Teachers chugging

[socharlotte]

So school charity week.3 kids at the school.One of the events was a non-uniform day to spend with a 'suggested donation' of £2 each which would have cost me £6 which I can't afford so I gave them 50p each.One of the kids was ok because theyjust passed a box round to put their donations in.The other 2 , were given a hard time by the teachers. One was told to bring some more in tomorrow, the other one called the boy before him 'tight' because he only had £1.20 , so poor DS felt obliged to put the 50p plus borrow £1 from a friend to put in.
I am hopping mad.Encouraging charitable giving is one thing, but IMO this crosses the line into bullying people into giving more than they can afford.Would I be unreasonable to email the school to tell them this.

I agree, Couthy. My DC's can go on day trips but not generally on weekends or weeks away. (DS1 never went on one; DS2 had a 3 night trip to an activity centre). I have had a child in school for 14 years now, and the add-on costs are creeping up and up. Uniforms, sports kits, lunches, books, trips, photocopying, school fundraising, other charity 'donations', presents for teachers... And it's not just the FSM kids' families who struggle: we've never qualified for FSMs, but I'm a working single parent on a modest income, and all these extras really stretch my budget.

Donations are always £1 at out school.

I've had to have 'nice quiet words' too, nickschick, but I feel we shouldn't have to. It's embarrassing to have to say, effectively, "We're too poor to afford that". Schools really ought to be already aware of the financial pressures on their families. Lots of schools are. But some need to be better informed and show more sensitivity.

I'm cross on your behalf OP, definitely raise this.

Domino, I think your attitude is awful. I never had pocket money at 14. I had a saturday job on a market stall selling vegetables and I would spend my wages on fruit and veg for my family for the week. Don't just assume that everyone has the money available. And why shouldn't the child turn up in their own clothes? The donation is voluntary and it would really mark them out as poor (or a geek) if they rejected the non-uniform day.

Im sorry i typed that in a way that perhaps made you think i was saying it in a way to be at the mercy of the teacher,all i was thinking and i would say myself is 'at the moment things are tight financially and so instead i shall give a donation on behalf of my children' .....it is a bit humiliating i understand once my ds lost his school jumper at £12 each i couldnt afford 2 so it was a nightmare i told the class teacher who said to look in a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge black bag and just get one from there,luckily for me ds' jumper was in there but i also saw lots and lots of others that i recognised as belonging to other pupils so i did a mass of handing them back to parents .....the ones that were spare were left a while for parents to come and check and then the rest i laundered and repaired and some were 'donated' (given to families where the children needed them ....not in a charity way just a 'did you want to take one of these jumpers?' (all names had been removed) and the rest were sold v cheaply at the schoold christmas fete.

I'm stunned that teachers could even consider reacting like that! I agree that a word with the head or a senior member of staff is definitely required.

I have to add though that this kind of thing isn't restricted to schools. Where I work they do similar 'charity' events about five-ten times a year. For the last one, an email was sent round to all staff saying that the expected donation was £2, on giving this staff would be given a sticker they were expected to wear for the rest of the day to confirm they had paid, and if the sticker was not worn then staff should expect to be asked to contribute another £2!! Needless to say there was uproar and the powers that be were obliged to rescind the whole sticker idea!

That sounds good nickschick :) It's great that there are so many people out there doing useful, community-minded things like that.
But it makes me cross that schools should be so ignorant.

Love the post saying that teachers are too highly skilled to collect money...so senior management do it instead!

flow4 I only started it and that was out of neccesity on my part it didnt start as a community thing it started as me not having £12 for another jumper .

Im not sure it is an essential part of our childrens education to have these 'charity' days ....we never had them when I was a child just at the end of school concerts a bucket was passed around (for money not vomit )

I think this kind of fundraising is somehwat unethical.

If schools want to teach about charity and philanthropy then they should actually teach it - non-unifrom days for money are an abuse of the authority schools have to dictate clothing. It's like the selling of Indulgences. Reformation where are you?

IME nickschick, that's where the most effective, sustainable 'charity' begins: with someone who is directly affected thinking "Hmm, I need to do something about this, and while I'm at it, I might as well be useful" . The external put-money-in-a-bucket-then-someone-will-do-Good-Works-with-it type of charity is much less effective and sustainable.

I agree Emmeline but they'd probably have burnt us at the stake as witches for causing trouble like that

DO not like the attitude of "if they can;t afford it they can come in their own clothes" - that's fine for outside school but this is school, where it is mandatory they go 5 days a week. Schools should be ensuring that all children are not made to feel uncomfortable for things that are outside their control. And they may well be wearing designer clothes that ahve been handed down, bought on ebay or bought for them as presents - I am amazed that someone would assume designer clothes = rich.

