Things are even worse that I suspected!

sss555s

You can't hold back creativity ca


Edit: Forgot to ask. How was your first day ca?

globalds

As far as extra funding for deprived schools is concerned.
It is the funding for SEN's .
This is calculated using the percentage of kids who receive free school meals.
It may seem over simple, but it seems to correlate very closely and is by far the cheapest way of allocating resources.
This extra cash will be used to remedy problems it is designed for.
I was a Parent Governor at my kids primary school and I would advise any one who questions the way there school is run to get involved.
There is almost always a shortage of parent governors and it can be really ......Well, educational.
Schools have lots of issues with resources but I can only say from the 2 experiences in my life of primary schools , that the resources available for the last ten years were far better than those available during my own time.

lostinrates

carolt wrote: »

That is such a great idea, lostinrates!!!!!!!!!! :j :T :A

Do you know, I have half a mind to nominate you for the post of the week for that. In fact I will, if I can be organised enough to get round to it.

Not sure how one does that - does anyone know? - but it's those little flashes of genius like that that could so easily make a huge difference to the lives of millions.

Thanks for that spark. Made my day.

Gosh, thank you. In 11029, er, 28, posts that's never happened. And I'm sure I've had better ideas than that.

In deference to your kind words I deleted my slip.

carolt

And likewise - sss - can you delete your quote of my comment - then this thread can be all shiny so I can nominate.

Seriously - anyone know how I go about doing that?

carolt

sss555s wrote: »

You can't hold back creativity ca


Edit: Forgot to ask. How was your first day ca?

Quite astonishingly hectic, thank you.

Big pile of preparation, but I just need to relax... before getting on with it.

RobertoMoir

lostinrates wrote: »

FWIW, I wish the local schools or education authorities would have a box put in the supermarkets or at school gates for those vouchers they always ask if you want. .

It's called a bin. That stuff is a waste of time. Oh Save 2000 vouchers and your school can win a shiny new mousemat. After spending hours jumping through hoops that is.

Sorry, not what you wanted to hear but that's how I see it. We were asked to participate in those schemes but decided they are a waste of time.

Davesnave

As an ex-teacher I'd say don't contribute towards providing these things for the school, but make sure your own child has them. If everyone did that, there would be no need for such a request. Parental contributions should be for the big exciting things that make learning more fun, not the basics.:)

thriftybabe

Really2 wrote: »

Any cuts should be in staff not in terms of capital expenditure.;)

Some budgets may be cut in terms of staffing costs, considering it is not April they have got to have got something wrong somewhere.
Have they had to fix a roof or anything? Budgets are low this time of year but not to the point of asking parents to contribute.

Backroom and teaching assistants should be the first for the chop not things needed to educate the children.

I don't see why they don't freeze teachers pay instead? I presume that would give them the scope to play with.

Edit.
But it is possible any councils with big deficits may cut budgets, they should not but it is possible. Next thing they will do is try to force the school to purchase through the LEA to cream a bit more off.

Not sure how the budgets work but they are having a new school built at the moment! The children are being bused from one area to another. Would the money come of the school budget or the council budget for the transport?

There is no mention of this on the email. They only state it is as a result of a 2% reduction in budget.

thriftybabe

carolt wrote: »

I'm another one who has never, ever heard of parents being asked to pay for stuff like pencils. Trips, or materials for expensive one-off events yes (my kids' school asked for money for pottery and in-school ice-skating for example) which I didn't begrudge, as they were occasional, obviously costly and lots of fun for the kids... - but routine stuff, no.

That said, at my kids' school, once the kids get old enough and can write properly, they get a 'pen licence' and are then expected to bring in their own pencil case complete with their own (working) pens, ruler etc. They take great pride in this and it costs us nothing - every surface in our house is overflowing with stationary items - presents, going-home presents, bought-once-when-we-forget-to bring-any-with-us stationary, etc.

What we do pay for, I was peeved to discover, was our teachers' tea and biscuits - the PTA agreed to pay for this in a backroom deal a few years ago. When I give money to the PTA, I kind of expect it to be spent on our kids, not on some teacher's biscuit habit.

But thrifty babe - I'm sure it's true that your teachers do pay for lots of stuff out of their own pockets - all those little stickers your kids bring home aren't 'free', and loads of materials are bought and paid for by the teachers themselves. And whilst I've never worked anywhere where we asked the parents to donate pencils, I've worked in one place where I had to supply my own board markers etc etc, as there were insufficient funds to supply teachers with basics like that.

Now that I come to think of it, though, that was one place that was facing a huge financial black hole due to financial mismanagement, though.

Ooops. I agree with others that that may be the problem at your kids' school, rather than it being a problem with education budgets nationally.

I agree. My cousin is a teacher and she dips into her pocket from time to time. I dont begrudge anything for the school or teachers. I am just really shocked that we have been asked this and also what we have heard what other schools have been able to get from grants etc.

thriftybabe

Davesnave wrote: »

As an ex-teacher I'd say don't contribute towards providing these things for the school, but make sure your own child has them. If everyone did that, there would be no need for such a request. Parental contributions should be for the big exciting things that make learning more fun, not the basics.:)

Thanks for that. They do have their own pencils cases but TBH they dont take them in all the time. Will ensure in future.