School seem to think we have a money tree at the bottom of the garden!

cheeswright

there is a lack of distinction here between
a. what the school asks for -
usually a contribution towards an activity - if you can afford it - these tend to go ahead whether you contribute or not and the money you dont contribute is often raised by the hard working pta
b. what the pta asks for
this is money put towards the enrichment of the whole school and its environment - they generally fill in the shortfall between basic funding and adequate funding - and often involves support of activities ( see above) - unfortunatly the parents of the kids at the school are always going to be the first to be asked to contribute.
However if your fed up of being asked please suggest to your school another source of income for this..parents who run their own businesses could for instance contribute and get a tax break..the pta tend to work REALLY HARD for not much return
and
c. extra curricular activities available through - but not supplied by - the school
these include individual music tuition - dance - etc...things where outside specialist teachers have to be paid to attend the school - these are often massivly discounted because of the schools "buying power" - but are all optional and are over and above the curriculum
and "holidays" with "free" teacher places...and if any of you want to spend 24 hours on a coach with a bunch of secondary school students followed by supervising them 24 hours a day for several days at a ratio of 8 to 1 - and then getting them all back in one piece ......actually you ought to consider how much you would pay to get out of it ! or write them a sympathy card...:D

cheeswright

oh - and I completely agree wth dizzblonde

its ikea pencils all round - and pay more for your swedish cushions !

WhiteHorse

Abbafan1972 wrote: »

Sport relief - I am quite happy to donate the £1 each required ...

Required? You have to donate? Children being put under pressure in order to get money out of the parents? That leaves a very bad taste in the mouth.

This actually happened to me at school. Children that didn't want to cough up were systematically bullied and humiliated by the staff.

However, in my case, they picked on the wrong person. Big time.

the_cat

euronorris wrote: »

Oh wow, that is frustrating! I don't think people appreciate how useful it will be, and just how much business we will be doing with China!

Are there any language schools locally, that offer courses in it? Perhaps not A-Level, but still enough to keep him moving forward and progressing with it? Or is distance learning an option with that one?

Well we are considering it but DS is worried about the amount of work he will need to do for the 4 A levels at college as it is.... he doesn't think it a viable option to study Mandarin as well! We will monitor it though once he has started college

Dizzi - great post!:T:T:T It's all too easy to get frustrated by the requests for money and forget the bigger picture.

WhiteHorse

dizziblonde wrote: »

Aaah the sniping and utter utter contempt of teachers [....] It's that level of utter resentment and hatred ...

Well now, let's see.

The question is why has an occupation that was generally respected (albeit not liked overmuch), become the object of such crushing contempt?

Could it have something to do with the fact that teachers collude with the government to hide the fact that schools now do little but turn out hordes of illiterate unemployables?

Check.

Perhaps it might have something to do with the fact that for decades, the teaching profession has been it the forefront of every crackpot, lunatic-left, social engineering scheme?

Check.

With the bickering and sniping and moaning and complaining - one day all the teachers are going to turn around ...

And quit? Good. Then we can reform the educational system properly by recruiting people from the real world.

POPPYOSCAR

Mother was a teacher, two aunts, SIL and niece.

All loved/love being teachers.

Niece has travelled all around the world on school trips and has had a ball, she would not do any other job as she loves being a teacher.I think it does have to be a type of vocation.

VfM4meplse

newmum2007 wrote: »

Would you prefer they went "unsupervised"?

DominicJ wrote: »

You can the teachers room and board, or you can pay the supervisors room, board and wages.....

WestonDave wrote: »

Which rather prompts the question - if it annoys the hell out of teachers and parents, why are we all still banging our heads on this brick wall? Surely the answer is to get together and come up with something that does work, rather than keep on, keeping on with something that doesn't!

It's a jolly, make no mistake. (For the younger teachers / those w/o a family of their own).

A remember a sixth form biology field trip, we had a right laugh with the teacher, but that may have been something to do with the fact she was only in her nid-twenties herself.

daisiegg

VfM4meplse, are you a teacher? Or are you basing your blanket statement on having been on a school trip yourself and observing that a young teacher was quite cheerful...?

suki1001

Well, I have to thank the op for starting this thread. My dd starts secondary school in september, we were told they had the opportunity to go abroad in yr 7, but I didn't think about it. Been into bank today, to set up account for school trips etc, because of this very thread and the thought of the costs.

I find with school uniform, if I buy from the supermarket, it shrinks and needs ironing. The school badge stuff has just lasted for years and years. infact I can't remember the last time I bought any polo shirts and jumpers, so I don't have to complain too much about it. 6 jumpers and 6 polo shirts between 2 isn't bad in the time they've lasted, I feel like I've paid for quality.

Our school does keep asking for money for fundraising, but out of it the whole school gets to go fully paid to a pantomime every year including coaches and the year six's get a free school year book. the fund raising went on things like a treehouse.

cheeswright

was going to comment - but heaved big sigh and walked away...