Can academies charge for equipment?

OP are you keeping the Art pack or will you be returning it once your child has left school?

The school is given a set amount
of money per disadvantaged child. Whilst some of the money is earmarked for more general things, they do fund “extras” for certain pupils like trips, revision guides, equipment etc. That is what the money is there for. If parents are in difficultly, then they need to contact the school and they will help.

You misunderstand.
Schools can, and do, spend their pupil premium money on anything that raises attainment for disadvantaged students. This can include, for example, training some staff in better methods to target effective intervention, providing revision guides, staffing an intervention program etc.

The money isn't earmarked for anything beyond raisinf attainment for disadvantaged students. There's a common myth on Mumsnet that anytime a PP eligible student needs something that parents should contact school and school will pay.

Schools are accountable for the impact of PP funds on a cohort level .

they do fund “extras” for certain pupils like trips, revision guides, equipment etc. That is what the money is there for. If parents are in difficultly, then they need to contact the school and they will help

That may be true at your school. I can assure you it is not true at all schools by any means. The school is required to show that it is using the pupil premium in ways that benefit disadvantaged children. I know of schools that achieve this without doing the things you list. Maybe they should but there is currently no specific requirement for them to do so.

I think the main issue is that lots of parents who complain are not the ones who can’t actually afford it. They are the ones who would just rather spend their money on other luxuries as they don’t see their child’s education as being their responsibility.

I agree completely.

Sorry, I pressed post before I finished. I think the main issue is that lots of parents who complain are not the ones who can’t actually afford it. They are the ones who would just rather spend their money on other luxuries as they don’t see their child’s education as being their responsibility.

@prh47bridge The school is given a set amount
of money per disadvantaged child. Whilst some of the money is earmarked for more general things, they do fund “extras” for certain pupils like trips, revision guides, equipment etc. That is what the money is there for. If parents are in difficultly, then they need to contact the school and they will help.

sunshine that is the way PP should work, yes. But in truth there is a a gulf in some schools between what it should be paying for, and what it does pay for. It isn't an amount that is ring-fenced for the particular child who attracts it, it can be spent on improving the overall attainment gap between disadvantaged and more fortunate pupils. Phr47 is correct. And writing to your MP is great but won't solve the immediate issue at hand, which is a school trying to hood wink parents into thinking they have the right to charge for certain things when they don't. Many parents wouldn't have the nous to investigate and would just take the word of the school - it is a separate matter from overall school funding.

That isn't how pupil premium works. It is not some kind of individual budget. I am certainly aware of schools that try to levy illegal compulsory charges on all parents, including parents of children for whom the school receives the pupil premium. So my point is completely valid.

I could have written to my MP. However, state funded schools are now outperforming independent schools despite the fact that the latter receive better funding. Research has shown that there is no correlation between funding and outcomes in state schools in England. And, as I pointed out previously, many state schools manage to comply with the law, including many of the schools with the lowest funding per pupil. So I don't believe lack of funding is a good reason for schools to break the law.

@prh47bridge Disadvantaged students don’t have to pay. They will mostly get funded via the pupil premium grant the school receives. Therefore, your point about poor children being excluded or being barred from receiving a full education is invalid.

In the time you have spent posting about those awful schools charging parents for an art pack or a pen or a calculator, you could have written to your MP asking what they are doing to help increase funding in schools.

The reason the law prohibits schools charging is, of course, so that they don't exclude disadvantaged children from activities. In the context of a typical secondary school budget, £10 for an art pack is nothing. For a poor family it may be a lot of money. The goal is that poverty should not bar a child from receiving a full education.

Schools can charge for optional extras such as music tuition, board and lodging on a residential visit and any activity that takes place completely or mainly outside school time and isn't part of the national curriculum, an exam syllabus or religious education. For everything else the school can only ask for voluntary contributions.

The school can make it clear to parents that an activity cannot be funded without voluntary contributions. Having done so, they can cancel an activity if they receive insufficient contributions. They may not exclude a child from an activity just because the parent has not made a voluntary contribution.

It depends if the school are saying 'you have to have this specific art pack', or whether they're saying 'students need art material and this is how much an art pack is from us that has everything you need'.

