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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think I should not have to spend £60 fecking quid on a calculator

120 replies

GrrrrrrFFFFFSSSSSS · 09/09/2014 17:03

DS just started at sixth form college, which, I understand is still a STATE education FFS!

It appears I have to buy him the following as literally NOTHING is provided:

-Paper/folders/exercise books

-£300 worth of text books and that's including some from the second hand bookshop and some cheap off amazon

and just as I've recovered from the above, I'm now told I have to buy him some fancy calculator for A level maths which is 60 QUID!

Funny how they don't tell you any of this at the open evenings.

I am honestly staggered.

OP posts:

mathanxiety · 09/09/2014 17:40

My DCs (American) high school requires a TI Nspire Touchpad or TI Nspire CX calculator all the way through high school, so from age 14, with absolutely no exceptions allowed. The calculators have an exam mode. They cost about $160 on average. You can get insurance for your calculator I believe (not through the school).

As Nonamehere says, the aim is to move forward through the concepts faster than a class could if they were spending their time slogging through the long sums. All the DCs are on a track that will end with calc 2 under their belts before they head off to university, so that is a lot of sums and potential for being bogged down.

I went to school in Ireland where all books are bought by parents from day 1 of school, and all supplies too. The DCs do get their books from school. There is an annual $325 charge per child no matter what books or art supplies you get. But you have to get your own calculator on top of that. Families with verifiable low incomes can get free school books.

Students whose books weigh a certain percentage of their total body weight can get a free second set of books to keep at home no matter what their income is.

ThinkIveBeenHacked · 09/09/2014 17:43

I did A level maths and it wouldnt have been possible to do without the calculator.

Text books - second hand schemes or library? Purchase from someone who left the year before?

Paper and pens arent included past primary tbh (exercise books are usually doled out at secondary but that is all).

Im surprised this has come as a surprise to you. You will be in for a shock come Uni if you intend to support him through that too.

Im assuming there is no uniform at sixth form college so essentially you are saving on that but spending it elsewhere - there cant be that much difference between what youve spent on him this year and what you would have spent on uniform and pe kits

Butterpuff · 09/09/2014 17:45

Calculator yes, will last a lifetime, I have mine on my desk at the moment. Paper to write on yes, kind of necessary.

Text books. Never, that is what libraries are for.

whois · 09/09/2014 17:50

Yeah I remember the graphical calculator expense for A level. If it's any consolation I sold it many years later for not a lot less than was paid for it.

They do really need them for stats.

jay55 · 09/09/2014 17:51

It's a long, long time since I did a levels but it sounds like the cost of graphing calculators has gone down a bit. Ours were closer to £80 back then.

isitsnowingyet · 09/09/2014 17:54

I'm shocked and amazed how many pointless and stupid posts the OP has had on this subject.

I am used to shelling out the dough every September, so probably won't be too shocked myself.

ISingSoprano · 09/09/2014 17:59

Dd has just started a level maths - we have known from the very first open day that she would need a graphical calculator. Her sixth form does a roaring trade in second hand books too.

Oh and £600 on a bus pass to get her there every day. Post 16 education is certainly expensive!

mice · 09/09/2014 18:00

My son has just completed both A level maths and further maths and did not have or need one of these calculators so I wouldn't say that it was essential as he came out with an A* in both exams. Different schools obviously teach differently but not having one did not hold my son back. I also never bought any text books etc for the subject. I have already started purchasing some very expensive essential books for uni though.....

KittiesInsane · 09/09/2014 18:03

£650 here on the bus pass.
£240 on (compulsory) trips and equipment for two subjects, upfront, now please.

Ouch.

Original poster

GrrrrrrFFFFFSSSSSS · 09/09/2014 18:11

Yep I haven't even mentioned the bus pass but I've accepted that as I could have sent him to a walking distance college, so this is my choice, fair enough.

The point is, this is a state education. No wonder affluent kids do better when stuff that is essential to success is this expensive. The system is stacked against those of us that are hard up.

We have exhausted the second hand options, that's another thing - even on day 1 apparently the bookshop had sold out of many second hand books, I can only think all the savvy parents who have older children there have snapped them all up. Library is not an option, he needs to use these books for a full two years and the college has stressed they must have their own copy.