My attitude is that most parents who can afford it will want to send in a small donation as it's part of their child's school life. The children whose parents can't afford to donate should not be made to feel different. There will be a few parents who could afford it but choose not to - fine, let them get on with it. They are not actually profiting from the money the other parents send in

we had a roal dalh day, where everyone got dressed up as a character. had to fork out for a costume.

then we get to school and she has to pay £1 for the privalege of wearing it because its a mufti day.

thats not a mufti day at all

They do another thing at DSs school that annoys me.

They get the 6th form to run an 'enterprise' to teach them about how business works. This usually involves a 'business' selling sports drinking bottles or some such item.

DS1 who is in Yr 8 came home with a letter and order form yesterday telling us all about the latest 'enterprise' venture selling tea towels. I decided to take the opportunity to teach DS1 how real business works. I clicked on a website selling commercial kitchen and restaurant supplies and showed him that I can buy the same tea towels for 50% of the price that the 6th formers were selling them for.

It is not a business. It is just hassling patrents for money and putting in a bulk order to a firm that makes a lot of money out of selling tea towels in schools.

I'm really shocked that some schools make the children come in uniform if they don't pay.

Our school asks for £1 for whichever charity, or in the run up to Christmas/Summer fetes they ask for a cake donation or something, but no one checks if they've actually donated or not. The kids either put their money in a collecting tin, or their fete donation in the hall. No one knows if, or how much has been donated and no one is excluded from taking part. Even with stuff like school discos, they ask for £1 donation per child, you put your money in a tin as you go in, you could put nothing in there, 1p or £5, no one would know, no one is excluded

Wow shrieklette that is awful glad the stickers were stopped

Agree with flow, you shouldn't have to have a word, it should be properly voluntary.

Thankyou for all of your replies.
There have been charity week activities all week long and the kids have spent whatever money we could scrape together on them, as well as DD baking and icing a copious amount of buns and cakes to sell!
I have emailed to the school suggesting that in future a collection tin be passed around so that donations are confidential.I have also pointed out that childre shoud be learning that charitable giving is amatter of conscience and generosity, not giving in to demands for money with menaces!!

For schools that make non-payers come in uniform - is it technically legal for them to require the money in order to participate? Aren't school activities that are a normal part of the school day supposed to be free of charge? I thought they could request donations but couldn't discrimate against non-payers...

Yes you are right.And the school would not make non-payers wear uniform. I just think that somebody struggling to payfor multiple children is so far off their radar that it hasn't occurred to them.

Dominodonkey are you the teacher who had a go at DS2 for forgetting his pound the other day, for the first time ever when it was non uniform day? His Dad gets up and leaves the house at 5.10am so he can get to work, I had had a terribly bad night and was awake in agony most of it and had just gone off to sleep, so he got himself up, sorted himself out, put the washing machine on and went off to school and the pound slipped his mind! His form teacher still thought it was okay to try to humiliate him the bitch despite knowing his situation at home! He took his pound the next day!

OP YANBU at all!

There shouldn't be any compulsion to give. Otherwise it's not a donation, it's a tax. Schools should be sensitive to parents being on tight budgets at the moment. Lots of parents will give money so they shouldn't be closely monitoring who donates and who doesn't and the amount. There should also be "joined up thinking" about not asking for too many things at once.

We do things like bring a bottle for the fete for non-uniform day. No-one is standing there checking whether you do or not though. Some people bring wine, others bring 33p fizzy pop, it doesn't matter.

My DS's secondary school has non uniform day on the last day of every half term, without fail, and then other odd ones thrown in here and there for specific charity days. It is £1 each time. Not sure how the money is monitored though, just know it is collected by form tutor at registration. Today is a non-uniform day. So far this week, DS has donated my money to SHoe Box Appeal, which they were collecting cash for in the dinner hall as they need to contribute towards the cost of sending the boxes. On the same day he brought home a letter asking for items for said shoe boxes, and yesterday he came home sporting a Poppy, also bought in school. Whilst I have no objection to donating (and I only have one child at this school and can afford to give a little) I think they should spread things out a little and limit the number of collections. He has been accosted by more 'chuggers' in one week at school than I encounter in a month!! He is very generous with my cash!!!
In addition to the non-uniform day today, there is a staff Karaoke event for which the pupils can donate in return for listening to a teacher sing and there will no doubt be cakes on sale too!!!

Did you get a reply OP?