To be pissed off that out of €624 I have €14 left.

[BumWiper]

Collected my child benefit this morning and after buying school books for 2DC I have ?14 left.
Which is earmarked for the tv licence.

[breatheslowly]

If they asked all parents to donate the books at the end of the year to the school with the proviso that the year above would be doing the same, then they would have a set for each classroom, actually more as each child isn't doing French at the same time. And when they lost a few then they could pick up spares on the secondhand market very cheaply as the other schools presumably do the same crazy thing of getting each family to buy all the books that quickly become obsolete.

Is someone in the education department very good friends with an educational publisher?

[DuffytheVampireSlayer]

at highlighting books! I was born and lived in the UK until twelve years ago and that was sacrilege.

There was a huge section on 2FM last week about calls for publishers to limit changes and then there was a man interviewed who is publishing/selling books for ?12 odd. A big book exchange would be a good idea no?

It's obviously a major contention at the moment as I have heard it mentioned across several medias lately.

[Sewmuchtodo]

I would sent a v contribution from the 'bumwiper' family (not each child) with a note saying this is what you can afford after the cost of books/uniforms etc.

I would also be the one gathering up the other parents to approach the head with a book retention scheme like bretheslowly say's, that way no one is out of pocket by quite so much each year (and left with a pile of useless books!).

Explain that this would enable each parent to afford a little more with the v contribution thus leaving everyone better off.

[Smellslikecatpee]

breatheslowly: when i was in school (many many moons ago) this was what our local senior school did, am surprised and shocked that this isn't standard. .

Will call home and see if they are still doing it.
the way it worked was you paid a loan fee, and got your books for the year, if a new book was needed you bought it and sold it to the school at the end of the year (sliding scale on how well you had kept the book).

The school then had money to repair/replace the most battered books,and you had to take care of the books as otherwise your parents would have to replace them.

Madness. . . .

And not having a general anthology of poetry stupid.

[LittleMissFlustered]

[Smellslikecatpee]

Guess it still the normal of who you know and money and jobs for the boys eh?

[WriterofDreams]

Bumwiper I was really surprised when I moved to the UK from Ireland. Most people from the UK won't be aware that in Ireland every child from the first day of school is given the dreaded "book list" - a list of books sometimes 10 or 15 long that they have to buy every year for that school year. Also they have to buy their own copies (called books here - exercise books is what I mean), pens, art supplies, and any other equipment needed for the school year. Bumwiper you won't believe it but in many schools here the children have no books whatsoever, they're given copies as and when they need them, they're supplied with pens, art materials, even compasses and calculators for maths. That's practically unheard of in Ireland. Education costs a fortune there. Once you get to secondary you could be spending 400-500 euros a year on books.

[hurricanewyn]

Can I ask what the school can do if you don't pay the v contribution???

I live in the UK now, but grew up in Dublin and we had a voluntary contribution each year of IR£150 per child regardless of how many children went to the school in each family. For those who know it, I grew up in Tallaght, so not exactly an affluent area. My mam was a lone parent and hadn't got the money to pay it the year I was in 6th class as there was my confirmation and my sister's communion in the one year to pay for. Every day my teacher would call out the names of everyone who hadn't paid and we had to stand up in front of everyone and explain why it hadn't been paid. The group of people who hadn't paid got smaller and smaller as the term went on until I was the last one left. I didn't want to bother my mam with it as I knew she didn't have the money so I paid for it myself out of my confirmation money.

Can't believe this still goes on. The Department of Education isn't the only one funding the schools, the churches are too. Between them there should be the money to run the schools - they just need to provide the teaching and safe surroundings to do it in. No books, stationary, lunches etc.

[WriterofDreams]

Oh yeah forgot to add that most schools in Ireland don't provide a lunch at all - all children have to bring their own packed lunch.

