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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

aibu about the excessive amount of things to pay for at school!

37 replies

Chundle · 01/02/2012 13:34

Ok at dds school there seems to be an extroadinary amount of trips/activities etc to pay for! It's literally a letter a week! 2 weeks ago they had letter about zoo trip cost 9 quid, last week a letter about craft activity with guest cost 3 quid, yesterday theatre workshop thing with dance lesson cost 5 quid!
Now whilst I love the experience all this stuff gives surely the cost of all this must add up especially for parents that have several kids at the school! Now they do say its voluntary contribution however if you don't pay on time you do get a reminder letter about paying!
It just seems that everytime I stick a fiver in my sparechange pot for holiday spending money I have to take it out again and give it to school!!
I've never known another school like it for letters every week!!

OP posts:
Ragwort · 01/02/2012 13:36

There's been quite a few threads on this subject recently, has anyone ever written back to the school and queried why they are repeating requests for 'voluntary' contributions?

GypsyMoth · 01/02/2012 13:36

Yep, par for the course op!! Get used to it

Original poster
Chundle · 01/02/2012 13:37

It's not so much the repeating request for the contribution its the sheer amount of requests!! It'd every week we have to pay something at the min. Surely even private schools don't pay out this frequently for school excursions/activities

OP posts:
GypsyMoth · 01/02/2012 13:38

ragwort I don't think anybody confronts the school for fear of it becoming either public knowledge or for some sort of punishment via their child

School has us over a barrel really

Original poster
Chundle · 01/02/2012 13:38

Yep I agree tiffany!

OP posts:
MrsHeffley · 01/02/2012 13:43

I know people are getting pissed off at our school.Don't mind the trips to a point(do think there should be a ceiling) it's all the school fundraising on top along with charity fund raising and school dinners-X3!!!!!!!

Sorry they need to realise things are tight at the moment,modify it or except they won't be getting the full amount off everybody and quit chasing.

chickensaregreen · 01/02/2012 13:43

Schools have to ask for 'voluntary' contributions now because they are not allowed to exclude children from activities if they don't pay. They ask for money because there is none, simple as that really! If you choose to ignore all letters about paying and don't pay then there is nothing they can do about it and your child will still do the activity. We have in the past written on letters that if there are not enough voluntary contributions then the trip will be cancelled.

Original poster
Chundle · 01/02/2012 13:46

I do pay for all her trips however one letter got left in her bag and the consent wasn't sent back hence why I got a chasing letter. It does say on all letters that trip will be cancelled if not enough contributions so that's why I pay but I just think schools do need to have a limit on trips each term especially given that lots of parents are out of work

OP posts:
IUseTooMuchKitchenRoll · 01/02/2012 13:47

They do it because the teachers see these things and hope it will add to the children's learning. They could stop doing it, but the only people that would miss out are the children.

I find it expensive at times, but I am very grateful that teachers put this amount of effort into planning things for the children.

MrsHeffley · 01/02/2012 13:47

I always pay and limit school dinners instead(although we get advertising for that which the kids nag about).I do feel for those that can't pay though.

At our school my 3 get really upset if I don't send in the money literally the day after the letter has gone out as they worry that they'll be on the list of kids being chased. Must be horrible for some kids and their parents.Sad.

imoanruby · 01/02/2012 13:48

My dd had a trip cancelled once in year 2 as there were not enough voluntary contributions.

Her school does have a maximum policy though: if a trip costs more than £6.00 the parents are only asked to pay £6.00 and the parents association then make up any difference.

marge2 · 01/02/2012 13:50

Drives me mad. I understand why trips need 'contributions', but there seem to be SO many of them. I went on maybe one school trip a year when I was a kid.

LyssaM · 01/02/2012 13:52

DS started reception Sept 2011. I had heard about the school so I started keeping a track of asks - non uniform day, sponsorship, trips etc (not too severe in Reception). Over £100 for his first term, not including uniform or school dinners. In fact, on his third day at school they asked us to take the kids away, get them to design a Christmas card with our own materials, take it back to school who got it printed up and charged us for the cards. That was in September.

