Money Moral Dilemma: Should the school have paid?

linzi268

This is a horrible situation. How can you legislate against the children for the sins of their parents? On the other hand, it does need to be made clear to the parents that this could nor be an ongoing situation. Perhaps said parents could be informed well in adance on future occasions to give them the chance to save the money. In the meantime, could the PTA not have taken up the slack? After all, money raised by them is for the benefit of the pupils.

Are the rules different in Scottish schools? I don't ever remember being asked for a voluntary donation for any school trips. I'm pretty sure there was a set rate for each trip but my memory may be playing tricks on me!

jenniewb

Depends on the situation. Some parents don't like their children watching certain things under religious reasons or cultural differences (or both).

The school could have called the parents beforehand and asked if there was a reason, if not asked for payment and if no payment were to be made, find out why. If it was a cash-flow problem they could have looked into why: had a parent just lost a job? had a divorce? then maybe allowances could have been made, but maybe not if it was simple overspending.

If there was more then two children, I don't think theres any problem with having the children do something else if the parents didn't want to pay up, the children can keep each other company and theres no need for any sort of homework or punishment, they could have gone to the park. However, just one child? I'd want to question that with the parent.

Too simple a question to answer with one word MSE!

SamW

As far as I know (I am a teacher)...
Like Grumpyrallyswife said, school's technically can only ask for a voluntary contribution for such an activity (especially if they expect all children to attend). As such, school's calculate how much it would cost per child and then generally speculate that around 10% of the children (or their parents/carers) will not pay and work that in accordingly. It might not be the case at this establishment, but at mine we wouldn't not allow the children to watch... but we might ask for the money directly from the parents afterwards in a roundabout way e.g. 'so and so enjoyed the play/pantomime/production today' - it normally reminds the parents quite well!
The only way that a child cannot watch or participate in an activity is if they have been withdrawn formally from part of the curriculum or the activity by their parents/carers (e.g. for religious or personal reasons).

tabithakated

a few years ago my daughter asked for £3.50 to see santa at school, she was lucky i had it as it was that day and no letters had been sent home. when i asked about it later that eve she told me she got a pressent but gave it to a friend who had forgotton her money and was told to sit outside the room while all the other kids in her class went into see him. i was horrified how a school could do this to a child.

beemuzed

Recently retired primary head here - schools can only ask for a voluntary contribution. If the event is in school time children can't be excluded just because their parents haven't paid. Of course, if the parents don't want their children to attend (sometimes happens on religious grounds) that's a different matter - but children musn't miss out on grounds of cost. As others have said, if it's a trip out and insufficient funds are forthcoming, then maybe the trip can't go ahead, but that's a different matter - it's certainly not right to exclude a few.

lyndorset

Problem is it sets a precedent. Then what if next time, 20 extra younger kids turned up. No room for the schools own students who it s for!

These parents should have rung ahead and checked. In fact I think they were very cheeky turning up with extra children.

Judith_Proctor

Most of the replies seem to be assuming that there was a school trip to see the play, but the way I'm reading the post is that the theatre group came to the school.

That means that the legislation relating to school trips would not apply.

We're also not told whether the performance was during school hours. That would affect whether the play was part of the curriculum or not. (The fact that parents were allowed to watch suggests that it might have been in the evening.)

gaily

That's not very nice telling a group of kids, on the day, when all their mates are excited, that they can't come in.....

As a mother of twins who was dreading the first school trip as i'd have to pay for the pair of them (rather than split the cost over 2 separate outings as i would with kids of differing ages.) I was pleasantly suprised by the schools attitude that although the cost was £13, it was a voluntary contribution, and they only expected each family to contribute once!!

I thought schools now had to operate on the basis of 'contributions' - certainly for things going on in school through the day (which is how the question appears). If Mum & Dad couldn't afford it, and it was part of the curriculum, then the children should not be penalised.

For a performance outside school hours, or away from the school premises, then I can see that the rules may be slightly different, but in that scenario, the parents shouldn't have sent their kids to the therate (or to school for transport to the theatre, or the perfomance if an evening thing at the school)

This sort of thing should be worked out in advance so as not to embarrass the kids involved. It can dent a young persons self esteem - especially if Mum/Dad forgot to pay, rather than were incapable.....

(to all those non parents out there, it can happen to the most elephant-like of us occasionally when you've got little ones underfoot!)

bobmccluckie

Schools are forbidden from doing this. They have clearly breached Govt guidelines.

faith2468

I recently contacted my child's school about a trip they had organised. They had decided to take the pupils to an activity centre as part of their pastoral care and the cost was £15. My child was not that interested in going and at one stage almost all their friends were saying they would not go.
The reason I contacted the school was that our child was told that those who did not go on the trip had to go to school. If they were kept off of school, after all it was a fun day out not a learning experience, they would be put in detention on the last day of school and not allowed home at mid day like the others.
Those who did go to school instead of the day out were told they would be doing litter picking duty.
I rang the school and said that it felt that they were punishing the children whose parents were on a low income. £15 may not seem much but if you are on a low income it is a lot of money.
The school got back to me and told me that my child could go on the trip the next day and that they would sort out the payment.
As a result my child went on a school trip that others paid £15 and we paid nothing. I feel guilty, but then again I have paid for every other trip and I felt that a day at an activity centre, whilst being a good way to get the children to learn about working together, was an expensive choice.
I found out later that some of the children stayed at the school and activities were brought into the school. Should they have paid the same as those who went to a centre in a coach?