Parents should pay for exercise books

[DorothyL]

I know in the US and Germany, and probably other countries, parents are handed a stationery list before the beginning of the academic year - nobody has a problem with it. It would make such a difference to school budgets, and when students leave page after page blank etc (which they do!) they would not be wasting school money.

We're in Australia.
We provide pens, paper, glue sticks etc. for both boys my list came to around $150 this year.
The school provide a list of what your child will need. You can then order through the company the school suggests or you can shop around ( which tends to be cheaper).
The list normally comes out around two weeks before the end of term and then there's the 6 weeks school holidays to find the equipment. This way you can pay it of in small amounts if you wish.
I could be wrong but I believe the government provide a school fund to parents ( upto $400 per child) so they can get the school lists. ( we don't qualify for this)
Everyone does it, it works, it's simple .

It would make such a difference to school budgets

would it though? Or would that portion just be nixed?

Everyone does it, it works, it's simple .

is it really more simply than a truck showing up at school one day with 3000 books?

who unloads the truck full of equipment and sorts it into the right classroom? This could be time consuming, time better spent by the teachers prepaing their classes. Office staff are busy sorting out the numerous demands made on them.
I'm just saying I like it.

I used to think this - why is the school providing all this stuff? Often the teacher ends up personally paying for extra glue, pencils etc.
But since helping out in a school I can see that some kids would end up with crappy resources. Some parents can't even be arsed to send their kids in with a water bottle - so the child ends up asking for a plastic cup at the school office every day.

roof - I'm a water bottle fail parent . I hate them and don't think they should or need to carry bottles of water around in their bags. I would prefer to provide a glass left in the classroom and they only drink near the sink and rinse it out after use, home for a properly wash every week (or few weeks). Apart from the inevitable leaks in the bag...
I kept buying them from the school office for DD1 ...she didn't bring it home for weeks ...or she 'lost it' -possibly someone else took it thinking it was theirs (but it was labelled!) or on the way home/to school (5min walk) and of course it took me a while to know it was actually missing. In the end I more or less gave up.
DD2 more organised, the school don't sell them anymore - a good thing I think getting one a bit different reduces the chance of it walking. It does come home most days - but then I have assumed it is at school and sent her in without one. And after the last leak (destroyed her reading book) she now keeps it in an outside pocket in her bag and so often drops it . We do the 'water bottle hunt' and it does often turn up but sometimes only on the way to school and so it needs to come home for a wash. ...

I don't have kids and am unlikely too, but it's other people's kids taht will be looking after me and wiping my arse when I'm older. Therefore I am more than happy to pay for their education, including paper etc.

I went to secondary school in France and I adored being able to buy my own books. But fashionable stationery is very expensive. If my parents had given in to all my demands for the notebooks with the sparkly covers or the pink glue sticks instead of the normal ones, I can't imagine how much I would have cost them!

Go to any supermarket stationery section in France in August, and you'll see parents and children walking around with massive shopping lists, arguing over what to buy: the €5 pack of five normal notebooks, or fashionable notebooks which cost €5 each. School supplies can easily cost upwards of €150 euros per year.

As a teacher, I do ask my students to bring their own glue/scissors, although probably only 20% actually do and I do keep a few in my desk. Also, you don't get a new exercise book until you've used up all the paper in your old one!

Also in lreland.. Families pay for everything but there is a back to school allowance for families on social welfare which can be used for books uniforms whatever. I have rarely seen a child without their stuff although l have not taught in extremely disadvantaged areas. I think it's whatever you are used to.

Schools can buy exercise books in bulk. If a child does finish an exercise book then the teacher can get the new book out of the cupboard.

Fgs we already bear the cost of school uniforms, new school shoes. Lost coats, p.e kits and so on.
Flip it round do we ask criminals to share the cost of their 3 meals a day, heating and lighting no we bloody well don't and that's were taxes go. I do not mind spending taxes on providing books for children and think that is the way it should be. Yabu

Pupil premium money is ding fenced and the school has to show on its website how the money was spent. ,so it gets spent on those who need it.
Problem with this type of funding is that schools without a lot of pupil premium children are being penalised, with reduced funding, teachers in these schools a r e now spending their own money on stocking up on resources such as pens, pencils glue etc.
Fundraising is becoming an increasingly important issue for schools....where are these funds raised from ....parents.