DD's school.

I think there is a lot to be said for the idea of charging parents a termly sum to pay for all the extra curricular things. It would be a lot easier and more straightforward.

Would be a good idea - I would support this and it would definately show a huge variation in the amount of money asked for by neighbouring schools - perhaps they could add it on the schools OFSTED report!!

bigmomma051204

KellyWelly wrote: »

It's not intended as emotional blackmail and the only way of getting reminders home is through the children. All that the parent needs to do is put a note in their child's bag or to verbally inform the school secretary or the teacher that they can't/won't be paying for X/Y/Z and that will be it. Most parents don't bother to say I can't afford it or I won't be paying it so it is assumed that they have forgotten and therefore we send a reminder home. If we know you won't/can't pay, we won't ask. We can't mind read.

There are some children who definitely need help rather than helping others, although I don't think being poor means you shouldn't be charitable or you shouldn't have to pay your way in life. The money has to come from somewhere, if 40% of parents refuse to pay for something (not unheard of) that money has to come out of the main budget which means in turn there is less money for books or equipment, which in turn means there is more fundraising to make up for it.

I think there is a lot to be said for the idea of charging parents a termly sum to pay for all the extra curricular things. It would be a lot easier and more straightforward.

For me i think it would be less "can't be bothered" and more "i am embarrassed to go to the school office (gossip central LOL) and explain that i am too poor to pay But maybe that is just me lol....and i understand that obviously it is easier for the school staff to be told...i am just guessing at circumstances other than "i can't be bothered" etc ..... (EDIT and trying to avoid being shouted at!)

KellyWelly

If something you tell the school office or any member of staff is repeated or gossipped about you should complain directly to the headteacher, that is a complete breach of trust and confidentiality and should be dealt with very severely. Have you had experience of this already?

bigmomma051204

My sister teaches in a small village school where most of the staff are locals and suffice to say that although nobody has ever been "officially" found to spread gossip, it will inevitably happen in this type of rural village where everyone knows everyone etc.

Also, as mentioned before, i don't see why parents should be asked to give an explanation or personal financial breakdown as to why they cannot pay for certain things. I don't mean school trips etc really, mainly have issues with the "charity" things sent home regularly.....

bestpud

bigmomma051204 wrote: »

Also, as mentioned before, i don't see why parents should be asked to give an explanation or personal financial breakdown as to why they cannot pay for certain things. I don't mean school trips etc really, mainly have issues with the "charity" things sent home regularly.....

Quite!

I realise the need for parents to say if they cannot afford a school trip or something but I do not see why I need to say I will not be donating money for a charity, or even a PTA event!

Why should we, for goodness sake! I don't tell street collectors why I am not contributing so I don't see why charity collections through the school should be any different?

Nobody's business but my own and I see no reason why the school needs to know who pays what, and whether individual families have paid either?

Fine for trips but completely unnecessary for find raising money imo.

mum26

bigmomma051204 wrote: »

Well Said!!
Have to say, this thread is panicking my as my son is going off to primary school in Sept. We live in an affluent village full of very "well off" people and i can very much imagine that the school will "enjoy" this fact by doing pricey things lol

...my partner had a major car crash in November last year and is off work for the forseeable future due to major injuries. I work full time so cannot be classed as a carer (despite having to bath him, lift him into and out of bed, dress him etc etc - he is 6ft 1 and 15 stone and i suffice to say, am not LOL) and we currently are surviving on my wage alone, which although an okay wage of £19,000 pro rata, is about half of what we need to live on!! You live to your means etc but we were already living to our means Before the accident and obviously cannot just move to a cheaper house etc like That *snap* (lol)
Anyway, we recieve no benefits as i earn "too much" and although my partner has applied for Disability living allowance, we have been warned that we will probably only get the minimum of about £20 per week. Which although it will help, will not help enough We are struggling...and i have just been sent the "uniform requirements" from the school. These include polo tshirts @ £11.50 each. Jumpers @ £16.99 each , pe bags @ £7.50 each and school hats @ £8.99 each. Now i now this is not making the school any money, but £11.50 for a plain white tshirt? :eek: that i could buy from tesco for 75p??? We have been told that the school requires all children to order their uniform from the particular company that they use as it has the correct "logo" on ALL the items. Anyway - i guess i am just trying to say to all those people who say we should appreciate having a "free school system" that although i am glad that we do (although as others have mentioned, there is that little point that we already "pay" via the taxes system in UK) i think parents pay massive amounts of money for school related things already without charity requests and expensive novelties etc!!!
I have worked out that my little boy starting school is going to cost me about £150 if not more. Ouch. i do not begrudge him obviously but i do wish things could be cheaper

Okay, rant over! :o:o

I'm pretty sure that primary and lower schools cannot actually enforce a uniform (google should bring something up) but the only logo items I bother with are the jumpers, polo shirts are undercover for about 10 months of the year! School bags all hung up in the little cloakrooms are very confusing, even worse when they are all the same - our lower school has just changed pe uniform for the littlest as they were finding it too hard to tell the difference between normal school top and virtually identical pe top, lol so said to send any old colour thing so they can find their own things quickly.

I've just donated 3 children's worth of nursery logo t shirts and jumpers to a neighbour, should see her little ones through hopefully...