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Original poster

Why do schools assume we all access to a working printer?

82 replies

Soubriquet · 02/10/2020 14:52

Dc have been given worksheets to complete for their homework.

Only they haven’t. It’s been put online with the assumption that we can print it off at home. They won’t print it because of Covid Hmm

We have a printer. But it needs new ink which we can’t afford right now.

I’m going to have to hand write every piece of the worksheet down onto paper.

Dh thinks there will be places open that can print it out but really, if schools won’t do it, I doubt we can find anyone else to.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
doctorhamster · 02/10/2020 15:17

Call school and ask them what they suggest you do. You won't be the only parent without a printer.

Original poster
Soubriquet · 02/10/2020 15:17

@TorkTorkBam

For cheap ink try here: www.cartridgeink.co.uk/

It helps you work out which one you need. I have bought from them many times.

Thank you. I will need to ferret out the printer and discover exactly what type it is, but thank you. That helps a lot
OP posts:
anna114young · 02/10/2020 15:17

Wow. I think this is quite unreasonable of the school! I would just tell them that you do not have access to a printer and for financial reasons you cannot afford to buy one. Simple.

It won't take long for them to print off the sheets for you and I'm not sure what the covid risk they are worried about? If your children are doing work in school all day anyway I am not sure why the risk increases when sending the work home! Am I missing something?

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megletthesecond · 02/10/2020 15:18

That's bad. They shouldn't give out work to be printed.

Over the last six months all work has been on-line here (Y6 ending primary and now both dc's secondary schools). My printer is just for very important paperwork and copying, and even then it's hit and miss.

RB68 · 02/10/2020 15:19

you need a copy shop - the school are being ridiculous. Only one person need handle the copier to print it - hardly a big risk - more likely they have an eye on the copier budget

Copy shops are open and printing and its usually not too pricey although it soon mounts up. We use HPink and whilst at first it seems expensive we generally get up to 50 copies for £3 a month

StopMakingShitUp · 02/10/2020 16:03

When do you need the sheets for? I don't mind printing and popping in the post for you if you've got a few days before it's to be handed in. I'm out first thing in morning so can post them and you should have it by mon/Tuesday

DominaShantotto · 02/10/2020 16:19

I got so bloody annoyed with one of my kids' schools doing this during lockdown - and then the head sits and complains in governors about printing costs for the parents who had had enough and contacted school that they were struggling to get the work done from lack of printing!

Ours now does everything set on google classroom and just turned in digitally - doesn't get round the assumptions on access to technology but at least it doesn't assume a printer as well.

Tootletum · 02/10/2020 16:22

Good question. Printers + working = oxymoron

BlackberrySky · 02/10/2020 16:28

Our school has done several surveys about equipment at home and anyone without any of the things on the list could say so. Alternative arrangements were made for them. I would suggest this to your school as it looks like at the moment they haven't set their system to be accessible to all.

BogRollBOGOF · 02/10/2020 16:28

I gave up on the lockdown work set by school after a fortnight and switched to Bitesize partly because of printing. One teacher did prepare suitable work, but about 7 sheets per day would make mincemeat out of our lightweight cartridges, and the other teacher sent photos of her computer screen or book so there was lots of grey distortion, again another ink killer. It just wasn't viable to replace cartridges every 2-3 weeks. Shops like Staples are long gone. Library still ahut. No printing services avaliable between here and the city centre at all!

It is common for homes not to have a printer and probably less common than it had been.
Plus it's foolish to assume that a printer will oblige at actually working co-operatively at any given time. They are tempermental bastards.

Original poster
Soubriquet · 02/10/2020 16:33

Homework doesn’t haven’t to be in till Thursday luckily, so I will have a quick word on Monday and hope for the best.

Thank you for your offer though @StopMakingShitUp

OP posts:
SisyphusAndTheRockOfUntidiness · 02/10/2020 16:39

I agree OP. We live in a typical modern shoebox house & don't have space for a printer anywhere, & couldn't afford ink cartridges anyway. Thankfully DD's school tend to supply children with prints if the parents request them - I can't remember if we had to fill in a form or if we just mentioned it to her teacher, I know they don't send them home with all children due to cost, but anyone who needs them can get them. When the school closed for lockdown, all parents were told that they needed to ring & request a paper copy of the lesson pack if they couldn't access it online. We couldn't, at the time, as we'd just moved house & didn't know how long it would be before we could get wifi etc sorted out. So DD came home with a massive heavy satchel on the last day & several reading books, I think they must have emptied the library out between all the children.

DominaShantotto · 02/10/2020 16:45

@Tootletum

Good question. Printers + working = oxymoron
Mine likes me - it HATES DH. It's obviously a girl printer. The previous one was an evil bastard though.
EvilPea · 02/10/2020 16:46

I agree @Soubriquet the assumption of up to date technology really annoys me with school.
Print cartridges are expensive, lockdown was costing me a fortune in ink.

I ended up getting cartridges from www.stinkyinkshop.co.uk/
Cheaper but still lots of money

Hotelhelp · 02/10/2020 16:49

Have you actually said to the class teacher ‘we do not have a working printer therefore DC cannot print this’ or words to that effect?

veryvery · 02/10/2020 16:52

Email the completed sheets to the teacher?

whatsleep · 02/10/2020 17:04

Couldn’t your child just view the worksheet on the computer screen and write down the answers on paper. This is all we ask of the children at my school. Nobody is expected to print anything. Children often used printed sheets the same way in class so would probably be used to showing their working out and answers in this way?

Original poster
Soubriquet · 02/10/2020 17:22

This is part of the homework dd has got to do

The one with outline of the person on actually specifies that she has to write down the centre of the person.

Why do schools assume we all access to a working printer?
Why do schools assume we all access to a working printer?
Why do schools assume we all access to a working printer?
OP posts:
Marmite133 · 02/10/2020 17:29

I'm sure the teacher won't mind at all if you just do what you can. Some of ours screenshot the work on their tablet, annotate on it then email it back. Is that something you could do?
Having said that, we rarely set homework for this reason. If we do, we try to set something that they can do on notepaper so it's not lots of printing for us or parents. Talk to the school and see what they say.

tinofshortbread · 02/10/2020 17:31

Is it a PDF?

Could you edit it on docshub with the answers and email it back?

dochub.com/

zaphodbeeble · 02/10/2020 17:33

Complete online and email it back

Original poster
Soubriquet · 02/10/2020 17:42

[quote tinofshortbread]Is it a PDF?

Could you edit it on docshub with the answers and email it back?

dochub.com/[/quote]
I’ll give this a go! Thank you

OP posts:
Puffinhead · 02/10/2020 17:44

This is a huge bugbear of mine OP. It’s a massive assumption that everyone has a printer - or even a computer/laptop. I’m always telling my DDs to inform their teachers that we don’t have this.

BlueThursday · 02/10/2020 17:45

This is really bringing to focus the haves and the have-nots and yet again the have nots are penalised

simonisnotme · 02/10/2020 17:48

try wilco's for ink . there cartridges are pretty reliable in my old epsom printer

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