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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

its only a frigging £1

110 replies

PepperPigsPorkScratchings · 11/09/2011 15:31

a few of the mums think its unreasonable for the school to ask us to pay £1 a week for the children to have some fresh fruit everyday.

am i the only one who thinks you'd be hard pushed to buy fresh fruit for your child for a whole week for under £1?

tight arses

OP posts:

oneofthosedays · 11/09/2011 15:44

I wouldn't have a problem with paying this for eldest DC (KS2) but would for KS1 DC as it should be free! We have to pay £2.50 per week for eldest DC swimming lessons within school time which is a pain as I already send her for swimming lessons. We also pay £1.35 per week per DC for milk and toast in a morning too. It's everything together as a pp mentioned - all the little contributions we're constantly being asked for mount up!

gillybean2 · 11/09/2011 15:46

Cocoflower I used to think that as well to the point I would happily donate extra and always round up my donation to the nearest £1.

When I joined the PTA and because more involved in the realities of it I spoke to the school re this and said that many parents maybe could afford it etc.
I was told that while that was true of a very tiny number it was usually those who could least afford it that always paid and those who were away of foreign holidays at least once a year and always getting takeaway that seemed to be the ones who objected and refused to pay.

I suggested different ways they could encourage more donations including asking parents to pay what they could afford if they couldn't afford the whole amount and specific fundraising events to cover the fruit money shortfall. But again people moaned saying why should we pay for other children's fruit when their own parents won't pay... So in the end it was just normal fundraising and a big chunk of PTA money went to cover the fruit shortfall.

troisgarcons · 11/09/2011 15:48

Are we all on a rant here? excellent!

I hate September. Next off it will be that poxy book fayre with the demands for a fiver, followed by school photos (individual, class, school and sports teams @ 20 odd quid a throw x 3 ).

Then there will be random mufti days ~ oh and this one gets me ~ £1 to wear your own clothes OR £1 fine for turning up in uniform OR a day in the unit for weatring own clothes and not bring ing a £1 because you arent wearing uniform

sjuperwolef · 11/09/2011 15:53

we pay 80p a week for snack - a choice of raisins, rice cake, breadstick or pancake and a drink of flat flavoured water - same as dd would get at home really except the pancake

i think its great

troisgarcons · 11/09/2011 15:54

AND.

NO I don't want to buy your sodding tea towels either (x3) and no I dont need to buy 9 of them because we havent got any grandparents either.

Nor do I want to pay another fiver x 3 from some art exhibition of my childs own drawings and have an evening sucked out of my life.

zukiecat · 11/09/2011 15:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Journey · 11/09/2011 15:54

As has been said before it's fine if you only have one child. If, however, you have three children or more at the school, plus paying for school dinners (for some of the days) it adds up.

I also don't understand the need to eat fruit specifically at school. Surely parents know to give fruit at home. It all seems a bit ott to me.

Orchidskeepdying · 11/09/2011 15:59

How sad that you don't support your DC's schools. How very sad.

distractedhousewife · 11/09/2011 16:00

In Wales we are expected to provide a fruit snack for our kids ourselves. No bother, most parents do, some don't but there's no issue with the school one way or the other. Is the payment for fruit compulsory or optional?

WilsonFrickett · 11/09/2011 16:00

Maybe all those people who have foreign holidays and take-aways'(how on earth would you know) have groaning fruit bowls at home and resent having to pay twice for their children's fruit? Just a thought.... And if the PTA really sits around making judgements on peoples ability to pay for things based on their holiday choices and perceived diets, then I am glad not to be a member!

fedupofnamechanging · 11/09/2011 16:02

We pay £1 per week to cover fruit/toast. DD has only just started school and I had no idea that this was supposed to be free. DD informs me that she had apple and bananas last week, so not watermelon or strawberries or anything interesting.

I too have had the demand request for money to cover transport costs to the swimming pool. Imo, if it's compulsory, then the county should be covering the cost of getting there. Am toying with the idea of telling the school that we will not be paying this particularly as it takes so much time to get to and from the pool, it's hardly worth going. Think ds would prefer me to just suck it up though.

festi · 11/09/2011 16:03

it is unreasonable I can buy a bag of apples or a bag of oranges myself to send in a piece of fruit every day for a week. seems pointless.

slartybartfast · 11/09/2011 16:04

they tend to word things in their requests for money though. asking for a donation
and then the teachers nag the children who in turn nag the parents.

pramsgalore · 11/09/2011 16:06

i would not mind paying £1 a week for fruit, what gets me are the school trips at £15 a time, my dd1 had 3 in as many months, i refused to pay for the third they were taking the piss, and told them i would not be going to the heads office to explain why i could not afford it, they don't seem to do as many now, as i was not the only parent to refuse

Maisiethemorningsidecat · 11/09/2011 16:06

If it was just a request for £1 for fruit then I wouldn't mind.

It never is though, is it?

troisgarcons · 11/09/2011 16:08

How sad that you don't support your DC's schools. How very sad.

Difficult to 'support' three schools - perhaps I should just make my salary right over to them. They already get £200 pcm a month out of me for clubs for the youngest - and it's not particularly well run - it's a money spinner for the Chair of Governors own business. Mindful of the fact that they just put their prices up AGAIN on the pretext of rising energy costs (and the fact that everyone I know is on a pay freeze) she let it slip that she had a brilliant deal to pay £300 pcm to the school for all inclusive rent of the rooms she uses.

Now, let me add all that up. 40 kids @ £8 an evening x 20 days a month. Thats £6,400 per week, with 3 staff on min wage for 3 hours a day. Its a rip off and working parents are over a barrel.

Bunbaker · 11/09/2011 16:08

I thought it was free in primary school. It certainly was at DD's school, right up until year 6.

However I wouldn't object to paying a pound a week if I knew DD was eating the fruit.

"If you have say 4 kids at the school...that's £16 per month"

I get tired of hearing this old chestnut. No-one forces women to have large families and they surely know that having lots of children is not a cheap option.

TrillianAstra · 11/09/2011 16:13

You haven't asked an "Am I Being Unreasonable?" question. Therefore YABU.

pramsgalore · 11/09/2011 16:13

i am also expected to pay for swimming, tag days, raffles, money or gifts for xmas hampers, hampers for the elderly, i do tag days as have no real choice with ta standing there ready to take your pound, but raffles and hampers i now ignore, i don't buy the raffle tickets after i found out the proffits bought a coffee machine !!!!!! the other year, piss takers the lot of them

ll31 · 11/09/2011 16:14

dont understand why school are having any involvement in what children eat... tho am not in uk. Surely schools are there to educate not to determine what kids eat

HughJarseJr · 11/09/2011 16:16

sod the kids having fruit, i got me fags to buy innit

pramsgalore · 11/09/2011 16:17

HughJarseJr

troisgarcons · 11/09/2011 16:18

Harvest Festival

Now what happened to that? Now it's a donation (£5 please ) to dig wells in Rwanda - which is admirable eEXCEPT the bloody teacher used £700 of the money to go and see how the well was coming along.

It's a piss take.

See? now, it's made me swear twice.

pramsgalore · 11/09/2011 16:20

think i may become a teacher with hols like that, i bet she took an apple with her!!!!!! and if at our school a freshly made coffee

Bunbaker · 11/09/2011 16:21

"dont understand why school are having any involvement in what children eat... tho am not in uk. Surely schools are there to educate not to determine what kids eat"

A few years ago Jamie Oliver started a campaign here. As a result schools are trying to promote healthier eating.

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