The Grammar school and their flipping iPads!

[Mumwithagreenhouse]

I have one DD who will be going into year 7 in September. When we looked at the school, we knew they used iPads within the school but nothing else was mentioned about them.
Got an email yesterday requesting I set up a direct debit for £13pm! I had no idea this was a case of purchasing one for DD, I just wrongfully assumed they were just used in school.

It’s not that I disagree with the concept of parents buying them exactly, it’s just the fact that they do not allow them to use their own. DD has one of the slightly larger iPad Pros (only because I won it and had no use for it) and it would be of much better use for her school work than the one they’re asking us to purchase and it’s fully insured for theft, loss or accidental damage, but nope. I was given a firm no by the school, they won’t budge!

So I HAVE to pay £13 per month, with an additional £7pm for the mandatory insurance and £3pm for the mandatory case plus an extra £8pm for the optional stylus! So that’s a mandatory £23pm or £31pm if she gets the supposedly optional but quite clearly expected, stylus.. Also, the fact that the school gets Pupil Premium for DD (free school meals although DD has packed lunch but I always apply for it anyway so that the school still get the funds!) apparently is “irrelevant” and being a child entitled to Pupil Premium doesn’t give us any kind of discount on the iPad purchase or any leniency on the ‘no already-owned iPads’ rule.

Is this all normal now? Am I old fashioned to think this is a little bit ridiculous? Perhaps I’m just still annoyed about them demanding that we pay £20 per month for PE and the fact that they now require they all wear school-branded trousers! (No skirts permitted). No no! You MUST wear the £38 trousers with the school logo on…..! I’m a widowed lone parent now on a low income and this is going to f’ing bankrupt me.

Please be nice, it’s a very long time since I was at high school and this is all new to me! I’m happy to be told (politely) that I’m wrong.

Just be as stubborn as theM and say a firm NO!! Do you get the iPad at the end of this as you’ll have paid it off?!!! As your child already has this item and your insurance covers it I’d say no I can’t afford to pay for
all this plus all the extra bells and whistles

What happens if parents refuse?

No, it’s not normal. It’s things like this that disadvantage children. Those from less fortunate families will be put off applying to these schools.

tell them you can’t afford it.

I would refuse to allow a year 7 child to have an iPad.

Just tell them you can’t afford it , there will be assistance available .

No that's not normal! I don't think any parents should be expected to pay that, and especially not those on FSM.

Nope! They’re ‘loaned’ and if you want to buy it, you can only do so in march of year 10 when the iPads are upgraded!

My child has had iPads since she was 7! They’re a fantastic learning resource

I think that’s awful. It’s so much money, are all the parents happy to be paying this? On another note, I thought PP children get help with buying school uniform at most schools, might be worth looking into…

The only option is to use a ‘leave at school’ iPad that is handed back every afternoon, however it was strongly advised that we don’t do this as she would apparently be in a very small minority and would feel singled out every day when she has to hand it back. I also would have to purchase all the licences for the Microsoft software the school uses 🙄

No, no help at all in our entire county. It varies county to county.

Why on earth are you having to pay £20 per month for PE too?? Ridiculous!

Thought. When your dd outgrows her trousers, save them to cut off the logo and attach it to her next trousers. Or volunteer at the school to run a PE kit exchange/second hand clothes stall . . .

Please see my comment I’ve just left above, she would apparently have to use a ‘leave at school’ iPad and would feel singled out, they said!

Genius!

Re: PE, I know! This is another question I intend on asking but I don’t want to become ‘that’ annoying parent who’s always moaning…..Especially before she’s even started!

My DDs school was an iPad school, but they have been phasing it out for last couple of years. You could use your own though at her school, even though there was a purchase scheme through school (and to be fair, we did use that option).
stick to your guns OP, it’s madness that they think they can just impose this!

EDIT: Apparently it’s not a purchase! This money is to LOAN the bloody thing! If she wants to keep it in march of year 10 when they’re all upgraded, then I have to buy it from them. This is even worse.

£13 a month for the entire time she’s there, so over £900 in total and you don’t even get to keep it at the end? I’d tell DD she needs to get used to handing it back at the end of the day and it’s not her classmates’ fault their parents are mugs.

Paying for PE is also ridiculous - how can they charge when it’s part of the national curriculum? Is this an academy?

You chose a school,with a device policy from y7. If you didn't want this , or the cost, youvd chosen the wrong school.

Was it a purchase though? As I’ve just realised since posting this thread, that it’s actually just a loan!

Well what profound advice! Well done! 👏🏻
Perhaps polish your reading comprehension skills a little? As I quite clearly stated that at no point was it mentioned anywhere or at any time verbally, that the iPads were to be taken home!

I can see why the school charges for this, as it's otherwise wide open to abuse and kids losing/damaging/breaking them, but why on earth not have cheaper android tablets at least?

Why are you paying for PE?! This is shocking. I would refuse. DD can hand it back each day, I’m sure she’ll be fine. £30 each month to loan equipment school should be providing is absolute madness. If they can’t afford iPads they shouldn’t be using them.

£13 per month for 81 months! Until march of year 10 when they’re upgraded.
No idea why they’re charging for PE. It was one of those emails where they say that you don’t have to pay it but if they don’t get enough parents willing to pay, then they’ll only be able to provide very limited activities!
It is a state school that’s part of an academy. At least I think it is? It’s part of a ‘Learning Trust’ which I presume is an academy?

Agreed 100% @Portakalkedi

It’s the PE charge that is questionable. I can see why they might ask for a fee for tech, they can ask, but presumably you don’t have to pay? But the PE charge?!