school 'demanding' voluntary contribution, income sub £16,000

bumpybecky

glad to hear you've got things sorted hope your daughter enjoys the lessons

Charlies_Mummy

I have never had to pay for any swimming lessons in schooltime for my eldest (my middle child is in Reception year so not done swimming at school yet). We were told that it is a compulsory subject in certain year groups and thus is funded by the school/LEA.

kaz2004

I have read the entire thread. Schools only receive money for transport if they are
a certain distance from pool ( can't remember exact distance) voluntary contributions were introduced so as not too exclude children HOWEVER if we all refused to pay nobody would go.
We can all quote legal entitlement but schools only have a finite amount. Something eg £2 from a £5 request is better than nothing rather than taking the " it's voluntary therefore don't have to pay" approach.

poppy-glos

this was the bit of the letter

'as it states in our charging policy, 'education during normal school hours is to be free from compulsory charge to parents and the school warmly endorses that principle and is committed to uphold the legal requirements.
It is recognised however, that many educationally valuable activities have been and will continue to be dependent on financial contributions in whole or in part from parents. Without financial support, the school would find it quite impossible to maintain the quality and breadth of the educational programme provided for pupils'.
As such we make no compulsary charge for swimming but ask for voluntary contributions to allow the activity to take place. No child will be excluded from any activity should their parent/carer not wish to make a voluntary contribution.'

I guess then, rereading it again,(esp the highlighted bit) the head teacher is suggesting that the swimming lessons may not take place should enough parents not contribute.. i guess the worse case senario is the school offer less lessons as legally they must provide some, his letter says 'currently the school intend to give 6 - 8 lessons each school year from Year 2 up to leaving primary school.'

poppy x

poppy-glos

Record of money requested by school, and extras requested by school, just to see how much it gets to,

£30 odd quid voluntary contribution asked for last week by teacher so child could swim (in school time for half a term) last week (now clarified by head does not have to be paid, but his letter still states swimming in school time would not happen if parents did not subsidise... not sure how they'd meet the national curriculum for ks2 if all parents didn't pay up) (swimming in south glos free, and 24 weeks a year rather than the 6-8 weeks the children get at our school)

£1 to go to pjjama drama (national reading week) at school on tuesday, not in school time, but children have had it bigged up in class and all eager to go so daughter wants to go too, so again would be 'left out' if i don't pay. (friend in south glos's son is going to one at his school in the evening, again with the hot choc and biscuit, and it's free at his school)

£2'sh take a bottle or chocolate (for the tobola at school fete ) into school to 'pay' (unclear if this is a voluntary contribution) for non uniform dressing up as a book character next week in national reading week.

i'm going to make a point of recording what the letters say each time i'm asked (already recyled and out of house for above ones) to send something in, just to build a picture of how much it all is..

PasturesNew

Personally, I'd pay and be grateful my kid was learning to swim. Being able to swim is an essential part of life. It's fun and enables your child to have fun in pools and other places for their lifetime. When they're 18 and want to impress the girls/lads at the seaside .... they need to know how to swim. When they're older and on holiday with their mates, they'll want to go swimming, surfing, mucking about in the water - it's expected that people can swim.

It's an essential life skill. Pay it and enjoy the fact you're protecting your child for life against them getting into trouble (possibly dying) when they are at a venue just having fun.

Child whatsit money's for things like this, not Nike boots or XBoxes.

Person_one

PasturesNew wrote: »

Personally, I'd pay and be grateful my kid was learning to swim. Being able to swim is an essential part of life. It's fun and enables your child to have fun in pools and other places for their lifetime. When they're 18 and want to impress the girls/lads at the seaside .... they need to know how to swim. When they're older and on holiday with their mates, they'll want to go swimming, surfing, mucking about in the water - it's expected that people can swim.

It's an essential life skill. Pay it and enjoy the fact you're protecting your child for life against them getting into trouble (possibly dying) when they are at a venue just having fun.

Child whatsit money's for things like this, not Nike boots or XBoxes.

Have you even read the thread? Because swimming is such a vital life skill it is on the national curriculum and every school is legally required to provide instruction in it for free. You know, like adding up and reading, would you expect the OP to pay extra for those too?

emmajh_2

Sorry but i cant believe you actually have to pay for swimming at the school!!! my daughter is lucky that they have a small pool at their schoolits outside and and has a cover of polycarbonate and they swim their and parents help out. we are NOT charged at all. My friends daughter attends a different school, they go to a centre for their l;essons, they also are not charged at all. We have been asked for contrbutions for things before i.e. school trips etc and theres pressure there to contribute and we get the 'if parents dont pay the kids cant go' line. its not fair if they force you to pay, its a form of PE

Indie_Kid

We had to pay for swimming when I was at school. As did my brother and sister.

Spendless

I got the prospectus for my DD starting Junior School in Sept. I am looking at it as I type. It says

'Children are taken for swimming instruction in yr 4 summer term and yr 5 autumn/spring terms. There is no charge to you for either transport or tuition'.

Even accepting as another poster pointed out that free transport might be due to the distance from school to pool, it doesn't explain why the OP's school is charging for swimming. Unless the contribution is due tot he transport and it just hasn't been worded very clearly.

If the OP's school was offerring over and above the 'usual' swimming lessons, I could understand a charge too, but 6-8 weeks in each school year is roughly what mine get, maybe even a little less than mine, swimming for 1 academic year