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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

School asking for more money.

21 replies

froggies · 04/09/2012 13:51

DD's school are having a music group visiting on Friday. This morning I found a letter in her bag asking for a £2 donation per child to give towards their travel costs (they are a charity).

I don't normally have a problem with giving extra towards extra stuff at school, trips and after school clubs, concerts and fund raisers I attend and pay towards just as pretty much every family in the village does.

But this is in curriculum time, as parents we weren't consulted about possible costs before they were booked (I am on the parent council, so I would know) and some people have 4 kids in the school (not me, I only have 2). I know it is only £2 each, but I still think it is a bit of a cheek to be honest. Is that unreasonable? I probably will still pay it coz I would feel guilty if I didn't.

OP posts:
Sirzy · 04/09/2012 13:53

It is a donation not a demand for payment so I have no problem with it. Allows for something different to come into the school which may not be possible otherwise

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 04/09/2012 16:17

Yabvu.

Schools can't be expected to consult parents before they arrange every single thing that costs money, there is no way they would be able to keep everyone happy anyway so it would be pointless and lead to some parents feeling they were being ignored in favour of others.

I don't think £2 is too much to ask for at all. It sounds like a bargain. The children from families with low incomes might not get to do much extra curricular stuff, so including things like this in school time might be the only opportunity they have to do something like that for such a low cost.

Children cost money, if parents have four children then they need to be able to afford it. schools need to cater for all their children, not just the ones whose parents struggle with money. It will be a great day for the children and parents should be pleased that the teachers arrange stuff like that. They don't do it for their own benefit you know, they do it for the children, why shouldn't the parents be asked to pay for things for their own kids?

JumpingThroughMoreHoops · 04/09/2012 17:20

Our primary used to put an envelope out at the beginning of the year. Every parent "donated" £5 and it stopped the drip drip drip of letters for a quid here and £1.50 there. Obviously school trips etc had to be paid for.

RightFedUp · 04/09/2012 18:45

So Outraged if you take your point about parents need to be able to afford 4 kids, does that mean if they budget for 3 then have a contraception failure, child 4 should be aborted, adopted or sold into slavery? Hmm

If you count up the cash my Dh's school asks for in a year, it's quite a lot.

LucieMay · 04/09/2012 18:48

I'd prefer to just pay £50 up front at the start of the year to be honest!

notapizzaeater · 04/09/2012 18:55

School budget just about covers day to day running if we want our kids to have nice extras which make the school experience better then we have to pay for it.

aamia · 04/09/2012 18:56

If you don't want to pay it, don't. They're asking for help towards costs, from those who can afford to pay. Up to you!

CommanderShepard · 04/09/2012 18:59

Or indeed plan for 3 and get twins!

BlackholesAndRevelations · 04/09/2012 19:01

Oh good god- is that comment about fourth child really necessary?! Some people on here are so extreme.

Re: the £2, sounds ok to me but I really like the idea of the £5 fund envelope.

BrigitBigKnickers · 04/09/2012 19:01

What do you mean "this is in curriculum time"? Music is on the curriculum! Hmm

HappyMummyOfOne · 04/09/2012 19:03

YABVU, its a tiny cost and will enhance your childs learning.

I agree with outraged, children come with costs and schools cant run everything past parents first. If parents have more than one child then that was their choice, its not the schools fault.

RuleBritannia · 04/09/2012 19:04

Things have changed. In my day when I was at school, we did not pay for the Dolmetsch Group to come and perform in our hall.

jellybeans · 04/09/2012 19:07

I have 5DC and don't mind the £2 ones but get annoyed at the sell your DC picture in a cheap frame for £8 each sort of thing. Also thought the 4th DC comment was abit OTT I had twins with nos 3&4. Also people's situations change. Our school is always asking for money and it does get annoying when it is alot.

ihearsounds · 04/09/2012 19:26

Why not try and do more in the school council to get extra cash to pay towards trips etc?
Never paid for a trip and the youngest has been loads of places including theatre and gullivers. In the past 3 years I have spent no more than £50 on books, toys, gifts and other stuff. Not only are the parents involved but local businesses who donate various things for raffles and even publish our yearly cook book.

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 04/09/2012 20:48

Fed up, that's a slightly hysterical response to my post, but ok. Hmm

Parents need to take responsibility for any children they have no matter how they were conceived and what the circumstances were. Is that really such an outrageous belief to have? Really?

If someone has more children than they have planned/budgeted for/can afford, then that's their problem to deal with. It is not a reason to deny opportunities to and learning experiences to other children.

horsey01 · 04/09/2012 21:23

Wish our things were only £2.00. I have already been asked to pay £18 for 2 children. One for a trip (fair enough). Other for some private company to come in and do a special day.

OrangeImperialGoldBlether · 04/09/2012 21:28

Has anyone else been brave enough to refuse a school photo? I refused my daughter's on the grounds that it made her look like her face was on the wrong side of her body. The teacher said I was the first to refuse to pay.

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 04/09/2012 21:32

Loads of people don't buy school photos. In both the s hooks my dc are in and the one I work in. It's not uncommon at all.

That seems an odd comment for the teacher to make, what difference does it make to her!? The teacher I work with wouldn't even know who has and hasn't ordered photos unless she specifically has a look at the pictures when they arrive just for fun, the TAs sort them out.

OrangeImperialGoldBlether · 04/09/2012 21:39

Oh OK, I thought it was odd at the time. It's always seemed an expensive way to get a not-very-good photo.

GnomeDePlume · 04/09/2012 22:33

YANBU

The problem is not that it is £2 but that this thing is £2 then in a week or so there will be another £2 for this/that then there will be the tinned veg harvest festival then there will be the panto and on and on.

All of these things are undoubtedly highly laudable, the problem is that they all add up and then you have to multiply the total by the number of DCs.

I wish that schools would set a budget for parental donations and then stick to it.

JumpingThroughMoreHoops · 04/09/2012 22:44

My biggest objection is to 'mufti' days.

£1 to wear your own clothes - or £1 fine if you wear school uniform and don't join in.

It rankles. BADLY.

I, personally dont give a shit about comic relief, jeans for genes, world book day and every other random dress down, wear pink, wear your Dads tie, bring your teddy bear in bit of media hyped vogue charity.

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