Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Original poster

AIBU to be pissed off with 'voluntary contributions' for school trips?

188 replies

Chundle · 08/09/2011 15:42

dd came home today with school trip form. It costs £19. They won't be able to go if enough people don't pay this voluntary contribution but those that don't pay still get to go blah blah blah. I'm totally not a snob- I live in a council house so don't have a ton of money but I always pay for my kids to go on trips yet it seems to me there's always a group of parents standing there laughing there tits off that they didn't have to cough off!
When I was a kid if you didn't pay you stayed at school and had a fun time anyway that was that and what's wrong with that???
I had to miss out on school trips as a kid and wasn't overly bothered.
My tin hats on I'm ready for a bashing

OP posts:

ilovesooty · 17/10/2011 22:23

They also charge for tickets to the Christmas and summer shows

Why shouldn't they? As a teacher, I was expected to attend the shows but I had to pay for my ticket!

VivaLeBeaver · 17/10/2011 22:27

Dd brought a letter home last week asking for a voluntary contribution of £2 to take part in balloon releasing. I was a bit

SHRIIIEEEKPoolingBearBlood · 17/10/2011 22:50

What kind of secondary educational trip includes a trip to sainsbury's?

ilovesooty · 17/10/2011 22:53

A business studies trip?

LynetteScavo · 17/10/2011 23:02

I used to associate with parents on the school playground who complained about paying £2 for a theatre visit. They paid, but hell they grumbled. This was in a affluent area, where mums would then jump into their X5's and plan their next foreign holiday.

I moved my DC to a completely different type of school. Parents there would never complain. Some parents might whince at such a letter, and think FFS, anohter thing to pay for, but would non the the less go without something themselves and do so..while other parents wouldn't blink.

I sometimes pay double what I'm asked to now, to make sure the school doesn't have to dig to far into the PTA funds if any parents wont/can't pay up. Funnily enough I recently discovered I'm not the only person to do this.

SHRIIIEEEKPoolingBearBlood · 17/10/2011 23:04

OK. Suppose I am thinking of CMs who talk about a trip to the supermarket being educational, because you can read the packets, weigh stuff, count change :o

Ilikedrinkingblood · 18/10/2011 20:00

I thought they weren't allowed to charge due to licensing restrictions on the music used for the performances. I would hate to think of people missing their children's shows due to not having the cash.

colken · 18/10/2011 20:10

Oh, memories. I went to a grammar school and was good at Languages. A trip to France (Biarritz) was organised but I could not go because my parents could not afford it. I knew why I couldn't go and accepted it. It does not rankle but I still wish I could have gone.

Are the parents who refuse to pay because others will of a 'certain category'?

ukjess · 04/12/2011 14:05

im an ex head of year- you wouldn't believe how many parents abused the free school meal system and refused to pay for school trips

funny how they managed to afford foreign holidays though.....

....not to mention top of the range mobile phones for their children...

SardineQueen · 04/12/2011 14:16

DD has just started reception. We keep getting letters home £x for this, £y for that. Never any mention of the word voluntary, no indication of what would happen if you couldn't afford it. Would they just have to say those children didn't come to school that day or had to sit out of the class for that lesson? I have no idea. I was a bit surprised as I thought that state schooling was free and inclusive but the reality seems to be a bit different.

PiousPrat · 04/12/2011 14:25

It's the frequency of contributions that is narking me just now. In the space of a month we have had £11 to see the panto at the theatre (whole school trip so no way of dodging that one), £8 to go ice skating, 2 non uniform days at a pound a pop plus spending money for the fundraising stalls and the deposit for a residential trip, another £50. All just before Christmas and we are really not in an affluent area.

Of course the panto and ice skating can't really be done at any other time, and I am pleased that the school are supporting children in need, but I am a bit annoyed at the timing for the residential deposit. The trip sounds fantastic (they do a Crystal Maze style activity!) but is really expensive at £200 for 2 days and if they don't go, the kids have to spend those 2 days in with the class from the year below so of course no kid wants to be left behind. Because the residential is technically a jolly rather than educational, the usual disclaimer of "if you have FSM you don't have to pay" doesn't apply. There is 2 sets of twins in the class as well. I feel so bad for their parents and those kids.

KeepInMindItsAlmostChristmas · 04/12/2011 14:28

I know what you mean OP I have always paid for the school trips, but I did draw the line at 20 parents (including myself) being ask to a meeting about a school residential trip and being told that 33 children want to go but only 20 parents had said they would pay so they wanted to spread the cost of 33 between 20
The trip cost a lot and we struggled to pay so there was no way I was going to find over £130 more, and said so, in the end the people who paid went, it is a fact of life that sometimes people miss out.

One of the mothers who was not paying was always saying how she never paid for this that or the other, but she was always in the local shop getting Fags and booze,

I have just had this which I thought was cheeky

neverputasockinatoaster · 04/12/2011 15:06

The school I work in would never exclude a child from a curriculum trip for lack of a voluntary contribution. HOWEVER if we don't get enough contributions we can't go.
In fact the only time a child is left behind is if no permission slip is signed and we chase those daily, we are at great pains to point out that we are not able to take them without the slip.... No slip, no trip. I make a point of saying we're not worried about the money.
Last year I took my Y6 class on a 'leaver's trip'. 2 boys didn't hand in slips. I chased the carers and made sympathetic noises about money and not worrying. Both boys gave in slips the next day. One of the carers is still popping in to the office every now and then with the odd 50p/£1.
We no longer do residentials but when we did we gave good notice and allowed for installments. We were also able to access a fund in the town which would pay for any child on fsm to go. One year I had a parent come to me who wasn't in receipt of fsm to say he couldn't pay but could his boy go any way. This was a week before the trip and he had his son in front of me so he knew I couldn't say no. I was really angry about that.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8