[hurricanewyn]

WriterofDreams
I was amazed when my son started school - It was the middle of July and I still hadn't gotten a book list, so I phoned the school to see what he needed to get. They must've thought I was a bit simple!!
I asked what books he needed - none
What about copybooks? - none
How many pencils will he need to bring in? - none
I didn't really believe it and asked a few people I worked with, and to be honest for the first two weeks I was waiting for a booklist to come home. Just take it for granted now!

[kindlekid]

YANBU. It's tough here at the moment isn't it? Everything is so expensive.

I get ?280 Child Benefit per month for 2 children. DD1 has asthma and we do not qualify for a medical card or GP visit card.

Her 2 main medications come to ?130 per month so we qualify for ?10 off that per month on the drug payment scheme. She also needs other things occasionally but at least now we are spending over ?120 on prescriptions they are covered.

Her GP visits cost ?45 each time so we pay private health insurance so we can claim some of it back and it covers hospital expenses.

She is starting school this year. The bill so far:
Books: ?40
School Tracksuit ?40
Art & Craft Supplies ?25
Copies, pencils etc ?10
Still have to buy her uniform.

I am a SAHM with very little chance of finding a job when dd2 starts pre-school. We are trying to save for a house. It is madness. I think that the next budget will see lots of even tougher cuts. I can see the child benefit, free pre-school year etc being cut.

DH wants to emigrate. I'm strting to see his point.

[supergirl123]

Im in Ireland too, my dd is starting school in September. She is 5 and her books for the year come to ?67.53. Its outrageous. Most of the books ae workbooks too so there is no hope of buying second hand ones:(

[DuffytheVampireSlayer]

We live approximately 3 miles from the border. Unpatriotic perhaps but we do most of our shopping across the border lately.

[Sewmuchtodo]

WriterofDreams that is horrid outright bullying!

Here (England) we are very lucky with regards to education, we pay for school trips, donate to school fundraisers and so on but that is all. We live 8miles from school and don't get school transport paid so we cover that too.

KindleKid, can you have the same kind of medical insurance as the USA for example.....ie. one monthly payment covers all appointments and med's etc?

[breatheslowly]

So in a school of 1000 pupils ?400,000 is being spent on textbooks per year. If the school could find a way to fix this in return for keeping perhaps a 1/10 of the funds it would be worth it for them. I've always been under the impression that Ireland was sort of benignly corrupt (I don't mean to be rude by this), but I don't think as a country it can really afford to be any more.

[youarekidding]

I am quite shocked people are saying its a lot. It is although we get tax credits.

Difference is (and why its isn't equal) is we aren't forced to spend ours on school equipment, books, exams, heathcare etc.

We put a roof over our childrens heads and food on the table with ours.

[elliephant]

All the primary schools in my apparently affluent area operate a book rental scheme - schools will request any unwanted readers, religion , history,geography etc books- and they are then used from year to year. The rent covers any new books needed.

Personally I find it's the work books that are costly. Would recommend shopping around online for books, schoolbooks.ie offer 10% discount to supervalue club card holders and o'mahonys.ie is another to try.

Most schools are also happy to take in outgrown uniforms or footwear which can be passed on discreetly. Schools may have a hardship fund as well to help with books and uniforms. The 'Free Books' scheme that was abolished in the 2008 budget was reintroduced last year. It probably would not cover the all the cost but might help those in genuine need.

Principal and PTA should be approached and asked to consider a rental scheme - it's not unusual practice and makes perfect economic and environmental sense.

Secondary school however is a different story although DS's school have tried to keep as many of last year's books as possible where there were no changes to curriculum. DD , however, is facing the LC cycle and most of her books are new and not even available yet so could be remortgage time.

[bittersweetvictory]

640 euoros, christ thats £ 575.90, how many kids have you got
yes you are being VVVUR, its child benefit, the clue is in the name, its to be spent on your child/children

[FabbyChic]

The OP gets her money in Euros not GBP.

[thisisyesterday]

it's called child benefit. it's for the kids.

so yes, yabu to be annoyed that you don't have enough money for your tv licence.

could you not get any of the books second hand?