to think school is being u re asking for money

[PrincessScrumpy]

dd attends a state school and in comparison to other schools friends' dc go to her's seems to ask for a lot more in "donations", it's £1 for this and £1.50 for that. Eg) tickets to see the nativity were £2 each so that was £4 for dh and I, when dtds go next year they will be in a different nativity due to age difference so that will be £8 in tickets, plus £2 for a disc of photos as you can't take photos in the performance etc. Now I'm okay with this to a point and so far, excluding trips, I have spent £30 ish this term for one child in so-called donations. I forgot 50p for a biscuit for a charity thing and dd had to sit alone in the class (with a TA) while the rest of the class went and bought a biscuit and ate it in the hall, so you do get made to feel it's not a choice thing!

Anyway, after half term we were asked to provide a glass jar so dc could make a candle holder as a gift for parents for Christmas. Dh ate jam sandwiches for a week (I don't like them) and we sent the jar in. This week we get a note saying dc have now made their candle holders and parents are invited to the classroom to see them on display on a certain day after school and then children can take them home for a £2 "donation". I know school budgets are tight but I'm really annoyed and am probably being U as it's been a long week, but I feel we provided the jar, dd made it in school time as part of her education relating to Christmas and it's the only Christmas thing she is bringing home so why are we paying for it? Dc have been told they'll be bringing them home so how can I say "sorry dd we can't afford £2 for you to bring the "gift" home that you made for mummy and daddy, so clearly we'll have to buy it, but I feel pressurised. What does the mn jury think? Maybe this is normal in schools, dd is yr 1 so all still fairly new to me.

YADDDDDNBU!!!

northcountrygirl so as I don't make assumptions from your nickname where do you live?!

It's interesting, the seemingly huge variations of what schools can achieve on apparently similar financial inputs from the state. All I can think is that a) some schools do less well managing their finances and probably more significantly b) some schools have more challenging intakes and it costs more to provide the basics.

Our school bombard us constantly. I recently added up all the costs for December if you bought everything the PTA has organised along side the costs for events laid on by the school. The total was about 35 per child solely for the month of December. The PTA leader uses emotional blackmail with notes in book bags starting 'your child has made a Callander for you'. Everyone, just everyone is so sick of it now and christmas has been totally commercialised. It's meaning has been lost.

We are not in a deprived area which I think might be why they can ask for so much all the time.

Ragusa - you would be making the correct assumption! I live in Yorkshire. My daughters school was rebuilt 6 years ago so is pretty "brand new". Maybe that's what makes it cheaper to run?

Princess - we're not a deprived area either. The school could ask us for money and we'd pay - they just don't seem to need it.

Some of the tales on here though are awful - the poor boy not being allowed to see Santa!

I'm going to see if I can find spend per pupil online - I know I've seen it before.

Well, you never like to be presumptious northcountrygirl .

Maybe it's cheaper to run in terms of utilities, could be right about that. Depending on where you are in yorks I would think the costs are probably lower because there is more parental engagement, less pupil turnover, lower proportion of new arrivals to country.... Or maybe you just have yourselves a really good school with a financially astute leadership and amen to that.

I know, the boy not being allowed to see santa. How could the staff live with themselves? really?! Being a not entirely rational sort of person, I think that would actually be grounds for me to remove my child from that school. Sod SAT levels...

Interesting. Our school receives around £3600 per child which is well below the national average of £4300. The premises costs are slightly above average and the teaching and support staff costs slightly below average. Learning resources are pretty much double the average and back office staff are half the average.

Maybe they just manage their budget really really well...

That's interesting. Think I will move to wherever you are :)

Someone who works in a school will hopefully be along soon to tell us what the hell to make of it all!

I wouldn't Ragusa - nice schools but never ever stops raining

I think that living on a tight budget in an area that has low levels of deprivation can actually be harder (financially) than living on the same budget in an area of deprivation. The school is geared up for parents who think of £1 as loose change. I've recently realised that our area, being fairly affluent, lacks cheaper shops (no Aldi, Lidl, pound shops etc) and this must make budgeting much harder for families that struggle to make ends meet.

I don't understand why primaries are constantly asking for money. As a secondary teacher we rarely ask for money and any trips are paid voluntarily. We don't exclude any pupil if they genuinely can't afford it. That doesn't mean paying parents feel like mugs, I just see it as an honesty policy, if you can pay then you do.

Having said that, all teachers received a memo a few weeks ago asking for a monthly contribution to the school fund. This could be taken directly from our wages for our convenience. Piss take is an understatement!!

Wispy ours seem to spend it on things like play equipment and also on some music programmes.