Schools expect parents to pay, pay, pay

Busybee_2

First I want to point out that I am no scrooge. I am however someone on a low budget who prefers to have the freedom of choice to decide for myself where my money goes.

I am sick of my child coming home from school with notes asking for money.

The latesy of course is red nose day. For a certain amount the kids are exempt from wearing uniform on Friday. This is the latest of many 'Mufti' days. There has been fundraising 'mufti' letters for Tsunami appeal (£3), jeans for Genes (£1 per child or parent wearing jeans), shades day (£1), NSPCC (£1), to name just a few over the past few months. The children are met at the school gates with prefects shaking collection tins. If our child does not take part and does not pay the designated amount they are ridiculed throughout the whole day. I object to this pressure on my child to hand over cash.

Christmas time they had a 'mufti' day where we were expected to supply a bottle of 'Christmas cheer' for an adult tombola stall at the Christmas Fete.
On top of this expense the school expects regular (about three times per term) donations of cakes, which they then expect parents to buy back during their cake sales.

Added to this is the workshops (£3-50 minimum per time) and school trips (£17 a time) every term. I was even expected to pay £35 for swimming lessons because "it is part of the national curriculum" that the children are taught to swim whilst at school. My child has been having private swimming lessons for the past five years and swims very well already...but I still had to pay because she was expected to join her classmates at the pool.

Am I the only one sick of the pressure put on my child and I to part with money? Is every school the same? Are other parents happy to pay,pay,pay?

surfcat

perhaps you would like to pay more tax?

catsonic

I know how you feel busybee. I have 3 kids and it gets chuffing expensive when they all have to do the non uniform day.

Its not that i mind paying the money but it not "would you be willing" its just ecpected.

Tomorrow is waky hair day for my youngest. They cant do it unless they take in a "silver or gold coin". I should send her off with 5p!! lol

shrek101

Over 60% of our council tax pays for education. Perhaps we ought ask those who earn wages that don't yet contribute council tax to do so.

surfcat wrote:

perhaps you would like to pay more tax?

scooper

hi, i agree with you, my son who started nursery in jan has come home with 3 letters so far, red nose day one where on fri he has to come in with the madest haircut we can thinkof and pay 50p, alright 50p not alot of money but you are expected to do this if not then he willprobably be the only one who hasnt got a silly hair style!even though he has his hair on a number 3 and the only thing i could do is spray colour it, and i cant see him letting me do that.
the other week it was another thing for charity where they come dressed as a character out of a book, they told us a day before, and we had nothing to dress up with at all so i would have had to buy him something for one day, which i didnt do because in the end he stayed off,not because he didnt have anything we ahd to go somewhere.
as much as i do support these charitys and i do and have contributed to them by myself at home i do feel pressure to contribute to it and feel if i dont then i will be the bad stingy mother of so and so!!
my son is only 3 years old and in nursery so i know
it will get worse when he goes to bigger school and more trips and other events come up, so im slightly dreading them.

surfcat

sorry my earlier reply was perhaps a little flippant.

In terms of the charity, I agree with you. When it becomes a forced mechanism, it is no longer charity and simply becomes a matter of going along with the crowd. I remember being at school and there being a limit of only one charity day per year (ie where the whole school was involved in no uniform), but there would still be other collections eg for the pppy appeal.

As far as the other stuff goes, if swimming is part of the national curriculem (sp) then you could probably object to paying that.

But moaning about baking some fairy cakes? Schools have a limited budget and have to prioritise their funds. Any extra they can get from fetes etc is a bonus.

School trips now cost so much to pay for the insurance in case little Johny trips and the parents sue.

Becles

I'm a single Mam on a low income. I do get fed up with having to send money in, baking cakes and donating other items, and badly worded letters saying they are not allowed to ask for money for school trips, but if you don't pay up they may cancel the trip :mad:

However, look around next time you are in school.

We have a 'Friends of......' charity that was started 3 years ago. In that time, they have paid for
Both sets of manky, gloomy toilets to be replaced with new fresh loos
Equipment like bats and balls, skipping ropes and hula hoops to play with at break/lunchtime
New PE and IT equipment
Replaced tatty carpet areas in classrooms
Painted the main hall and repaired the flooring
Put up wallboards to display pupil work in the hall/foyer
New climbing frame/slide for the nursery children

My children get the benefit from money donated, which is good for both them and their classmates.

robnye

shrek101 wrote:

Over 60% of our council tax pays for education. Perhaps we ought ask those who earn wages that don't yet contribute council tax to do so.

thats where poll tax came in.......... but was short lived

culpepper

My mother refused to pay for anything extra at all when I was at school in the 70's. I used to stay at home on school trip days and because my mother would not pay the old school fund at the begining of each term I had to carry all my books about with me as the locker (rent)money came out of that fund.
Swimming was free thankfully so I could do that.
Even the duke of edingburgh award scheme cost money so after having signed up for it I had to say we couldnt afford it.
Extras at school which were pay for only were musical instrument lessons,rock climbing and sailing .Our school was well up in the facilities dept but only if you had the readies.

When mine were at infants school I had to pay for them to go to Gym which was run by a local Gym club(one of the teachers was a helper there) I complained saying I resented paying for an activity they could do at school for free .Swimming would be far more useful.They did eventually drop the gym but the swimming lessons were still paid for .They were worse than useless, my son could swim before he started them and I was told he could now float on his back at the end of term!!

Busybee_2

Thanks for all your replies. Its good to hear other peoples views.

I hope it did not come across that I expect my daughter to have everything yet expect to pay nothing. That could not be further from the truth. I just do not appreciate myself, or worst still my daughter, being put under pressure to pay money whenever someone else dictates. This is more to do with the 'donations' to charities than to the school fundraising for themselves. We do not object to giving to charities. As a family we often donate to charities that we feel we would like to help. This is done as and when we can afford it and however much we can afford at the time. We have often done our own fundraising (boot sales) in order that we can donate to a particular cause.

Becles: I agree with you. Our children do benefit from money donated but I would prefer my 'donations' to be voluntary and not compulsary.

Surfcat: I do not object to making a few fairy cakes at all. I object to being told that I WILL supply cakes or else my daughter will be expected to turn up in school uniform and be ridiculed all day.

Xbigman

Charity days.
This seems to be an epidemic in this country. We had red nose day at work as well as jeans days and all the others. Occasionally I buy raffle tickets or sponsor colleagues for stuff but I draw the line at the way some people belittle others for not getting involved. Some of this borders on Harrassment.

I know schools are hard pressed but some just go too far. I'd speak to the headmaster and tell him your concerns. They'll probably be ignored but stand up for yourself.

On poll tax.

Brilliant idea. Every one who works pays poll tax.
Implementation, appalling. I had to pay for me and non working partner as well thus paying double. Glad its gone.
Regards



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