Never mind uniform, £120 Y7 invoice before we even start!

£20 for a specific calculator

Is this for sixth form? Otherwise what is there about the standard Casio fx-83 / fx-85 gt plus that the school doesn't feel it can work with?

That’s Catholic state schools, not private

I think this “voluntary contribution” has been a thing for a while, I have a job which involves working in a number of schools and it’s something I’m aware of Catholic schools asking for as early as 2011

Grr that's wouldn't

In a previous discussion on these boards I think the final sort of consensus was that schools should cut their cloth according to their budgets rather than requesting such donations.

They do but there is only so much cutting you can do before you start to have to stop doing things completely. I know sometimes the trips seem a bit to much, but often there are good reasons behind some of them.

If we didn't go overspend every year then we would provid all the equipment needed for, required science practicals. How would you like it out your kids never did any practical science or food tech or D T, these subjects all require quite a lot of consumable items to run.

DD's school give all pupils a £5 allowance for printing and copying, once they've spent it you can top it up £2 at a time. DD is just going into y10 and has never needed a top up.
Food on the other hand seems to be a bottomless pit.

Ive had to pay £1500 for "voluntary contributions" but it's not really as you have to explain yourself to the finance manager if you don't pay it. £50 for a bonding trip, £25 for a text book, £15 for locker, £20 for a specific calculator and £250 for uniform and still going....

Our PE lockers were £5 a year, paid yearly, at the DDs school (which was a boarding school as well!) and photocopying/printing were included. I think the team building trip should have some explanation, though.

We're asked for min £50 per year voluntary contribution. Plus a tenner here for food tech, tenner there for D & T, another tenner for the art sketchbook. Must have the recommended dictionaries and calculator amounting to another 30 quid or so. Plus at least one educational trip per half term which is never less than 20 quid. Plus residential trips that are very heavily sold to us, ranging from 400 upwards. At least 3 or 4 of those a year to choose from. And that's before you consider the music and sports trips and tours. This is a state grammar and a lovely school. I know money is a worry to them but next month I'm going to have 2 kids there and it's really going to squeeze us.

Schools can be a bit free with parents' money, sometimes.

Are you kidding? Have you seen the state of education budgets? It's the government being "free" with money. Schools are literally clawing back wherever they can.

Perhaps, in the past, a team-building trip would have been free. A locker would have been part of the package, and photocopying/printing would have been sucked up by the school budget but schools are losing literally hundreds of thousands of pounds in real terms, and many have little choice.

If children have to pay for lockers then maybe they will look after them better. Instead of vandalising most of them every year. Maybe the team building trips will enable them to learn more.

We managed just fine without 'team building' days...

Well yes, but we also 'coped' with bullying, struggled through undiagnosed SEN etc.

I'm going by the feedback from DDs tutor and year head and the 'transition teacher' who all really value them.

We managed just fine without 'team building' days...
A minimum monthly voluntary contribution...
And wtf £50 for lockers?! We paid £10 deposit every year and if we handed back the key at the end we got it back.

Wow! I have two much older DCs at secondary school. I have never been asked to pay for photocopying. The locker fee seems extortionate too - I may have paid £5 or £10.

Speaking as a school governor, I can tell you that schools are in DIRE financial circumstances. So it could be that your school is desperately trying to claw back some cash with these charges.

Along with a 'voluntary' minimum contribution of £65 monthly!

In a previous discussion on these boards I think the final sort of consensus was that schools should cut their cloth according to their budgets rather than requesting such donations.

£65 per pupil per month is a hell of a lot of extra funding.

Perhaps the photocopying charge is to cover worksheets that will be copied for them?

They have outsourced their lockers?

Yep. £143 via parent pay for dictionary, apron etc etc Along with a 'voluntary' minimum contribution of £65 monthly!

The team buildings can be really beneficial, they help the tutor group get to know each other, but also help the staff understand the pupils better so they can better support them.
If people take the view that it is a voluntary contribution and don't pay, they will stop doing them. Budgets are very tight.

The locker you may or may not need. At DDs school PE kit can be kept in a cupboard in the tutor room. Ours is £5 per year. DD was a laptop user so she had had one, and we will continue this year as it helps her be organised, but it isn't a necessity.

We haven't had a photocopying charge.

I have had to pay £35 for a team building trip and £10 for locker.

Yes, all that pesky tax we pay doesn't contribute at all...

If you really think we pay enough tax to cover all school costs your not living in realty. Schools are badly underfunded, struggling to cover basic costs like photocopying and books is normal. (Has been for years) But it does seem to be getting worse when we have to be careful about ordering glue and other needed supplies from our science budget, which hasn't gone up in years.

We have been asked for school fund donations already and informed of an upcoming residential trip
They have made it clear that if you are pupil premium school will pay but also to get in touch if you have trouble paying and that installment payments are an option

We've never been asked for money for photocopying. But I also don't think there is any expectation that students will do any! Paying some sort of fee/deposit for lockers seems normal.

We did pay for a team-building day at the beginning of year 7 and it is something that both my daughters still remember as an important rite of passage at their secondary school. They had a ball and it was a good way for students and staff to get to know each other away from school. £40 sounds reasonable, but I agree that it should be a voluntary contribution, not a compulsory fee.

I've just paid £425, a school trip on their second week and the first instalment towards his travel (school bus)

I think we have been very luckly so far in paying so little towards our children's education

Yes, all that pesky tax we pay doesn't contribute at all...