expensive subs for ks2 choir!

[conistonoldwoman]

Do you think paying £20 per term a bit much to ask for what I think should be a free activity.
The letter says it's for admin costs. They employ someone from outside to help tutor them. i presume the session lasts 30 minutes of the lunch break.
there are 8 classes in ks2 so there must be a reasonable contingent in the choir. maybe 30 plus. Do the maths and that's quite a hefty amount.
I have queried the cost today and am awaiting a response.

[mrz]

If they are employing someone to tutor the choir I imagine they are out of pocket if there are 30 children that's £600 for 13 weeks equal to about £45 a week

[numbum]

We pay for clubs if they get an outside coach/tutor in. I thought it was normal to do so

[conistonoldwoman]

It's broken down as £2 per session...DD thinks there are 40 members. He can't be asking to be paid £80 surely?

[conistonoldwoman]

Private voice tuition is a snip compared to that!!

[TheDoctrineOfSciAndNatureClub]

Are there materials like photocopied song sheets?

[BackforGood]

I don't think £2 a session is unreasonable to pay for my dc to be able to do an activity / learn a new skill.
She's (well, I have) being paying £2.20 a week for her chess club for the last 4 years - chap comes in specially to tutor them.
We pay £2 for a football coaching thing. All fairly normal I'd say.

[conistonoldwoman]

A teacher at the school is responsible for the running of the choir and he provides some specialist input.
I am quite in favour of paying for extra curricular activities. what concerns me is whether we are overpaying.

[mrz]

It really depends on what the school has to pay the tutor.

[Knowsabitabouteducation]

My DD, aged 10, is in a 48 voice choir. The subs are £60 a term. We also pay £200 a term for private singing lessons.

You have to pay for quality.

[conistonoldwoman]

Is that a ks2 choir knowabit about or an organised community choir?
I remember paying something like £40 a term for something similar for my other dd. But rehearsals were an hour long and employed 2 people, the choir leader plus a pianist. The membership was very modest so maybe they could have charged less if it had been more popular.

[redskyatnight]

KS2 choir at DS's school is free and lasts for an hour after school.
I'd actually be happy to pay £2 for this, but think £2 for a lunchtime club (when it's limited time and your DC is likely to forget is a bit much).

[SminkoPinko]

There's no one willing to provide free activities these days, sadly. The big society is not free of charge or open to all. So I suppose it comes down to whether your daughter likes choir and you can afford it.

[MoreBeta]

I have to say I am rather surprised that a Primary school brings in a specialist teacher. Whatever happened to normal school choir singing being taught by a teacher or in music lessons?

DS2 attends a choir in our local cathedral and we pay nothing although he has to sing in 1 service per week. His school is private school but the choir in the school is integrated into normall school life - not a separate club.

I am slightly suspicious that extra curricular clubs are becoming a bit of a money spinner.

[conistonoldwoman]

We have loads of free activities at the school where I teach...just teaching staff providing extra curricular opportunities. The choir is free, even though a peripetetic teacher is employed to help.
Schools must be funded differently I suppose.