£50 a month parental contribution for schooling

[noblegiraffe]

Apparently £50 per month is what some schools are asking parents to contribute to school funds.

How much does your school ask for, and do you actually pay it? Do you know if it goes into general coffers or is it for the PTA to buy ‘extras’?

And does the school ask you to pay for textbooks?

Just being nosy, really. My school doesn’t ask for anything, neither does my DCs’ primary (outside of PTA cake sales etc) so I have no idea how common this is.

[fleshmarketclose]

Dd's school didn't ask for anything and you didn't have to buy text books but many, including myself, did because it doubled the length of time available to complete homework,projects, revision etc if you had your own copy. Otherwise you had to negotiate with your partner. ASD and highly anxious doesn't make for a good negotiator so it was easier all round.

[Iwantacampervan]

Two children have gone through two different secondary schools and I've only been asked for £30 at the start of yr 7 to cover locker, planners etc for one of them. I bought revision guides but no text books (not sure they used many) but I did buy a copy of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' for eldest daughter.
A friend has been asked to contribute to the Governors' Fund at her son's catholic secondary, £50 a year I think.

[SluttyButty]

Not my younger children's schools. But my eldest went to a Faith school and requested a 'voluntary' yearly contribution and they chased you for it if it was late. I can't remember how much it was now though because it was years ago.

[RueDeWakening]

Primary school requests something like £20 for the first child, per year. There's a sibling discount so it's never more than £30 a year.

DD's new grammar school requests £30/ month. She has FSM and we won't be paying it.

[Laniakea]

dd's school (state comp) ask for £35 a year which we pay - they don't make a big fuss about it but there's a link on the parentpay account. They do a sponsored walk every year too - we probably donate another £30 or so for that.

[Passthecake30]

Infants asked for a £10 "voluntary" contribution per year. It wasn't very clear with how it was planned to be used... so I think I paid it once.

[Laniakea]

oh & yes text books - we've bought dd's all the way through school (& revision guides & set texts) although they only officially ask you to do so in sixth form they encourage it at GCSE.

[That1950sMum]

I think the secondary school asked for a voluntary contribution but we didn't pay it. We do have to pay £25 per year for DT equipment.

[Dragonglass]

None of the schools (primary and secondary) that my children have attended have ever asked for a parental contribution. Neither does the secondary school that I work at.

[ThatsPoker]

My kids primary school (which is a faith school) request £360 per term per child. They go on and on about saying they are in financial trouble, due to it being a faith school, they are granted less funds from the government than a regular primary, and this makes up the shortfall. About 30 families in the entire school (of about 150-200 families) pay the full amount. I pay £75 per month for 2 kids and can barely afford that.

[Heifer]

DDs school asked for a yearly donation. I pay £30.00 per year. They missed a trick really as we had to complete the DD forms before we actually went to the meeting where were heard the reasons why they were asking. I would had offered more after the meeting but never got around to it. I often give donations for every appeal they have on the Parent Pay system instead. I figure it all helps DDs education and experience at school. It's not the schools fault they need to ask for donations to keep offering the same experiences.

[BarbarianMum]

We pay £20 pa for tech materials for ds1 (secondary).

[MrsHathaway]

Our school only usually asks for very specific things e.g. £4 for a term's baking ingredients. Everything else is via PTA. We probably contribute £50-100 per child per year? Not a lot in the grand scheme of things.

[TeenTimesTwo]

Neither our primary nor secondary ask for any regular donation.

The closest they get is when the PTA subsidises some things, and people get a chance to not use the subsidy and pay in full.

There was a long discussion recentlyish on I think AIBU but it might have been here, with people saying that, even if these requests are 'suggested voluntary donations', people on low incomes feel morally obligated to pay, and therefore that they shouldn't be asked for.

[ScattyCharly]

All schools are desperate for money. State and private. Friend works at v expensive private. Kids get no text books. In classroom, there are 20 yr old text books. Children use when in classroom. Next class use, next class use throughout the day. But no child can ever take a textbook home.

If school asked for money, you should pay it as long as you can afford it. If can’t afford, don’t pay. But it will likely be spent on absolute basics

[lapenguin]

I didn't know this was actually a thing until just now... I don't think my schools ever asked for any donations like that but we would do bake sales or mufty day or toy day etc where you would have to pay £1 to wear your own clothes or to bring in your toy etc.

[DontCallMeBaby]

Secondary ... optional contribution by direct debit. It’s made very clear that it’s optional, but very much appreciated. We pay £15 per month - DH is not keen, but I’ve been a governor and I know how schools struggle. Though my real reason for paying is that I feel no qualms whatsoever about never going to a PTA event.

We got the year’s thank you letter last week - it went towards redeveloping and kitting out the music block, a new outdoor area, the textiles room, running the minibus, ICT equipment, and air con for one particularly hot room.

As DD is year 9 and dropping music and textiles, isn’t a member of any sports teams (minibus) and doesn’t go outside if she can help it, she might benefit from the ICT kit ... and if she ever gets the hot classroom!

[iMatter]

We pay £100 a month (2 kids at the same secondary)

The cuts have been brutal and schools need all the help they can get.

We are fortunate enough to be able to pay it (whether we should have to is another matter but we do)

[unintentionalthreadkiller]

We're being asked for £10 per month per child. They'll then ditch the weekly cake sales / fancy dress days / random requests for money. It'll probably cost me less in the long run.

[JumpingFrogs]

£30 for first child at primary, £25 for additional children. Never minded that as newsletter used to mention each thing funded by these contributions (puppet shows, equipment etc) so I felt it was completely transparent. However, children are at single sex comprehensives now. Boys' school requests £120 per year whereas Girls' school doesn't ask for anything. No transparency at all about what £120 funds, but I suspect it's rugby, rowing and music. Struggled to find £120 and as ds did none of these activities I refused to pay after first couple of years. At both comprehensive we have been expected to provide ALL course books - one dc 's A level course books cost NB nearly £200. We are not a wealthy family and this has been a real struggle at times.

[admission]

There are some really high figures for what you are being asked for and it needs to be put into context a little. If you have a secondary school asking for £50 a month that is £600 a year. The school is funded using the new national funding formula with some standard funding meant to pay for school structures such as the office etc and then a figure per pupil. The figure now in the national funding formula is £4600 minimum. So you are contributing an extra 13% of funding to the school.

Whilst schools need more funding from central government, asking parents to contribute an extra 13% seems to me to be far to much and questions whether the school really are learning to live within the budget they are allocated.

[NewBallsPlease00]

Admission, it’s not a cas of learning to budget- if you have same money and higher overheads you have to make cuts. The most expensive of which are people. I’d like teachers teaching my kids not glorified TA who aren’t paid enough or trained enough to do that role.
What I do wish is that more schools would seek proper business managers to support so teachers can be educational specialists and someone who is used to maximising money can focus on that/ working together so is spent in the right places...

[beingsunny]

Around $500 per year for primary