is it fair for a school to run expensive dinner time clubs?

cheepskate_2

artichoke wrote: »

Hi Dizziblonde

and i did not go back to my well paid job as i decided that now i had been so lucky i was going to stay home and enjoy them - hence we now live on very little money, and i am trying my best for my children.

that whilst they are playing out at dinner time they will have full view of the rich kids playing football with the local premiership logo flying around everywhere. It seems unjust to me.

Maybe its just me today, but how on earth can you make these statement.

Rich kids , are they really, or do their parent prioritise.

What your really want is to stay home with your kids and be a bit poorer because of it but people that go out to work and cant spend as much time with their children better not be able to benefit from their extra slog at the office.

Rather than educate your kids that they have to have what the Jones have, and if they dont then the Jones should not have it also , you should educate them that you dont get everything you want in life and life is about choices.

My child goes to a fee paying school, I am in the minority and dont have much money. My son sees on a daily basis extravagence that he could never hope for. I would never dream of learning my son to be envious of these children, nor would I say that these children should not be allowed xyz because we cannot do it.

Saying that my son just cant understand why we cant have the yellow Ferrarri that comes to school each day too .

DaisyFlower

artichoke wrote: »

i did not go back to my well paid job as i decided that now i had been so lucky i was going to stay home and enjoy them - hence we now live on very little money, and i am trying my best for my children.


I am not just moaning about a lunch club, i am moaning about the fact that some children will be excluded from a popular activity occurring during the school day, because it is expensive AND that whilst they are playing out at dinner time they will have full view of the rich kids playing football with the local premiership logo flying around everywhere. It seems unjust to me.

Its not unjust, all schools usually offer clubs that require payment especially when its an outside provider. Should they stop offering these for fear that one parent may not approve?

Your "rich kids" comment is uncalled for, just because a parent pays for a club doesnt mean they are rich - maybe they just prefer to provide activities for their children and budget elsewhere. People have different priorities.

It could be at lunchtime as it was the only slot available or perhaps other parents have asked if some clubs can be ran in school hours etc.

artichoke

hi all

ok - i take your point about the rich kids comment....

i was just thinking of the people here in my village who i know have signed up for the football coaching - i know they are families with very, very high incomes for whom money is just not an issue, and other mums on more normal salaries have spoken to me saying they are going to pay for it because they don't want there kids to feel left out. That is why i object to them being at lunch time - because some parents are feeling they have to rejig their budgets so as to not let the kids feel excluded . If the classes were after school i would have no complaint as it would not be obvious to those who did not go along. I do not think that activities should not exist just because some can not afford them - but i do think they should not take place in lunch time when others have to sit outside the classes and look in.


So i retract the Rich kids comment - sorry for any offense - as i said in an earlier post i COULD afford if it is i tweaked the food budget and bought food i would not normally buy, you are right it is about priorities....having re-read my post i regret using the term rich kids...and don't want to offend others who pay for these things

i just wish the head had not put us in this position of all worrying about it at the school gate...

art

vaio

artichoke wrote: »

Hi Dizziblonde

I don't usually post on this board so i dont know your history but i do understand where you are coming from, and i am really sorry to hear of your loss.

One of the children i am referring to is the result of ivf after nearly ten years of trying to conceive. She was our third and final go at ivf. I am very lucky to have my kids, and i did not go back to my well paid job as i decided that now i had been so lucky i was going to stay home and enjoy them - hence we now live on very little money, and i am trying my best for my children.

Your post has made me remember how i used to feel - hearing people who had kids moaning about them (even if jokingly) and i thought how dare you moan - at least you have kids.

So - i do understand how awful life is when you are unable to have a child.

I am not just moaning about a lunch club, i am moaning about the fact that some children will be excluded from a popular activity occurring during the school day, because it is expensive AND that whilst they are playing out at dinner time they will have full view of the rich kids playing football with the local premiership logo flying around everywhere. It seems unjust to me.

and by the way i was a teacher before i had kids, but i have always campaigned for fair education that does not exclude any child on any grounds.

As i said i have never posted on this board before as i usually post on OS, i did not realize there were infertility threads on here.... maybe it would be better to have a separate board for infertilty threads as they do on infertiltiy bulletin boards, as i do know it is upsetting to read about other people's problems with their children.

Anway Dizziblonde i do wish you all the best and hope you are able to have a child soon

art

katieclampet wrote: »

What a sensitive and thoughtful response.

katiex

Thoughtful & sensitive it might be but it also seems completely out of context or have I missed something?

Soubrette

vaio wrote: »

Thoughtful & sensitive it might be but it also seems completely out of context or have I missed something?

Yes - the original post was deleted and the one you quoted was edited by abuse.

Sou

msb5262

Hello vaio,
I can see why you're confused.
For your information, the post to which the OP was responding has been removed.
I thought that
a) the OP's response was indeed sensitive and thoughtful and
b) the post in question being removed was a wise idea.
Let's move on, if that's ok.
HTH
MsB

galvanizersbaby

artichoke wrote: »

hi
they are in the same class as it is a small rural state primary school - only 65 in the whole school....and so only 3 classes in the whole school.

i know the football coaching is not important -the problem is in such a small school they will notice that some of their friends are going to something that i have said they can not go to..

anyway it is the village football coaching tonight so i will see what the other parents think - this training is for the village team - and costs £1 for an hour - but does not have the glamour of the city premiership team coaching with FC logos on prominent display:mad:

I was confused as to your children being in the same year group but I see now

To be honest I think irrelevant of the cost and the fact that children will feel left out if they are not involved in these sessions as I said my major concern would be a child as young as 4 (reception class age) using lunchtime to recieve football coaching rather than eating their lunch and letting off steam by having the opportunity to give their brains a rest
In my opinion I think kids this young need lunchtime to be just that.

kingfisherblue

Under the extended schools agenda, schools do have to provide more activities for children and some of these are in lunchtime sessions. Somebody (can't remember who, sorry) said that their headteacher told them that they now have to charge because of extended schools - this is incorrect. In fact, many schools receive generous payments to run more activities. My son's primary school - 200 pupils - received £86,000 for extended schools activities.

I think the main reason for the OP's school to charge is that it is an outside provider, and therefore a business. Businesses obviously want to make a profit. Extended schools has meant that more outside providers can work in schools and get paid for it, but obviously they cannot be everywhere at once. If they hold ten sessions a week in ten different schools, five will be after school and five will be in the lunchtime period. They would not be able to hold these sessions in lesson times.

FWIW, I don't think football coaching would be a great way to spend more money if the children already receive it elsewhere. Our extended school budget helps to pay towards a wider variety of activities that the children are less likely to be able to participate in, such as fencing, recording their own music on CDs, streetdancing, DJing, and music lessons. The groups are held either at lunchtimes or after school, depending on when the companies can come in to hold the sessions. The variety means that there is something for most children, regardless of their talents. The sessions are also subsidised.

Our extended school budget also pays for Cubs, Brownies and other external clubs (including sports clubs such as football and swimming) for some of the pupils, on receipt of proof of payment and attendance.