when did state education stop being free? eh?????

[Clary]

DD has come home with a request for a voluntary contribution to school - for her art exercise book.

Yes it's only 50p, but I really really resent the idea of paying for her blimming exercise books.

We send her to school in uniform, with pens, pencils, calculator and PE kit; is it really too much to suppose the school will provide her with the paper to do her art work?

I said in a bit of a temper "well art is bobbins expecially at that school" (DS1 has had a difficult time of it with a very negative teacher) and DD rather upset said if she didn't take the money she wouldn't get the exercise book (so much for voluntary then!).

DH agreed with me and started going on about the thin end of an enormous wedge. School is an academy (as so many are) so is this the way it is going to go? This week 50p for an exercise book, next week £10 or we won't teach your child music?

Gosh, no wonder this country is broke! Even in the 80's when I was at school in Auustralia our parents had to buy all of our school stationary.

I think all children unless they are low income should pay for their own books and stationary- they'd take better care of them!

Schools are VERY Strained with their budgets- cutting stationary would free up cash for better resources in other areas.

I had to buy dd an A4 plain papered book for art which they used in year 7 and 8. Also bought a book in primary school which they used twice. I contributed £16 for dt in year 7 but still had to buy loads of stuff so i don't know why i bothered (but you do, don't you).

At dd1's school we had to buy a special art book that was only available from the school shop. I think it was £3 and they fell apart so quickly that she needed one a year.

I remember going up to the local market and buying a gross of misprinted HB pencils. The bloke spotted I was a teacher straight away, what other idiot would be paying for basic materials in bulk?
Depends how good a school is at managing the limited budget they have, where they choose to make cuts, how good the children are at respecting the resources, how active the PTA are at fund-raising...
You shouldn't have to pay for anything, but without some cash input, the resources are finite.

My art "exercise book" cost £2, it was an A3 drawing pad, it WAS school subsidised - the same pad was £3.50 - £5.00 in art shops. If we had not paid the £2 I expect we would indeed have been provided with a bog standard unlined exercise book, but that would have been a bit shit for pastel smudging and watercolours... YABU the education bit is free, that doesn't mean particularly expensive bits of kit, which will be mistreated and manked up (art exercise books - mine certainly weren't only used nicely and kept clean with only school work in) and equipment that will be robbed (cameras for photography, oil paints, pastel blocks, silk paint etc) should all be free as well. Just be grateful you haven't been asked to provide the rest of the equipment.

It's a difficult one isn't it.... I have been horrified this term that DD who is in Yr 2 has come home with a photocopied maths book - obviously some of the copies have gone missing and they've chosen to photocopy rather than buy new ones... DD is particularly annoyed as we've never lost any school books and she feels she is being punished for having a photocopy....

DS has just started at a super-selective and it has been a constant drip, drip for money since he started £5.00 for cookery ingredients (on top of most of the ones that parents have to supply), £3.00 for special DT files etc...and they've only just finished week 4!

I do appreciate that school budgets have been cut but where does all the money go....DS's school is quite small and a bit run down so it's definitely not going on a fabulous physical environment.... I was wondering whether it's because as a grammar school it has a very low incidence of children on FSM and that must impact on a school's available funds quite significantly or is that money entirely ring-fenced to benefit the children on FSMs?

On the subject of art books, we had to pay a sum for DS's but it's very nice with the school logo on it.....

What annoys me the most is the PE uniform at DS's school. It comes to nearly £50. The fact that you can only get it from one shop that is on the other side the county, and they charge nearly £10 courier delivery is the biggest kick in the balls. Why not send it via Royal Mail?

Yes, the designated school outfitter mularky is a a big bugbear...it's doesn't make for competitive pricing.....

The one we had to go to for DS's uniform isn't on the other side of the county but nevertheless somewhere we would never normally go, so it entailed a family trip out one weekend...Thankfully the science-overall which had to be ordered in separately (and therefore would have required another trip to be collected was sent to us for free) once DW had laboured the point that it was highly inconvenient to have to play a special trip to collect one item!

