Gracehill PS (Ballymena) sending £2000 to Africa.

Ex-Spendaholic

As a parent of 4, I am personally sick of the "per child" donation thing in schools, GBs etc. Why they can't have a "per family" donation I'll never know.

D.A.

I'm wondering if the school ever actually asks its partners in Africa to account for where the money has gone to.

I'm not suggesting that in this case there's any particular problem, but having been involved in overseas work for a little while, the number of cases I saw where gullible westerners sent money and it was then used for a completely different purpose to what it was sent for was shocking...

tara747

How cheeky of the principal to do this! :eek:

I am against anything that puts pressure on children or parents in this way.

whiskeygalore

must say I totally agree with the happygardener it is a form of BLACKMAIL by this school, it causes embarrassment to both parent and child.if the school wants to send money why not have a carboot sale etc there are many ways in which money could be raised.

As regards the comments made by Absoluteutopia just ignore her she cannot help herself intimating that the school will easily find out who you are, so what make a stand, appears to be a sad sad woman

Golden_Anemone

Many years ago my children's primary school asked for a voluntary parental contribution. I was a single parent and full time student at the time and living off a combination of part time work, student grant, student loan and Access funds. When I received a letter reminding me that I hadn't paid this "voluntary" contribution I replied saying I wasn't in a position to pay it. I refused to be embarassed about it - I couldn't afford to be. Nobody ever said anything more about it and I don't think my children were treated any differently.

They can only blackmail you if you let them do so because they cannot legally enforce this request and they cannot discriminate against your children.

Old_Git

I never understood why schools here collected for children in Africa .
I always thought it would be better to have a cross community event here .
There are so many children here that have never met a child from a different religion .

happy_gardener

Anyway the Parents association in terms of raising funds seem to do well. here is a copy of the note that came home today:

Dear parent,
We would like to thnk everyone who has supported our events throughout the year. In the last year we have raised over £4000. From that we have been able to pay for the safety surface at the new play area, the climbing wall in the assembly hall and some digital movie cameras. We have also paid for the Bouncy Castle and the ice-creams at sports day!! We have a few events planned over the last term- there will be a fun evening following sports day on 30th May and the AGM will hopefully be brightened up as it will up with a 'Ready Stedy Cook' event on the 15th June.
For the past couple ot years we have help a 'Chinese Night' which has proved to be very popular. We are planning another one for Wednesday 18th May at the Happy Villa , Galgorm.
The tickets are £20 per head for a 3 course meal and there will also be a raffle on the night. If you are interested in attending please complete the reply slip attached and return to the school office by Wednesday 11th May.
Youre sincerely,

Teacey Logan (Chairperson)

Pretani

happy_gardener wrote: »

Anyway the Parents association in terms of raising funds seem to do well. here is a copy of the note that came home today:

Dear parent,
We would like to thnk everyone who has supported our events throughout the year. In the last year we have raised over £4000. From that we have been able to pay for the safety surface at the new play area, the climbing wall in the assembly hall and some digital movie cameras. We have also paid for the Bouncy Castle and the ice-creams at sports day!! We have a few events planned over the last term- there will be a fun evening following sports day on 30th May and the AGM will hopefully be brightened up as it will up with a 'Ready Stedy Cook' event on the 15th June.
For the past couple ot years we have help a 'Chinese Night' which has proved to be very popular. We are planning another one for Wednesday 18th May at the Happy Villa , Galgorm.
The tickets are £20 per head for a 3 course meal and there will also be a raffle on the night. If you are interested in attending please complete the reply slip attached and return to the school office by Wednesday 11th May.
Youre sincerely,

Teacey Logan (Chairperson)

take it further, you seem like the type of person who knows how to do it......let us know how it all pans out and who is ripping you off

drew2k9

Ex-Spendaholic wrote: »

As a parent of 4, I am personally sick of the "per child" donation thing in schools, GBs etc. Why they can't have a "per family" donation I'll never know.

I am a Scout leader and we have at least 3 sets of brothers in our troop, we understand the strain on a family if they have more than one kid to pay the subs, to pay the yearly fees to pay for our 4 or 5 camps each year and various other activities, so we actually give a good bit of grace to these families, allowing them to pay less if they have two kids etc, and we also let them pay us off over a period of up to a year for the more expensive camps such as summer camps across the water, and i think the parents really appreciate it, we also subsidise a lot of our activities and make as many as possible free, such as a night at the go karting (not cheap) all 16 boys and 4 leaders got it for free out of the funds we have.

i am dreading when i have kids how much the school trips etc are going to cost me, and it is only now that i am older that i realise how much my parents must have struggled to send me and my sister away on numerous school trips.

but i have never ever heard of anyone being forced to donate money to charity, it doesn't make sense at all! i would be seething with anger if it happened to me!

Snoozle

happy_gardener wrote: »

The principal (lexie Scott)is also a local councillor

He is well known, and involved, in the local community, but he is not on the council. (There is a list of all councillors on Ballymena Borough Council website.)

happy_gardener wrote: »

Lets hope my lot get in there, or the Academy!!

If you are concerned about Gracehill school being out of touch, as most of the parents have above average incomes, then brace yourself if you are considering Ballymena Academy as a secondary school. When I went there, I remember people being bullied mercilessly for such crimes as 'his dad only drives a bottom of the range BMW', or heaven forbid, living in a semi-detached house. I mean, where do they keep the ponies?! :rotfl:

In all seriousness though, I do see how you feel under pressure from the school, and I do think its terrible that parents should feel bullied into contributing more than they feel they can afford. But, having said that, its the very middle class-ness (probably not a word!) of Gracehill school that has most of the parents in the area breaking down the gates to get their children into it in the first place, and presumably you were aware of this when you made the decision to send your children there.