I have twin 3 year old daughters who started nursery in a local primary school this year.
We have their Christmas Concert next week, for which I was asked to provide 2 Angel costumes.
My gripe is that they are charging parents £3 per person to attend, plus £2 for a photo of child &another £2 for the programme.
This comes after the Christmas Fayre last week at which we were charged £1 admission, and a tiny home made cup cake or small slice of cake cost £1 a piece!
To some people that might not sound a lot, but I do not live in an affluent area, and I know that myself and some of the parents do not have a lot of disposable income.
I know that some of the parents at the school are considerably better off than the rest of us, and this includes some of those on the Governing Body.
I told the nursery class teacher that I thought £3 per ticket on top of having to provide costumes was too much, and she was apathetic ( she is a very young supply teacher - maybe irrelevant, but a fact!) just said nothing to do with us, tell the office) so I went home and e-mailed the governing body a letter including the following:
"To my mind, the Christmas Concert at *** seems to have become more about raising money for the school than about the pleasure of watching the children have their first school concert, and I find that incredibly sad and depressing.
Since joining the school in Easter 2013 we have supported the school by attending the Summer Fayre, and more recently, the Christmas Fayre. At the Christmas Fayre we were charged the £1 entrance fee (for adults), and once inside I found everything to be over-priced. I bought 3 small cup-cakes for my daughters and I , and I was unpleasantly surprised when the lady selling them asked me for £3! I paid, but to me, £1 per (very small cupcake) is excessive and unreasonable. 50p per cake would have been a much more reasonable amount. I also do not agree with a £1 entrance fee - if you really want to charge, again, 50p would have been more appropriate.
* is not an affluent borough, and in the current economic climate many families are struggling to manage on whatever income they have. I would just ask that as Governors you re-consider the amounts £ that you are deciding to charge parents at "fund-raising" events.
Not all families have enough disposable income to waste it, not everyone has a "middle-class" life-style, and I would appeal to you as Governors to please re-think your community values and try and put families first and profit second.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I look forward to your considered response."
So, what do you think?...am I right to stand up for myself and other parents on lower incomes? Or will they think I'm just a nutty Scrooge?
PS- I know that schools have to try and raise extra funds, and I support that - I'm just not in favour of over-charging parents who can't easily afford it.