To think that advertising via an infant school bookbag is Not On?

[OddFodd]

I know the school gets money from Scholastic (even though it's shit) and I presume they get money from Primary Times and the other kid-focused newspaper that we also get every now and then. I don't mind them - they're infomercials which I can say to my DS are telling us about what's on over half term or whatever.

Today however, DS came home with Primary Times and a Change for Life leaflet (which I hate but we'll put that on one side for now) AND:
a National Trust leaflet
a PGL leaflet and ... (drumroll)
a VIRGIN MEDIA leaflet!!

WTAF? My child's state infant school is handing out advertising for private companies? I'm furious!

Do other schools do this? It seems entirely wrong to me

[potatofactory]

I think it's bollocks - we get private tutoring hard sell stuff, too, which promises a present if we turn up for the 'free' session - my dd is 6. Old enough to read 'present', btw!

[TurnOffTheTv]

Have a glass of wine. Calm down. Put them in the recycling. I don't know anyone who gets worked up over this. Just chuck them out!

[CrispyFB]

Ours does this.. although we've not had the Virgin Media one as far as I know but definitely had the rest recently. Then again we get so many through the letterbox maybe one fell out their book bags! Makes me laugh as Virgin refuse to wire up our street for reasons unknown but have done the rest of the area, yet we still get at least one Virgin spam a week.

[Sleepyhead33]

Budget cuts, cuts, cuts... Some schools are having to think of every more creative ways to raise money in order to provide necessary staff and resources to support your child's learning.
You are right to be curious but make sure you are furious at the right people.

[ThreeBeeOneGee]

We've had Primary Times & Change for Life. We also get flyers from companies offering extracurricular activities and a lot of bumf from extortionately priced holiday activity camps.

[AgentZigzag]

We had this when DD1 was at primary school, she came home with a colouring competition thing that was in a booklet all about estate agents in the area!

I did write to the school but can't remember the outcome, I don't think I noticed anything else coming through but that could have been for any reason.

I don't like it, or in hospitals either, I understand the argument that it saves money but there are some things the state should pay for and education/healthcare are two of those IMO.

They shouldn't be biased by commercial interests, companies shouldn't be able to buy our children's attention when they're at school.

I'd be interested to hear what teachers make of it.

[IwishIwasmoreorganised]

Those leaflets came inside ds's copy of the Primary Times, so I assumed that they were paying Primary Times to distribute them.

The amount that were dropped on the school yard, or on the street outside school makes me think that that particular advertising campaign won't be terribly successful!

[specialsubject]

these things aren't funded for free.

just put it all straight in the recycling. Same as all the stuff that comes through the letterbox. And teach your child to ignore advertising.

[OddFodd]

Oh Sleepy I want to shoot Gove but this makes me really uncomfortable.

It's a very, very slippery slope - You want a new library? Carry our leaflets in your bookbags. Actually, get 60% of families to sign up for XXX and THEN you can have a new library!!

[Waltonswatcher1]

Financial needs do not justify advertising within school .It is completely wrong and I would have to raise my concerns with The Head.
My guess is that this will escalate if allowed.
YANBU .

[AgentZigzag]

'And teach your child to ignore advertising'

Have you found a way to do that?

I'd love to hear it if you have.

[Mamagiraffe]

It's things like this which are making me consider home ed :-S

[Sleepyhead33]

TIP OF THE ICEBERG tbh.

Most people seem completely unaware of the fact that Gove is currently in the middle of a massive campaign to privatise education completely through the academies programme.

Whe teachers and leaders in education try to point this out and get a debate going about the future of education in this country the majority (it appears to me) of the general public seem to think teachers= lazy, long holidays blah blah blah and close their ears/eyes to what is happening.

Advertising in book bags-completely wrong but also the tip of the iceberg compared with what is actually happening to schools at the moment.

fight it, get angry, but at the local MPs not the Headteacher!

[foslady]

Thought that they were put in primary timrs too as we've had those.
Re advertising - I did it with my dd. 1 advert break showed 200 worth of crap. I told her how that would buy our monthly food, or pay half the mortgage and how many hours I had to wprk to buy it. She now is VERY cynical on advertising

[OddFodd]

That's a good idea foslady - DS buys into TV ads entirely. They may well have been inside Primary Times. They were lose inside DS's bookbag bu he has dyspraxia so it's very likely he dropped it and they all fell out but he put them back diligently!

I am entirely aware of Gove's intentions sleepy. By the time he's out of office, he will have dismantled so much of the infrastructure that I fear it will be impossible to put back :(

[Pipbin]

I get leaflets to hand out to my class, most of them though are things like local adult education, or 'whats on this half term'.

What worries me more is the turning of schools into academies which are then funded by private companies. I know of one local school who is funded by a stationary company and makes the school buy all their stationary through the company.

[StinkyElfCheese]

I have twins ... i get 2 lots of the same stuff twice weekly ..... we use most of it for lining the rat cage :)

[Hawkmoth]

This knacks me right off. However, I did have a little smile to myself when one of the brochures had in an advert for cheap holidays in term time.

[LiegeAndLief]

We had the change4life thing too. I tried not to let it get to me but was a bit incensed by the fact that it just seemed to be telling me to give my children low fat versions of things like milk and cheese. I didn't even know low fat cheese was a thing!

Anyway, I digress... YANBU. Football mad ds came home a month or so ago with a "free ticket" to see a nearby football team. He was really excited. Except of course it wasn't a free ticket because kids go free anyway and the adult tickets (as obviously he can't go on his own, he's 7) cost a fortune. Virgin media would really piss me off.

[OutragedFromLeeds]

I was going to say YABU, but YANBU about Virgin Media!! We get Primary Times and ones for drama clubs/football/tutoring etc., but I don't mind those because the school usually get a free session or something out of it. Virgin Media is taking it a bit far.

[CaptainTripps]

Pity the poor LSAs or teachers who have to stuff this crap into their bookbags. Even with the older kids, it is beyond hassle to have to give these piles of shite out.

[QueenQuinine]

It annoys me because I get all this stuff, and part of me thinks why, then, shouldn't I advertise my locally based company via the school, because if I don't, someone else will, but I don't want anyone to ... and it all gets a bit confusing.

[clam]

I won't do it. We teachers complain vociferously about leaflets as we're not bloody postmen, so they're reduced in volume in our school as they irritate the Head too.
Important letters, I give out one by one. Advertisements, at the very most, I might put in a pile by the door and say 'help yourself.' and bin the rest

And anything that comes through my door via the postman I stick back in the letterbox. They get paid to deliver it, they can take it away it again.

[scaevola]

It's sod all to do with Gove.

My DC started school under New Labour and we had similar junk mail and frequently.I just shoved it in the recycling (as the school made money from it).

[JumpingJetFlash]

I completely agree about not handing out leaflets that are in no way related to the kids ie virgin media but what's your issue with Scholastic??? It seems a bit random to take against a company that sell books and the school get free books for their library. (And no I don't work for them by the way).