How much money have your school asked for since sept.

[WeeblesWibbleWobble]

I always remember with eldest and £1 or 50p here and there. But of course you dont have to but would mean dcs miss out on non uniform or whatever.
Luckily for us it isn't an issue.

But im starting to feel for some parents especially one of dcs friends mum who is using food banks. Worries about xmas gifts etc.

So weve had
3 x£1 for non uniform days
£8 for coach to a local nature reserve for our years dc
£1 poppy appeal
£1 pj day
50p 2nd hand book sale
£1 chocolate tombola
Donate chocolate for said tombola (£1 ish)
Harvest festival donation ( i guess 1 tin store soup 60p ish)
Sponsored fun run..

School photos. Cheapest was a 8 x6 print at £17 packs over £40 for the smallest and of course there's 2 photos to choose from.

So around £35 per child.
Other years have different trips.

To me its got worse than when eldest was there.

We also have had pre school stuff
Photos cheapest was a 10 x 8 print £22 each
Harvest Festival donation
Halloween dress up £1
Sponsored walk.

With dc in primary no donation = no non uniform so would make dcs stand out.

And i know things like sponsors, photos, poppy appeal people don't have to buy but they don't want dcs to miss out.

Oh and Children in Need pj day upcoming £1

Literally £1.00 for one non-uniform day. We have school photos next week though.

I don’t know if there hasn’t been much as mine is in Reception, but also it’s a church school and they don’t do a lot of the things “normal” schools do, ie they didn’t have a Halloween disco, they don’t do Children in Need etc. Bit sad about that but I did choose to send her there so can’t moan, and it really seems to keep costs down!

Oh, we also have to send in £2.00 a week for snacks if that counts. They get two snacks a day (ie fruit, carrots, biscuit, occasionally toast).

We’ve had similar. Plus £180 for a trip.

Well, what are they gonna do if a kid turns up in non uniform but without a quid?

You don’t have to buy school photos. I only buy them if the photo is decent and not every year. Maybe alternate kids each year?

I think we’ve had about £2 in total for a non-uniform day and Children in Need day.

£8 for an after school activity but that was optional.

£55 ski trip surcharge by the company the school is using.
Nothing else aside from lunches.
Primary was much more. Something every week.

I'd say roughly similar at ours+ xmas cards etc.
We opted not to buy the school photo. It's so expensive, ugly and comes in a size that doesn't fit anywhere.
I was educated abroad and aside from the school photo and school meals, you never had to pay for anything so I see how it adds up on top of the uniform, pe kit, school shoes!

DD1s primary has had 2 trips that cost £1.50 each for the bus no cost for trip. £1.50 a week for swimming bus. £5 halloween disco.

DD2s special needs primary £2 a week snacks. 50p Halloween sweets. But does 3 sports activities a week off site at no additional cost.

Forgot to say I think this is less than usual. Probably in response to cost of living.

Almost none of the things you posted are compulsory and not contributing wouldn't mean your child missed out. No school would penalised a child for not bringing a pound for non uniform days.
Trips in school time, by law they cannot require payment and they should probably be using pupil premium for the worst off.

Having said all that, primary schools definitely ask for more money than they did back in the day. Secondaries (ime) are much less liable to ask for cash.

I ignore all discretionary £ requests. If I can't afford to fix my roof or buy a cheap runaround car, I'm not giving £120 to school for the unspecified 'school fund' to backfill what should be adequate public spending. I've already paid quite high taxes on my earned income, and I know that my kids' schools do ok in terms of per pupil funding relative to size and disadvantage levels... They also have significant capital assets.

£2.20 so far.

£2 for the Halloween disco which included hotdog, drink, and popcorn.

20p for a poppy.

£300 school trip
£20 Leavers hoodies
£10 swimming
£1 mufti
£15 young voices t-shirt
£10 day trip
£20 school photos

Most of these are 'optional' of course!

An expensive year - DS14 has two trips abroad this year - a skiing trip (plus ski lessons beforehand) and a geography trip. Also DofE and all the related things. BUT I'm thrilled he's finally getting trips at school, after Covid cancellations. It's been a really disappointing couple of years for them.

Aside from school photos, our school does a just give us a one time payment and we won’t bother you again campaign. They state the average they are hoping to collect per child. The parents who can give more contribute extra, the parents who can’t don’t. They tend to not bother us for money again all year.