PE kit for £50 sounds relatively average though - DS's was more like £100 (!). Given that the entirety of it had to be bought at the school outfitter rather than generically (as could some bits of his main uniform) it was as expensive as his everyday uniform.

Heyho....I think one just has to accept that senior school is more of a financial demand than primary school by a long way!

I don't mind the price, it's the fact that you can only get it from one place. It's too much fannying about to go to the shop and I really resent paying nearly a tenner to get it delivered when it could just be sent viw Royal Mail.

A run-down school doesn't mean no money is spent on the buildings though - it's like when you have a run-down house and no cash, you spend a lot of money just keeping on top of things as they crop up - lack of money for maintenance means dealing with roof/window leaks, replacing dangerous flooring or stairs...a new building costs less to heat and run in general. I teach in a building with single-glazed, metal windows which you can't have open as they blow in the wind and are a hazard. They let in water in the rain. There are holes in the ceiling which means kids are walking past buckets of water on the stairs etc etc. And I wouldn't even call it a particularly bad building! We have a big team of groundskeepers who do spend a lot of time on repairs and upkeep and I know money is spent every year but there's just so much to do.

School uniform is a huge bugbear of mine, well the fact that one shop has the monopoly on it is anyway.

If just one other shop was allowed to stock it it would mean they would have to be competative with their prices.

Its too expensive and its crap quality.

In answer to an earlier comment.
Academies sometimes give bits of uniform if the school changes into an academy from a non academy.
This is because you might have 100s of children whose parents have already paid out for uniform only to have it made redundant.

When schools become academies their uniform tends to become a lot more involved pouncey and it seems unfair to expect families to be put in a difficult financial position.

I went to school in the 70s and 80s. We had to share 1 text book between 4.

TBH I just accepted dds would need extras for high school I really don't mind when dd2 did her options she took art music and hospitality so I knew she would need money for the year or a few folders and maybe some art stuff we shouldn't have to provide these things but it helps out the pupils and the schools.

I had to take in food every week for home economics so it isn't really a new thing,

i have just paid £5voluntry contribution for my year one son to go to the main library in town where they have a bit of a museam and aquarium all of which is free to go in [ i know cos we went a few weeks ago] its yr 1 and 2 so about sixty kids even taking transport costs inbto consideration i think they are making a huge proifit somewhere a long the way considering the main library is no more than two miles away from school.

Gazzalw - the 'pupil premium' for children on FSM isn't ring-fenced in that it goes into main school funds and the school has control over what it's spent on, but they do have to show how it was spent and the effect it had on the attainment of the relevant pupils.

Government has cut school budgets to the point Head Teachers are at a loss. As a teacher I've sat in a meeting where our Head has shown us the figures and said "please if anyone has any ideas as to what we can do let me know!". Schools have made as many cuts and redundancies as they can. 50p for a book might sound daft but when you multiply that by the number of students the school may have no choice.

Blimey! DD's art pack, of which a new one was required every year Y7-Y9, cost £2.50. I just paid without a second thought...

Now her GCSE Catering costs are what get on my wick. DD cooked twice last week. The ingredients cost me £10 between the two. I HADN'T budgeted for that !

That is a lot couthy dds school you pay it yearly so not an expense every week

I remember when I started secondary school (Early 80's) I had to buy an A5 Art pad for my art homework! So it's not new, we also had to buy every set english book at GCSE and A level

I have had a letter asking for £20 for the school fund, £10 for DT, £10 for food tech (as well as buying the ingredients) and £10 for art.

Dh has just lost his job, so we can't afford that sort of money. I can't wait till my twins start secondary and I have to pay double for everything.

Margery - a lot of areas DON'T have a Uniform grant for low income pupils. My LA hasn't had one for at least 10 years. So there would be no way our LA would give out grants for exercise books and other school equipment.

We don't pay it to the school - I have to buy the ingredients myself!

We don't pay it to the school - I have to buy the ingredients myself!

Oh ok bummer that you need to do that twice a week especially in exam yar when they cook twice a week but TBH im sick of DD bringing home cakes they are lovely but it is supposed to be an all round cooking class not baking