Voluntary donations from parents/ carers

£200 wow - is that a state or private school...primary or secondary?

My son’s school had just upped their voluntary donation suggested amount to £200 pcm. This has doubled in 4 years, they must be really feeling the pinch with pay rises etc

Ours doesn’t thankfully, they just have an Amazon wishlist that parents can buy bits for school from. Absolutely no pressure though- it’s just mentioned on SM and the occasional newsletter from time to time.
The first primary my eldest was at was Cof E and they had a monthly contribution, but it was about a tenner I think.

Our school raises loads of money every year. They simply state the average amount of money they hope to raise per student and people use that as a guide for their donation. It’s one of the reasons we love the school. It is well supported by the parents and we don’t deal with year round fundraising.

the money isn’t used directly for teachers and classroom essentials. It goes for things that technically count as extra. What that does do is allow the school to focus its entire budget on the essentials.

@smogsville the Head of the grammar I mentioned came from the private sector and seems to view the grammar parents as a cash cow because they are getting a relatively elite education but don't have to pay private fees. This approach probably works for many of them, but I don't see how 50 reminders a year is better than 1 - those who want to contribute will contribute, and those that don't or can't will just roll their eyes and dig their heels in.

Agree - all the local primary schools and secondary schools near us do this now. I was and am still upset by this as feel pressure to contribute. We constantly get pressure from the schools my children are at to donate to the voluntary fund.

While I understand that schools are struggling massively with funding - parents are struggling too. The government ought to be funding schools properly in my opinion and this should not be necessary. I don't blame the schools - the government is very much to blame for this!

I think having a school fund to which parents can voluntarily donate either regularly or one off is not uncommon these days. The primary school I am a governor at does, and the secondary comp my daughter went to does. Parents can either donate on a one off basis or set up a direct debit. We do however live in a reasonably affluent area, so maybe the feeling is that most parents wouldn't mind at least being asked.

I've never heard any particularly negative sentiment about it and nobody would actually know who didn't and who didn't contribute.

The money is not spent on staffing or day-to-day essentials for the school though. The school funds in both cases are spent on things like outdoors equipment, upgrading IT such as iPads.

Son is at a comp - been there since year 7 now in sixth form and we have never been asked for any donation. We have to pay for reward trips but that's about it.

@smogsville you are wrong to assume that "both schools have serious extra money to invest in smaller classes, staff and equipment - making a material difference to the quality of the educational experience."

There are two things going on here:
1.Voluntary Aided (VA) schools have to contribute 10% of any Capital costs, e.g. for fixing the roof, or building a new classroom. In reality this is administered at diocesan level, so voluntary contributions from school parents are pooled and put towards capital cost contributions for all schools in the diocese. If there is a deficit, these funds might also be supplemented by the donations of churchgoers. That said, many VA schools have converted to academies, so no longer need to contribute 10% to capital costs. If they've done this, they will be able to use the money for other purposes, which brings me onto ...

2.Other schools which collect parent donations should not be using them for operational costs for delivering the curriculum like teacher salaries or equipment. That would be very poor accounting because the funds can't be relied on (I've heard of at least one school leader who was sacked for mismanagement when he did this). However, it's very common to use donations for extra-curricular activities and extras like playground equipment.

The comp where I am a governor uses it to supplement the costs of school trips for disadvantaged families, keeping the extracurricular clubs free (even when run by external providers), buying books and furniture for a library, plants for classrooms or school grounds, etc, all of which enhances the school for everyone. Many of the trips wouldn't run if it wasn't for this fund. Parents get one letter about the fund per year, no more.

Some schools go too far. I know a grammar school that persistently tries to persuade parents to contribute, and expects people to answer yes/no to the question of "Will you donate?" before they've even registered. They are using part of the fund to pay for a fundraiser (not sure if full or part time) who arranges communications and events for alumni to try and tap them for donations. It seems to work though, as they do get some significant 6-figure donations that other schools could only dream of. They use it to maintain and invest in their extensive sports facilities.

Yep - comp.

Ours won’t as they are concerned that families who genuinely couldn’t afford it would either

• donate - putting themselves in hardship , or
• not donate and feel bad about it.

i think it’s really honourable of the school not to ask, but there’s plenty of families who could and would donate. So School compromises by sending at most one email per year asking for funds towards a specific project. But they’re clear it’s voluntary.