Nothing so far this term, but I am watching!

Original poster
Chundle · 01/02/2012 13:57

Easily I have paid over 200 quid since September. I don't begrudge her going to these things and know she has a fab time. We don't do school dinners mainly because I don't trust her not to get a plate full of chips!! So we do save on that a bit. Would be nice to have newsletter at start of term outlining what they're planning so parents can budget for it though

OP posts:
HexagonalQueenOfTheSummer · 01/02/2012 14:12

We are very lucky at our school that the only thing we are asked to pay for really is school trips, which are never excessively priced. We do have a good PTA though that do a lot of fundraising, and the PTA pay for things like a panto to visit the school at Xmas, and for the children to do things like an Easter Egg hunt each Easter.

I would get quite annoyed if it was a letter every week requesting £5 or so, it all soon adds up, although am happy to pay for the trips.

One of the mums I know from school, who is pretty well off financially, never pays a penny for school trips, she just refuses to. I don't think that's very fair when most others that can afford it cough up for it!

GypsyMoth · 01/02/2012 15:04

Once they are older you have to invest more. Ds just done options for gcse. He will need a desk/laptop and printer, we will have to pay fir his travel out of school to get to college as school don't run all the courses on site. All the food and clothing for catering gcse. Residential trip to the Somme, £300. Doing history so he needs to go on that one.

School meals aren't enough, so tuck money as well as canteen. Own art materials

It gets worse ladies!!

GypsyMoth · 01/02/2012 15:05

Then the letters home for sponsoring teachers on various things, trips to theatre and bigger trips..... Brace yourselves for the 'ski-ing' one!

CogitoErgoSometimes · 01/02/2012 15:07

If you think the requests are excessive, talk to the school. They may not realise just what a burden they are putting on parents and, if you say something, they may start to think twice before asking for extra donations. In the cub group I help with we made a conscious decision last year to cut down on outings and reduce the events that required additional funds... precisely because we know families are watching the pennies at the moment.

MrsHeffley · 01/02/2012 15:12

Jesus all parents are never going to be able to afford all that,what are they supposed to do?

When I did my O and A levels we did nothing bar a geography field trip and a French exchange and that was it for 7 years. Qualifications were harder to get then too.

Sorry but I think things are getting out of hand if getting an education involves continuously shelling out stack loads of cash.One wonders if more attention needs to be focused more on learning in the classroom instead of all this frilly stuff.

Parents these days just don't have the cash.Schools are going to have to realise this and teach accordingly. Teachers have managed for years to educate without drumming up huge bills for parents,why is all this stuff suddenly so necessary?

MrsHeffley · 01/02/2012 15:13

Tiffany I have history O level and managed to get it without going to the Somme!Shock

Hulababy · 01/02/2012 15:13

Where I work we do no more than 1 paid for activity a term.
It is a voluntary contribution here too. We do chase up the letters, but never ask for the money.
If not enough contribute the activity is cancelled.

GypsyMoth · 01/02/2012 15:17

Yep! I know, but it somehow becomes necessary to go! Dd went ( also to Aushwitz) the teacher planned lessons and made it all about what they had seen and experienced, so parents get the idea if their child doesn't go, then how will they do the lesson?

I know it's not a necessity. But it feels more important than the yr 5 trip to Wales

MrsHeffley · 01/02/2012 15:21

Hmm one wonders if gradually less and less kids will be able to do all this stuff and they'll have to start changing the curriculum. Maybe in the past parents used to just slap it on a ccard.

I did Classics and Ancient History without going to Greece.With 3 kids....... !!!!!!

startail · 01/02/2012 15:23

YANBU
One of our mums recorded she'd been asked for £300 one summer term for 3 children without there being a residential or anything clearly expensive.

Unfortunately school just doesn't seem to look at the big picture. The individual trips may be good value, but add swimming lessons, sponsored swim, fete etc and the total bill gets ridiculous.

Yes strictly the fund raising is optional, but the sponsored things occur in school time.

Original poster
Chundle · 01/02/2012 15:24

But how do u let the school know without becoming "the parent that complained and spoilt the fun"

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