School - Money for this and that

dizziblonde

I hate the endless non-uniform days too (and I'm the teacher!) kids come in in a fashion parade, act loopier than normal all day and then we get badgered by the office staff to put our share in as well in the middle of lessons (hate people coming around for non-urgent stuff mid-lesson)! I've always taken the "pots on the desk, put your money in there when you come into class" and not badgering anyone who doesn't approach - it's not fair on the kids if they've got parents who can't/won't donate, and I'd rather get on with teaching than spend ages chasing up 50ps.

As for the transport costs one - from what I recall (I don't generally get involved in booking coaches etc) it does cost something like £150 for the coach for a day for a trip out (and that's doing the routine that really bugs me of us having to wait till they've done their school run contract and getting back stupidly early so they can do their afternoon school run contract) - the costs of them are simply astronomic and the coach companies know they have schools by the you-know-whats so they do take the pee a lot and charge the earth (have had them drive us out before and turn around and say that we need to leave on the return journey at 2pm so they can get back for school runs - when none of this has been mentioned on bookings and there's very little you can do when you've got 60 kids to keep an eye on). Transport costs are simply astronomical and most school trips I've been involved with over the years have had a chunk paid from school funds/PTA money in order to bring it down for the parents.

These days on supply I'll admit I do tend to be strategically unavailable for days like Comic Relief etc... kids are loopy all day, it's a constant demand for money (sponsored events as a teacher mean you end up having to sponsor most of the school!) and it's just not worth the aggro for me to take a booking.

minimacka

What really annoys me is when a trip comes up and its £240 for the weeks trip but if you are on benefits its £40, I can understand that people on benefits cant afford the full £240 but why does it have to be £200 cheaper it makes me really cross.

MM

katskorner

Our school do similar things and everything is asked for as a voluntary contribution but if you can't send it in then you can make an appointment with th ehead to discuss any issues.

We often get 10p - £1 contributions. Recenty I did not send in a £1 for Forest Schools and they actually sent a reminder. I didn't really think about it before but now I have read this it has got me thinking.

Also they sent home sponsor forms and I was going to stick a fiver on from us and then another from the grandparents until I realised that it wasn't even for my child, but for a YR6 pupil doing something for her charities (my son is YR1). I felt a little annoyed by that one. I just sent in a couple of quid.

I sometimes help out on our PTA (PAL) and we do organise some good stuff and make sure the parents get feedback as to how the money is being spent. But I am not as involved as I would like due to other comittments. Although now I might just make that next meeting....