AIBU - to be annoyed at school hounding me for a voluntary contribution?

[altern8gal]

My son is in reception at school. When he started we were given a small re-sealable bag and a letter for "Fun Fund" which basically said to put a £1/week in bag and send into school.

I did this for a few weeks, until I started thinking about it properly, totted up how much school were getting a year from the "Fun Fund" (approx £1560) and started to wonder where this money was going. When parents do not send in the contribution, we either sent a text to remind us, or pulled up by a member of staff.

I spoke to a teacher, who had pulled me up in the playground, and voiced my opinions and explained that I thought it was unfair to chase debt for a voluntary contribution. The next day, teacher came out with a big long list of what they used the money on (Sweets for Diwali, googly eyes, shaving foam (??) etc etc). We also pay for the usual stuff, school trips, disco, nativity, book week etc!

I explained, yet again, that I had no problem with providing a donation for something my child was doing at school, but I did think £1/week was excessive and that I didn't appreciate being chased for the money. Teacher agreed a letter would be sent out explaining clearly, and she didn't seem to know that we were getting texts too (I'm not the only parent concerned about this, just the only one to speak up about it).

Anyway, after being spoken too in the playground, twice, surrounded by parents, kids and teachers, I have yet again had a text chasing a voluntary contribution.

AIBU to think that this is a bit wrong?

ds started reception in Sept, and for fun and having heard about the school's reputation for money requests, I kept count.

Just for 'asks' eg school photos, school christmas cards, sponsorship, donations for hampers, no uniform day etc cost over £100 in the first term. I could have reined in the school photos, and some of the sponsorship was a pound or two higher because ds has generous uncles but it was a lot of money. The last day I got stung £1 for reindeer food. When I wrote out the cheque for the voluntary contribution for the trip to see a play we had already booked to see as a family (sigh) I nearly put the voluntary in inverted commas.

The first newsletter this term shocked me - it didn't ask for money!

We are asked to voluntarily contribute £36 per year, so £12 a term, which is equal to the OP's £1 a week. However, it is entirely voluntary. No-one is hounded for it. I guess some people pay over, some people don't pay and some pay the suggested amount, so it probably all evens out. Out of order to chase you, though!

blondie mark making is making marks on paper. They use all sorts of different things. With shaving foam you can squirt it over a large sheet of paper and then run their fingers or a crayon through it to practise making marks. If using a crayon it teaches them how to hold a pen/pencil. It shows them consequence and lets their imagination flow. It is the first step to writing.
Basically it is just drawing/colouring with different tools and having fun

Yanbu. Texting you is a bit off and £1 a week seems like a lot if they also do the usual fundraising activities.

ds1 goes to a catholic school and we are asked to contribute to the 'building fund' once a year which the bishop decided should be £36 per child! the school sent a letter saying they understood that it was a lot of money so were asking for a contribution, you circle the year your child is in on the form, put it in a sealed envelope with your donation and no one knows how much anyones paid

Debs75, your DS's social worker had a moan at you for not paying a voluntary contribution?

I have to say, reading through some of these replies, that we are incredibly lucky with our school. I've only really had to pay out for trips and that's it really, and then just the odd donation for a school fete. My eldest DD did originally go to another primary school and they were always asking for money; £1 for a visiting acting company, £2 for a violin performance, we even had to buy all our own stationery for our children and it had to be purchased via the school. hmmm, nice money making enterprise there! It was a very up-itself, snobby school so they just assumed (or wanted to believe) that everyone attending was wealthy.

I think I would simply stand in front of the head and ask "Why do you call this a voluntary contribution when you are harrassing me to pay it?"

I'd love to hear the answer to that!

Write a letter to the head teacher - give dates and times and exact wording of the texts you have received. copy it into the school governors and copy it to Ofsted and ask for their comments. A letter copied to ofsted often gets a response! a voluntary contribution is just that - voluntary. if you are unwilling or unable to give it then that should be that.

take it to the head.
can they not do fundraisers to raise money? Shaving foam wth!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Do they do other fundraising as well, such as Christmas Fairs? Seems a bit off to me. I am not teaching now, but I understood that even money for trips was voluntary and that parents could be given a reminder, but not made to pay (most did).