I am now really curious as to how SFCs are funded and why we don't have to buy all this stuff up the the age of 16.

OP posts:

MaidOfStars · 09/09/2014 18:17

I still have and still use every day at work my sooper dooper calculator from my A-levels (some 20 years ago). That's a cracking investment, no?

Bulbasaur · 09/09/2014 18:21

You can get a phone app for $0.99 that can probably do the same thing.

slithytove · 09/09/2014 18:25

Don't know if it softens the blow but I still use the Casio I got for gcses, 15 years later.

Lilymaid · 09/09/2014 18:34

Neither DSs have had a graphic calculator though both did A2 Maths followed by BSc and MSc in Economics with a lot of Maths/Stats in the courses. It might have been useful but we never got round to buying them one and they never asked for one even though they were recommended by the school.

Stokes · 09/09/2014 18:34

I'm Irish and an astounded you haven't been buying textbooks, paper, owns etc from the first day of primary school!

I also did maths at uni and am doing a mathematical professional qualification now - at no stage would a graphical calculator have been allowed in an exam. I've never used one.

This thread is a real eye opener!

YakInAMac · 09/09/2014 18:42

This is a real eye-opener for me OP - I am preparing to send DC to sixth form in a year, and I didn't realise this.

Is it because it is not compulsory to stay on...but hang on a minute - it now is!!

I know you have to buy your own paper and text books at Uni, but I wasn't geared up for buying text books and equipment at school.

Useful. Thanks. And sympathy.

LittleBearPad · 09/09/2014 18:50

A phone app won't help because he won't be able to take it into his exams, will he.

Surely calculator, text books etc aren't that unexpected. Wait til he goes to uni

WhizzFucker · 09/09/2014 18:58

Calculator I had to get for my A level maths was £50 - more than 20 years ago, state 6th form college.

I loved that calculator.

ElephantsNeverForgive · 09/09/2014 19:06

DD1 has just shy of a £100 worth of text books on order from
Amazon, which I hadn't budgeted for, too

On top of the never ending, sketch books, paints, water colour pads, brushes and other Art bits I'm completely use to.

At least school have agreed to lend her an iPad (she's dyslexic and I feared they'd say yes she could use one to take notes, but she'd have to provide it).

ICantFindAFreeNickName · 09/09/2014 19:13

My son has just finished his A levels (Maths, Further Maths & Physics). We did have to buy a calculator, but I'm sure it did not cost that much.

I think the few books we bought probably came to about £45 tops as well.

redexpat · 09/09/2014 19:14

I dont think you have exhausted all the secondhand options actually. Have you tried abebooks.co.uk for second hand? Also ebay and amazon marketplace? Have you or your son done a search on facebook groups to see if there are any sale sites for A level maths etc?

Your point about the sudden expenditure is valid, and I think it would be worth writing to the school to suggest that they include more info on costs of equipment in the info that you get pre sixthform.

mathanxiety · 09/09/2014 19:14

The point is, this is a state education.

You have been spoiled. I got a state education in Ireland, and my DCs are enjoying one in the US.

Pooka · 09/09/2014 19:16

Www.alibris.co.uk

Good place for secondhand books. Bought dd a textbook for 62p.

noblegiraffe · 09/09/2014 19:19

I'm a maths teacher. People saying that you need this calculator for A-level are talking bollocks. None of my sixth formers use a graphical calculator and get top grades. A normal bog standard scientific calculator will do statistical calculations, and this one www.amazon.co.uk/Casio-FX-991ES-Plus-Scientific-Calculator/dp/B005NMCEM2 integrates and differentiates, solves quadratics and simultaneous equations and even does matrices and complex numbers for less than twenty quid.

Kids who fork out for graphical calculators also tend to find that if they do a maths-based degree at Uni, they aren't allowed them in their Uni exams. I had a graphical calculator for A-level and when I did my maths degree found I was at a disadvantage because I hadn't learned how to sketch graphs properly.

ISingSoprano · 09/09/2014 19:24

The point is noblegiraffe that we are told by the teachers actually teaching our children that they DO need one of these calculators. Shall I point them in the direction of mumsnet to put them right?

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