Would it be wrong to only pay half of DS school trip cost?

[Shirtbuttons26]

DS is going on a school trip. Its costing 45.00. Would it be wrong if I only paid 20.00 /25.00? I am on a low income and I'm juggling things a bit at the moment. I have another child at the school as well so I have been paying out for 2 children.

The school rang me saying i need to pay by tomorrow.

It does say contribution but I feel wrong for even thinking about it.

Yep but again it depends how long you’ve known about the trip. If you haven’t had long to gather the £45 then fair enough but if you’ve known about it for ages it’s on you I’m afraid, you found the first half so surely had time to find the second. If not, you should have let the school know sooner.

Schools dot have budgets to pay for school trips? They've always been paid for by parents. Do you not remember bringing in money for yours as a kid.

With the greatest respect OP, this is your child so you need to take charge of the situation. The school aren't mind readers and if they assume someone is in need of help when they don't want it that could be deemed to be offensive.
Just speak to the school.

I get what your saying. But i wouldn't know to ask if I did know it existed. Same as they wouldn't know money is tight at the moment.

@Icecreamandcoffee I am an ex-teacher (primary) and felt sad reading your post about children missing out on trips. It made me want to donate to your school fund, or do something about it in another way.

A few thoughts:

All children deserve to have an enriched curriculum and trips are part of that education.

Better-off parents who don’t value what is offered during a school trip (‘We take our children there anyway’) are overlooking the fact that other children may only get the chance to do so by going on that school trip.

School trips do offer something different to going there as a family. There are often facilitator-led experiences that are only open to educational groups. I remember amazing talks that really brought a particular topic to life for my class.

There have been several references to the PTA ‘covering’ it, yet schools in deprived communities, where there are likely to be more parents who can’t afford trips, often don’t have an active PTA because parents have too many stressors going on in their own lives and they just…don’t. My first school as a teacher was in a deprived area of London and, although a PTA was eventually formed, it was mostly teachers manning the stalls at the summer fair and cleaning up afterwards. It took a core group of about five parents in the PTA (who could probably all be categorised as struggling families themselves) two entire years of summer and Christmas fair fundraising to buy one piece of playground equipment. I think there was more support after seeing that equipment but it was still an uphill struggle, as there just wasn’t the money in the school community. Parents were generally on lower incomes so would come to the fair but not spend much, or not come at all.

My next school had some equally struggling families but also a huge hardcore of generous, middle class, socially-connected mums who would arrange amazing raffles, hampers, set up games, make Christmas wreaths to be sold for £30 a piece, cook refreshments and generally buffer the school with their support. Teachers barely had to do a thing as there were so many parents in the PTA (although many of us did still attend or volunteer at fairs) and it was eye opening to see the difference.

If the PTA is supposed to be the invisible hand of financial support then why are so many MNers so cynical about PTA involvement themselves?

The only other possibility is looking at local trusts and grants. These exist all over the country, have all sorts of different criteria and may provide funds directly to families or to schools. There is one local to me that will provide funds to a family in need, such as for white goods or school uniform. But this would probably need organising in advance.

But it is not easy and I do have sympathy with the OP’s situation as she needs a solution now, not an overall system change.

@Shirtbuttons26have you explicitly told the school you can’t afford to pay the rest?

But equally how would a parent know this? If a child is on pupil premium then the school most definitely do know that they come from a lower income household which is likely to impact on paying for trips etc. Every communication I’ve had from primary and secondary school about trips over the last 12 years has stated that pupil premium / FSM families get a 50% reduction in the cost. Because otherwise why would the parent know? It also avoids the parent having to have a conversation about it with the school which some may find difficult or embarrassing.
In this instance it’s on the school, not the OP.

And edited to add: all parents get sent the same information, so there’s no singling out.

I remember a post on MN not long ago by a parent whose partner was in the Armed Forces and as such they got the Pupil Premium. It appeared that their school took the approach that everyone who got the Pupil Premium was the same, they all got the same treatment and the poster didn't like this approach.
So not all instances are the same.

You just reminded me of something. Last year they were doing the FSM vouchers, for during the school holidays. I had to take my child to hospital. We were there for hours. It meant I missed the pick up slot for them. And they wouldn't let me have the vouchers. And they wouldn't let anyone else pick them up. They knew I was at the hospital. And now I'm only just learning about people premium. I doubt I'm not the only one not to know theses thing's.

My view was that schools should show money in, money out, what happens to the leftover, if any.

And in the breakdown of costs I would expect a supplier, if asked, to provide a breakdown of their charges to you. In the same way a restaurant will itemise a bill.
You won’t know how much is for profit any more than you know how much is for profit when you pay for a lunch out. But I would expect parents to know how much you spent on the lunches.

Showing you have got quotes from four suppliers for insurance purposes is not sharing anything with parents at all.

I think parents and for anyone tasked with managing money which given some of the trips will be substantial should have some sort of receipt or transparent understanding of where the money has gone.

@Shirtbuttons26 Why haven't you told the school? That would be the first thing I did. Then you got your answer.

That is so kind however this was over 15 years ago. Most of those children are now adults. The school sadly no longer exists and area the school was located in has undergone significant gentrification and had a huge shift in demographics.

