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?

My bugbear is schools asking for donations but spending money raised by the PTA on IMO wasteful things such as NINTENDO DSs - I kid you not.
Also, being devious - a probationary teacher at DSs junior school let slip that the profit from the parties was used for art materials. £2 for orange squash, a sausage roll, packet of crisps and freddo, if I recall correctly and their art activities were lamentable anyway.
Aah. The rant is over!
No- YANBU. It's the principle.

This is a tricky one.
On the one hand this sort of thing really annoys me, because it majorly affects the budgets available in one school vs another. Why should one school be better resourced because the parents are willing and able to make such contributions? Those sorts of children already have so many advantages and privileges; this just gives them more.

On the other hand at ds2's school they have rather nice A4 sketch books for art, which I'm sure cost a couple of quid each. Last year ds2 asked if he could take in his watercolours, sketching pencils, etc. He said the art department had very little budget that year, and with the costs of the sketch books there was very little left for other things. At the time I was saddened and thought maybe it would be better to ask children/parents to buy the sketchbooks, so the dept had dosh to spend on other things.

But that's just putting my children in the position of further privilege, that I was complaining about above.

YANBU.

How odd - why an art exercise book, when all the other subject books are covered by the school's budget?

Academies are 'charities' funded directly from central govt. They can do what they like with that funding. Very often a 'sponsor' will have control over the running of the academy, and will 'own' the premises.

It is an entirely different model of education/school management to traditional 'state' schools who are under LA control.

In my school you can pay £3.50 on a hardback sketchbook that will last all of KS3 or you can not pay and get given a crap unlined exercise book.

The school simply does not have the money to pay for these nice things for all the students.

Academies are a little bit of the family jewels that are currently being nicked off us. It's a less bloody extension of the enclosures, basically.

I'm a head of department in a secondary school and I ask all students at GCSE and above to provide their own folder , although do have some spares from previous years for any students who would like them instead of getting their own. I would love to get them all the stationary they require and we're talking small amounts but with a yearly budget of £550, which photocopying, instruments, piano tuning etc etc has to come out of, I've got to plan down to the penny how best this money is spent so that the children benefit best.

Oh dear, please don't flame me for the poor English in that final sentence - I have noticed but I'm shattered! x

Those of you talking about GCSE, that's well and good, but DD has just started in yr 7!

The school turned into an academy last academic year (ie about 6 mths ago) mainly to get the govt money; no sponsor owns the buildings. The same is true FWIW of the school I work in. I am not expecially condoing academies, but most of the secondary schools in this area are academies in any case.

condoning

Couthy

Just a thought, in my day, many, many decades ago we had a scheme where students could ask for a teacher (not the cookery teacher, I think a notice went up in the staff room) to bring in the ingredients, the pupil did the cooking and then who ever had brought the ingredients in took the finished meal home. Do you think your dd's school could do something similar?

Another thing dd could try is to get together with a friend, or a group and buy between them. Something like olive oil, you don't need much for a recipe but you have to buy a bottle. Maybe they could buy a bottle between 3 or 4.

Sorry if you have already tried this and I'm being patronising, I don't mean to be,

Is the 50p charge to make the student choose wisely about how they use the book?

Back in my day, we had to buy our own art book. (From WHSmiths for a lot more than 50p) The plain paper in my art book was used for other things like Geography and science coursework. I can imagine arty students filling up the pages with lots of sketches unrelated to schoolwork as well.