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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if this is normal?

28 replies

WhyCantIuseTheNameIWant · 03/07/2015 23:51

Ds is off to big school I September.
Having a read of the mountain of paperwork that needs signing...
£20 for a locker for a year. Plus £5 deposit for the key. And £5 for any replacements needed...

OP posts:
Original poster
WhyCantIuseTheNameIWant · 03/07/2015 23:52

In September even...

OP posts:
youngestisapyscho · 03/07/2015 23:52

Does he need a locker? They don't have them at my DDs school.

Haggisfish · 03/07/2015 23:53

Yes as locker keys are always lost otherwise!

lljkk · 03/07/2015 23:54

Lockers are jolly useful & wouldn't do without it at DC school. I think we paid only about £15 for DD's locker as a one-off charge for yr7-11, with £5 for replacement keys.

Original poster
WhyCantIuseTheNameIWant · 03/07/2015 23:56

I don't know if he needs one!
Do I pay £20 for one he never uses?
Or not bother and leave him carrying all his books and sports kit around?
Back in the dark ages, when I was at school..., we were given a locker! We had to supply our own lock, and it was suggested the spare key stayed with a parent.
I do remember using my locker. Especially for home ec ingredients and stuff.

OP posts:
Original poster
WhyCantIuseTheNameIWant · 03/07/2015 23:57

This is either
£7:50 a term + £5 deposit for key + £5 for any extra keys needed
Or
£20 for the year, + £5 key deposit + £5 for any spares

OP posts:
BarbarianMum · 03/07/2015 23:58

A lot of schools now don't have them, so you are lucky to have the option. The price you are being charged is quite steep though, although its pennies per day.

chewymeringue · 03/07/2015 23:59

Yes, we have that system at Dd's school. They have loads of heavy stuff to carry about at high school. I think it's definitely worth it

GinUpGirl · 04/07/2015 00:00

Fees are very normal!

RosesandRugby · 04/07/2015 00:02

Yes, it's pretty standard here to charge for lockers and keys.

My DS used to pay £10 pa for the locker and £5 for the replacement keys. My DD in September will pay £20 pa for the locker and £5 for new keys. Different schools so I am assuming it's a general thing.

My DD is tiny and would struggle to carry all her books so will need a locker. My DS is another story. Let's just say he never kept hold of anything long enough to need a locker to put it in Hmm Books are very expensive to keep replacing so a locker is handy.

anti-bac wipes are brilliantly handy if your young person is the sort to keep a locker clean. It's almost impossible to remove all the mould and slime off their stuff at the end of the year (I think it's a boy kind of issue) so encouraging them to wipe their locker at the end of the week is helpful Grin

Topseyt · 04/07/2015 00:08

At my DD3's school they don't have lockers and she ends up carrying so much heavy stuff around.

Take the locker if you have the option. I think it is worth it.

We had lockers when I was at school,though I don't recall being charged for them. Long time ago, so I could be wrong there. We just had to supply our own padlocks and keys.

DoJo · 04/07/2015 00:09

We used to have combination lockers which solved the problem of missing keys as there was just a log of which locker had which combination and after a couple of weeks nobody forgot. Don't think we were charged for them though, and I would gladly have paid to avoid carrying round 8 lessons' worth of books on average (plus pencil case, calculator, bottles of nail varnish, mirror, concealer, hairbrush, selection of scented pens in their own special case and all the other associated gubbins that was absolutely VITAL to my school career).

LavenderRain · 04/07/2015 06:31

Yep get a locker. All my DC used one, they have so many textbooks etc and sports kit which ripens nicely in a small locker
DD was forever losing her key tho, I had a couple cut at the shoe repair shop as it was cheaper than £5 from school. And they paid a deposit for the locker which was returned when leaving school £10 iirc

TheCatsMother99 · 04/07/2015 08:00

I had a locker at school & can't imagine not. Just the thought of lugging all those books at round makes my back ache

TheCowThatLaughs · 04/07/2015 08:03

We had free lockers when I was at school
I think replacement keys were £1
I left school in the early 90s though, things have obviously changed

Teabagbeforemilk · 04/07/2015 08:07

We got lockers in our school in 1996. Bloody brilliant. Made the school journey far eaiser as I just had the books in needed for homework. And yes were charged. There was the charge for the locker, them a deposit for the key which we got back when we returned the key when we left. If you lost your key, you lost the deposit and any replacing keys after that had to be paid for.

Wish dd was having lockers at her school.

TinyManticore · 04/07/2015 08:09

I would've paid for DS to have a locker if his school had them. It's a pain in the arse for them to have to cart books and PE kits round all day and have nowhere to leave anything.

Cornettoninja · 04/07/2015 08:12

I've no recent experience of secondary school but the memory of lugging pe kit, books, instruments, random extras that kids lug about is still pretty strong. It's terrible for backs especially when fashion conscious teens start using completely unsuitable bags or carrying them in weird and wonderful ways.

£20 is cheap for the sake of their spine if you ask me.

reup · 04/07/2015 08:14

They charge about £40 at my son's school but thats for 5 yrs. There are not enough for everyone and they could be anywhere in the school - nowhere near their form rooms. There is not enough time to go there between classes. I was advised by parents of older kids not to get one as kids can forget stuff in there as they are so randomly placed. It's a pain for him to carry School bag, PE bag and coat around all day though. Am glad he doesn't learn an instrument too.

ShadowFire · 04/07/2015 08:22

We didn't have lockers at my secondary school. We had to carry everything we might need that day around all day. My back was often achy by the end of the day from having to carry heavy bags around.

GrumpyOldBiddy2 · 04/07/2015 08:28

I'd definitely pay for a locker, when I was at secondary we never had them they were exciting things in books and films about America, where you knew that handsome boys would hang around waiting for you We all just ended up with knackered backs from carrying too much stuff around in strategically chosen carrier bags with fancy shop labels on which we used till they fell apart rather than being seen with a Somerfields bag

WorldsBiggestGrotbag · 04/07/2015 08:32

We had to pay £15 a year for ours and that was 18 years ago!

FryOneFatManic · 04/07/2015 08:39

We pay £5 for our locker, for the year (or could be for their entire school life, need to re-read the notes).

DD has had a locker the entire time, I'm just about to sort the locker out for DS, who's moving up in September.

Some of the charges here seem steep. Are the schools using lockers as a source of income?

CoogerAndDark · 04/07/2015 08:44

£10 non returnable fee for DS's. Padlocks and keys to be supplied by us and a spare kept by the form tutor.
He has never used it as it's 'too far away' from the classrooms.

ErnesttheBavarian · 04/07/2015 09:01

We had the option but decided against it as ds was very forgetful and the risk of him leaving a book in his locker or not knowing if it was at home or in the locker....

Better to have everything just in 1 place (t home) for us.

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