It was so sad, there was little we could do other than try and make up shortfalls. We had the cheapest most sensible uniform possible with no requirements for logos or branded items and made all the PP money and grants we applied for stretch as far as possible. We had an assistant head with a brass neck who would ask many of the very close by banking and insurance institutions if they were willing to fund/ donate things as part of their "community outreach" initiatives. Many of the parents were both time and financially stretched and adding a PTA into the mix would be a challenge for our parents who were working every hour they could to make ends meet.

I think you should say your child doesnt go. Ive just overpaid a trip to get it to happen at my daughters school because they ask for a contribution but people consented to the trip and then didn't pay. So you might only pay £22 but the money has to come from somewhere. If your child is in receipt of fsm or pupil premium that pot of money can be used to pay or partial pay for trips.

Having worked in schools for over 30 yrs, I can honestly say that it’s not a ‘tactic’ to bully people. Schools budgets are really tight because of years of cuts. If parents don’t pay, money has to come out of the school budget and if the school can’t afford to cover cost, the visit doesn’t go ahead. PTAs can’t, or in some cases won’t, help. They can’t just fund certain children, they have to treat all fairly. Only additional support schools gets comes in form of Pupil Premium which is an amount of money children on FSM generate for school. Some schools apply for donations to charities like SVP to ensure all children can go. Schools do their upmost to enrich the children’s education through visits etc but more and more schools are dropping the number of visits (used to be at least 3) or, in some cases, stopping educational visits totally. Which is a pity. Personally, I would go in and tell school your circumstances. I’m sure they’d be happy with a smaller donation.

If you are income based FSM then school should definitely be aware and be getting pupil premium for your child. Definitely talk to them ASAP, ours is we pay half of it now but that sounds like it would still help you a lot.
please also ignore the comments about why did you have a 2nd child-I have 4 and all are autistic/adhd/anxiety which means I can’t work. Funnily enough I didn’t know that when I chose to have them all!! Not like you can send them back when you realise ;-)

I've just had a look on my DC's school ParentPay.

Voluntary payment for end of term trips with options to pay full amount, part or zero.

Voluntary payment to donate additionally for a pupil premium child to go. Donate full amount, less or nothing.

Totally private. Everything online. No forms.

That's how to do it!

That’s all well and good if they are within walking distance of something free. The reality is that coach prices have more than doubled in recent years, so transport plus need for extra staff ( due to far more rigorous risk assessments) all cost a ridiculous amount. A “ free” trip for our school cost £7 each for a 20 min coach journey ( and yes, they shopped around and that was the cheapest). If you factor in an admission cost, any refreshment etc then obviously prices increase enormously. Yes schools have a budget to help those genuinely in need thanks to PTA and other kind donations( it cannot come out of school funding) but they usually mention it way in advance rather than decide the day before that they’d rather not cough up. School trips can be and are cancelled if not enough parents contribute.

Who is it you think should be responsible for people’s children? The state? Other tax payers? It’s nothing to do with privilege. You could say it’s highly entitled to think that state schools can cover your costs on your behalf - or that other children should miss out on opportunities because someone’s parents won’t/can’t pay the trip costs. Many state schools are absolutely broke and unable to function.

Wish that was done at my child's school. Its embarrassing 😞

School trips have been cancelled at my Daughters school because of insufficient contributions.

Schools are massively underfunded, and educational trips really are dependent on Parents paying the recommended amount.

I usually slightly overpay for trips now by rounding up my contribution to the nearest next £10s e.g £22.50 trip - contribution £30.00 in the hope that it prevents all of the children in the year group missing out!

YABU to just ignore the warning of trips being cancelled, because all children miss out if that happens

Why should a child miss out on a school trip due to money? If it's in school time then it needs to be accessible to all the children.

Contribution means exactly that. A contribution is voluntary. They have the obligation to honor their own language. If they stated the cost for your child to attend this school sponsored event is this much then you would be obligated for that much. They cannot, after the fact of advertising "contribution" later make it a mandatory cost. This is a school, it is wholly reasonable for a school to know the difference between the word contribution and the word mandatory or fixed cost. Stick to your guns.

Primary Schools get £1450 a year for each pupil premium child on the register. They can spend it how they like really BUT in return for the money they MUST provide all school trips for free for pupil premium child, even ones that can be charged to other parents (spoiler! Most can’t actually be charged to anyone)

Pupil premium pays for all sorts in schools, extra TAs, special events, group interventions, sports coaching, and lots of other things that the none free school meals kids benefit from. Very little of each child’s pupil premium would be spent on the specific child even if all school trips weren’t contributed to at all.

so, while everyone is calling out an unpaid carer for not paying their kid’s way with a £45 school trip, maybe we should all take a second to consider what benefit the other kids in school have had from the other £1405 this child brings to the school budget that the other kids don’t.

Half and a note will be absolutely fine. There’s usually a contingency fund to top up so others don’t miss out.

Send an email to the school finance dept, my kids were eligible for pupil premium, and on a couple of occasions I asked the school to access that funding for trips. I just paid though when I could afford it