To not pay for a compulsory curriculum activity?

[Souredstones]

School have sent a letter home today stating they want payment for the terms swimming classes - they get 6 lessons a year for two years, not enough IMO if you can't afford for your child to go privately.

AIBU to not pay this fee of over £30 as swimming is a compulsory curriculum activity?

It will be the cost not only of the transport to the pool but also the staffing. Academy schools budget trips in different ways and the cost of staff provision is added on (even if no cover is required - makes me very angry). It's why all my trips for the foreseeable future will be after school - to keep costs down.

In my dcs school it wasn't charged for, but it was an utter waste of time.

No one who couldn't swim learned to (and this was in p7) and as all my dc could swim (competently, whole lengths) before they even went to school, it was sitting in warm(ish) water being told stuff they'd known for 7-8 years, no sorting out the pupils who couldn't swim or anything.

This was dd1s experience, ds starts his block in November. What they'll make of dd2 (who swims competitively in a local team and will be in the national trials) I've no idea!!

But there was no option to withdraw. It's a 30 minute lesson but it easily eats up 90 mins of the day with travel/changing etc.

I'm missing something here, how does doing it after school keep costs down? Sorry, being dense - it's early I didn't get much sleep.

Katy - because then the students aren't having to cover the cost of staff time.

How do you think they will get to the pool if you don't pay? Transport isn't free.

If you can afford it then yabu. Schools need our support for what they are statutorily obliged to do.mif we all took that attitude all our children would suffer. If you can't afford it then school will have a means of subsidising you.

Englishteacher so they are relying on the goodwill of staff to give up their free time? That's very good of you to do it.

6 lessons a YEAR?!? What a waste of time. Do your kids go to swimming lessons anyway?

Katy - an awful lot of what goes on in schools relies on the goodwill of staff. I remember my students being surprised that I didn't get paid for extra-curricular Plays. But before anyone jumps on me, I know it's the same in other jobs and I know there are teachers who won't do anything they're not contractually obliged to.

English Indeed, but doing school trips after school goes above and beyond that IMO.

Really? Maybe I'm a mug then. I like school trips though

I know someone who refused to pay the fee for their daughter, it just upset their daughter. In the end they sent an amount they thought was reasonable along with a letter to the school.

My DC loved school swimming even though they had lessons outside. We weren't asked to pay but we were asked to help out by having a rota of two or three parents each week to help the teacher walk them to the leisure centre and to help keep order in the changing rooms sort out squabbles over whose tights belonged to whom people moaned over that and it was odd how a couple of the working mums arranged to take a half day once a term yet the non working mums moaned the loudest.

It's for the benefit of your child. Why don't you all channel your energies into fundraising for the school. It's 30 pounds; or five pounds a week - less than a bottle of wine foe the benefit of your child. Only excusable to complain about this if you genuinely can't scrape it together over six weeks. Otherwise it just makes you sound like a whinger.

I think £30 for six lessons is far too expensive for something that is rare of the national curriculum.
Parents can book lessons at my local pool and it costs £35 for 10 weekly sessions with a ratio of 1 swim teacher to 10 children maximum.
£30 for six sessions where it is likely that the whole class will be in the pool with only be swim teacher and one school teacher is a waste of time and money.
I would probably pay just because I wouldn't want my child to feel bad about me not paying but I would be very disgusted that the school is charging such an extortionate amount. I Would also be annoyed that they are only giving twelve sessions spread over two years as that isn't enough to meet the national curriculum target of able to swim 25m unaided.

Looking at it further - most of those parents who can afford the £30 have probably already ensured their children can swim through private lessons, those who's children haven't already had lessons and can't swim might not be able to afford the £30 (otherwise they might have provided private lessons already).

My SIL pays around the same and the children walk to the leisure centre, it's five minutes round the corner. No transport costs there.

It is very difficult to learn to swim though group lessons alone. School swimming of the type described in the OP is useful for DC who can already swim and need to build stamina.

Some parents I know refuse on principle to fund anything school related, because they think it should all come at nil cost to them. Their child's costs were covered by school/PTA funds at primary because it was acknowledged that the parents were tossers. Now at secondary, he does nothing at school beyond that for which the parents aren't asked to contribute - not even £5 to cover coach trips. I wouldn't be surprised if they grumbled about buying pens, they really are that wankerish.

Having said that, £30 is quite steep. On that basis, YANBU to raise this as an issue.

Some parents I know refuse on principle to fund anything school related, because they think it should all come at nil cost to them. Their child's costs were covered by school/PTA funds at primary because it was acknowledged that the parents were tossers. Now at secondary, he does nothing at school beyond that for which the parents aren't asked to contribute - not even £5 to cover coach trips. I wouldn't be surprised if they grumbled about buying pens, they really are that wankerish.

Having said that, £30 is quite steep. On that basis, YANBU to raise this as an issue.

If u can afford to pay yabu. Why should others ssubsidise you?

Just because the OP can afford to pay doesn't mean she should as £30 for six lessons works out more expensive tan a lot of small group lessons run by local leisure centres.
I wouldn't expect somebody to go into a shop and pay £10 for an ordinary loaf of bread just because they can afford it.
It's not unreasonable to dispute payment of excessive costs.

Maybe the costs are so high precisely because some parents are refusing to pay their share!

Paying for swimming is a permanent bug bear at DDs old primary too!

Round here 80 plus % of DCs do private lessons and can already swim too well to get much out of the lessons.

The DCs who can't swim are generally either those who parents' can't afford weekend trips to the pool, let alone lessons, (and could do without school contributions), children with SN and DCs who are scared if water.

Our very basic school swimming lessons, in a shallow teaching pool, really aren't suited to either group and everyone resents paying.

I don't think it is unreasonable to question WHY you should be paying for something the school/LA has deemed compulsory - it is either part of the curriculum and should be LA funded or not.....

But all this "voluntary contribution" stuff hahaha voluntary my eyeball gets my goat... who would VOLUNTEER to pay £30 for 6 group lessons - not value for money at all.

YANBU It's part of the curriculum and the school need to provide it, free of charge to all children, just as they need to provide maths lessons. It is part of the Heads job to do this and manage the budget so the curriculum is delivered within budget.