TO START ADDING IT ALL UP.

[ilikethesun]

I am going to write down every single penny/pound that the school ask for this year. [YEAR 5 FROM SEPT - JULY]

Anyone want to join in?

Hmm.... to me a lot of LineRunner's list seems so entirely optional or "I would have to pay that anyway, even if I Home-ed'd", like school dinners, most of the uniform, raffles or clubs. I guess I could keep include clothes + food in separate tallies.

Otherwise I will include

Trips
Extra materials or ingredients
Uniform
Some books (not had any, yet)
Sport stuff (don't usually pay, but always a first time)
PTA events (though I NEVER buy raffle or Tombola tickets)
Special 'non uniform days'

I am not including

uniform
lunches
or anything like that

I mean after school club is your choice [meaning if you work]

Also home work club is optional.

I mean money for non uniform days, raffles school trips....etc

Wow talker ..Vietnam and malawi in the same school year?

forrest ... yup

I am imagining that no-one goes on both !!

£2 for gardening consultants

last minute theatre company coming in to sing nursery rhymes to Reception £5 per child - so in the region of £450... to sing songs they already knew!? WT...?

My friend's Dc has non-uniform days, and they get told to fill a jam jar with something, sweets etc and these are kept and sold/given as prizes at the Village Fete to raise money. That, I think, is a good idea.

i'm in. it will start with harvest festival. fill a box.

ok just keep the ''asks' coming, and every now and again

put a figure in

So far my school has asked for £x.xx [for example]

Ds starts school tomorrow so far I'm quite impressed, they seem to 'cover' everything really.

£5 per jumper (obviously there's the rest of his uniform but that's generic stuff, I can choose to pay asda or next prices iyswim and shoes)
£7 for a school trip to the zoo which is over an hour away (ds WILL sleep lol) so that covers, travel, entry and a snack on the day.

Water bottle, bookbag, snacks, milk all provided for all children.

The trip's to Europe, nowhere exotic!

I think there's a massive difference between secondary and primary, especially when it comes to the definition of 'optional'.

'This trip is highly recommended for those students thinking about university...' for example. You can shrug it off in Year 5, but in Years 10 onwards????

Funnily enough I've been doing that this year.

So far this week the grand total is..(quick mental adding up in head)...£180.

2 kids. School trips, donations, fund raising, theater tickets, swimming lessons, music lessons for DD.

All of which are supposed to be volentary but we all know that isn't the case.

Tomorrow is DS's first day at school.

Perhaps this is a good point to start reckoning all the 'asks'. I believe the school is very good at 'asks'. Though just to upset DS when he is a teen, I will keep a separate record of eg milk money. Mainly I will start reckoning on the non uniform days etc.

By the time he is 18 it should be an interesting total!

DS1 in Y5. So far I have paid £50 for his swimming lessons for this term. Plus £31.50 on school jumpers as he has grown. Plus I'm paying £2.50 a week towards his Y6 residential trip.

DS2 is in Y3, I also have had to pay £31.50 for his school jumpers, and am saving up to pay the £50 for HIS swimming next term.

DD is in Y9, £40 for History day trip to the trenches in Belgium, plus the £3/month SO for the school funds.

Oh, and next Thursday both DS1 and DS2 must take in £1 to wear their own clothes. Not even for charity - one has to dress up in red & yellow like the Spanish flag, the other has to wear beach wear. When it is freezing cold and pissing down.

Yes - it WILL be an interesting total but so would ANY total spent on raising your child.
If you DON'T want your child to go to the theatre/visit the Science Museum/have a PGL holiday then DON'T.
But if opportunities are presented to your child, then take them if you want to.
But stop whinging.

PGL is £360 for 5 days!

We've got a good one coming up: we've got one of those companies coming in that mount and frame a piece of artwork done by our DCs that we have the opportunity to buy at the school art exhibition.
Anyone come across this yet? What's the going rate for a framed picture? And, like the school photos, what do they do with the ones that don't get sold?
I have DD's art up all over the house, some I've even framed. I don't want to encourage these people but can imagine the pressure on the day.