£2-3 a week for tuck shop, they could kiss my arse!

We pay 50p a week for healthy snacks and other stuff that comes up like cooking, special classroom events. Have no idea if its voluntary and have always paid it. No idea if everyone else does, but these little bits of money mount up.

My Dds (secondary) school asks for £15 pounds a month per child... There are 1000 pupils!
I give a fiver a month and I think I'm being generous

It is ridiculous that the school needs to charge parents that much. The head should manage the budget better, and be a bit more creative with fundraising ideas.

to be honest, the googly eyes and shaving foam thing makes me think that it is paying for things that the teachers usually pay for out of their own pocket, to enhance the learning experience of the children they teach. After all shaving foam, sweets, etc are not a neccessity, but make school fun. If the teachers are no longer prepared to pay, quite rightly if the parents are taking offence at paying, and the parents also dont pay, then your kids just wont have enough of these activities.

Would it really cost £200 or £300 per week to do those kind of things though nailak?

DD1's (Special primary) School asks for donations of £12 per year for cooking (she cooks every week) and £15 per year for snack (she gets 2 snacks per day, partly as a communication/PSHE aid).

They often go on trips out to either the forest, a soft play, a garden centre, etc., and the most we are asked to contribute is £0.50-£3 depending on the trip to help towards petrol/parking/drink and biscuit etc.

DD2's school (Mainstream primary) publishes the costs of trips at the beginning of the year and offers a weekly payment scheme. For example, DD2 will be going on a trip that costs £10.50 at some point in the year.

Yes but surely nailak it's that kind of thing that the PTA fundraises for? I am shocked by all these requests for money by schools. Dd's school only asks for contributions by parents for school trips etc and the secondary school I work for wouldn't dream of hassling parents this way.

Errr don't school have an art budget,RE budget etc.Blimey £30 a week that's £120 a month!!!!! That's for stuff they already have money for.

Thats aside from the fact if it's voluntary nobody should not have hassled you at all.I thought schools weren't aloud to pester for money.

In your letter to the govs you might want to point out that the art budget should cover for "googly eyes" if it doesn't said teacher should think of a different activity.

The hounding is wrong but making a contribution to enrich the childrens' activities most certainly isn't. My children's primary school (church) had voluntary contributions annually - I think they were about £100 per annum. There was also a system of 50p per week into the classroom for extras like tissues, seeds, special paper, things that allowed the teachers to do some really lovely things with teh children.

Education should be fun and inspiring and unfortunately school budgets allow for what is statutorily required.

If any of you questioning this have treated yourselves this week to a coffee, a glass of wine, a few chocolates or a magazine I'm sorry but I think you should be ashamed of yourselves for being resentful over spending a pound for the benefit of the child's education.

I have 3 kids and no I never treat myself.

Sorry when I taught we may not have had a lot but we had a budget for every subject which we kept to and still managed to do lovely things.My dc's school they do fantastic things and we never get asked for money like this.Cakes for fundraising once a year,charity things and the usual discos etc but money for art and RE materials no.

Sorry I think schools need to realise parents aren't bottomless purses and keep to a budget like the rest of us.

Also when you add up money for trips X 3,cakes for sales,buying cakes for sales,mufty day contributions for charity,photos,Xmas cards(which school gets a cut of),sponser money etc I think actually most parents contribute more than enough to justify money for curriculum materials too which is what I pay my tax for.

instead of asking for money why not ask for things
I would be much happier providing the googly eyes or shaving foam than be arm twisted into putting money into a bottomless pit

marriedinwhite parents (and non-parents) have already paid for their child's education via the taxation system, so to suggest that they pay again by not having a treat is BU IMO.