As long as your child has the correct equipment then the school can't insist they buy from them, but usually the school prices are better than each parent buying the same separately. It's the same with scientific calculators.

It's also why some schools buy revision guides and then sell them. Schools get a cheaper rate, GCSE students will need them. Parents can opt out of buying them and pay extra for the same thing or their child can go without.

[quote SavoyCabbage]My dd did art GCSE in an academy school and we had to pay for loads of stuff she needed. It would be ridiculous if a child decided to sculpt a life size rhino and the school had to pay for it.

As this woman says, if the teacher wants a yellow binder, She's getting one.

I regularly tell the children I teach that in most European countries the parents have to buy all the child's school equipment, including exercise books etc. The children often stare at me in disbelief (except for the ones who have experience of said European countries and know too well what I mean).

Many schools manage to operate legally, only asking for voluntary contributions, including schools with very low levels of funding per pupil. I am therefore somewhat sceptical of schools that claim they have to charge parents illegally.

By all means ask for voluntary contributions. That is perfectly valid and most parents will cough up. But don't break the law by telling parents they must pay for things that, by law, must be provided free of charge.

I would cut schools some slack in current circumstances. The requirements around shared equipment are an unexpected burden on school finances which will cause problems. But, in normal circumstances, schools should comply with the law.

Instead of contacting the school or EFSA to complain, why don’t you write to your MP and complain about the lack of funding for schools.

Because would you rather you pay for your Art pack and your DC be taught by a specialist art teacher, or you get your art materials paid for by the school but unfortunately they can’t afford an art teacher.

can I suggest you contact the Education and Skills Funding Agency who regulate academies and can give you the categoric answer to share with the school?

And what’s your end goal? Kids missing out on art because the school can’t afford to provide equipment for those who won’t pay as well as this who can’t?

But as ever, just like when asking for ‘voluntary’ contributions towards trips, the alternative isn’t the school paying for everything, it’s the pupils missing out.

If the art pack is for your child to take home (to use for homework also) and to ultimately keep, then yes schools can charge

Not true. They can only charge if the parent says they want to own the art pack. If the parent doesn't say that, all the school can do is ask for a voluntary contribution.

Academies can do whatever they want

Also not true.

The Education Act does not apply directly to academies but they are required by their funding agreements to follow the relevant provisions of the Act. If they fail to do so they could have their funding withdrawn.

Academies get the same money as other state maintained schools, they have the same problems with budgets.

I would assume having to buy a lot of basic stationery. Actually, the school apparently has scientific calculators available at a very reasonable price - £5 - plus if I can pay for them by Parentpay and the boys collect them then I'd be happy, and I would love it if they'd offer more at such prices through the school. No bus journey and fares and getting all stressed in the shop and in the queue - that would be great.

I'm a bit indignant today with DS1 (Y9) as he is now saying he's lost his scientific calculator in the last week before lockdown and various other bits and pieces, including a lanyard for his school ID card and assorted bits of stationery. This comes after brushing off several efforts to talk about stationery, including looking at a rack of things in a large Sainsburys when we went to get school uniform, and asking him when I was ordering a few bits for DS2 off Amazon.

My dd did art GCSE in an academy school and we had to pay for loads of stuff she needed. It would be ridiculous if a child decided to sculpt a life size rhino and the school had to pay for it.

As this woman says, if the teacher wants a yellow binder, She's getting one.

I assume the art pack is to use at home and keep for your child's individual use, in which case I think the guidance says they can charge. Also if you think about the issues around sharing school equipment at the moment and the fact that the covid guidance for schools states equipment must be cleaned between individual's use, it is probably in your child's interest for you to purchase them their own equipment.
If it was £100 I could understand the fuss but for £10 I really wouldn't make a fuss.
If you are really annoyed but this perhaps ask for their charging policy and see what that says. My son's school made it really clear at the start of year 7what money they would be asking parents for and why.

That is completely untrue. All state schools are bound to follow Department of Education guidelines.

Academies can do whatever they want.
Unfortunately in many towns in England all the state secondary schools have been taken over by academy chains so there isn't even a local authority alternative.
It's ridiculous.