Paying to do compulsory subjects at school

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DD has been asked to contribute £25 towards home economics at school. Considering she is at a state school and doing this subject is compulsory AIBU to think that it is cheeky to ask for money.

I call my DCs school the food graveyard I've never had anything come back edible, bloody raw scones disgusting soup.

sonlypuppyfat either the teacher was rubbish or your children have no interest in learning to cook. DD brought home some lovely dishes when she was doing cookery.

Of course she should pay for ingredients, that has always been the case. The benefit is that the school will order them in, rather than you having to shop round the night before the lesson, as I had to do and my mother and grandmother before me.
What a silly comment about the Conservative party.

I went to secondary during a labour government.

We had to buy and take in our own ingredients back then.

And it's a pain in the arse. Especially when it's a tsp or a random ingredient we don't use at home. You can end up spending £10 on one shop because you don't have the stuff in.

And it's worth £25 a year to not have to worry about it.

roseforme Highlands here too and our teacher retired and hadn't been replace. Dd's timetable shoes a science teacher and a maths teacher covering those periods just now. We don't pay or supply ingredients either. Although judging by Lady years half a dozen variants on rock buns I kinda wish we did.

Experience of living overseas is really changing my perspective on this. State education here involves an up front levy per child at the beginning of the year (can be in two instalments within the first two months of the school year). I believe there are waivers for low income families but the tone of the letter is such that as a newcomer I wouldn't have had the guts to ask.

It varies depending on the school but the cheapest I have heard is c.£500 per child per year up to nearly £2000 in some schools. There are additional payments for library, building maintenance and 'voluntary additional donations'. Parents are also required to attend working parties once a year for each child in which the school grounds are tended, equipment maintained, paths swept, drains cleared, hedges pruned and chippings relaid under equipment or whatever else is on the list. If you cannot attend, you pay £50 per child instead.

Uniforms are branded and each item is £15 upwards. There are very limited supplies of second hand.

On the upside, school trips are then not charged per excursion, as the up front levy pays for them, but other things are - eg the kids are in a school concert next week at an external venue. All classes involved, rehearsed during school time. The performance is in the evening and adult tickets are £15 each. Plus requests for costumes requiring new shoes and trousers.

Plus the usual dress up days, art projects etc...

I would say that the working parties are actually great in fostering a community spirit and getting to know parents.

I'm still quite bemused over it all. I would say parents here have a greater sense of ownership of their own child's education and not so much 'we pay tax, that's all the money exchange involved' which I like. But if we were on a low income I don't know how accessible help is. I understand from others that it's there, but I hope it's much more visible to those who need it than it is to the general school.

So I guess reading a complaint like the OP feels like a bizarre cultural jolt back to the UK....

We have to pay £25.00 toward tech as a whole. And provide ingredients for food tech and basic equipment for art.

It was the same during the Labour government too, and the coalition and the Torys.

I was at a state school in the 70's/80's and we had to take our own ingredients in, my mum was at school in the 50's and it was the same - I despise the Tories but I'm fairly sure this isn't one we can hang on them!

£25 sounds like a bargain - in one term last term I reckon I spent well over £30 possibly £40 just on ingredients and got one edible thing back (some muffins) - plus another £15 on bits and pieces (muffin cases, specific sized tupperware..).

I would love it if they asked for a £25 contribution and provided the ingredients - also I now have a cupboard full of things I won't use!

We had to bring our own ingredients when I was in high-school in the early 00's. It was a total pita when I needed half a teaspoon of salt and a pinch of pepper and had to keep them separate.

I'd rather pay £25 for the year and not have to buy whole packs/jars of things for the sake of a teaspoon out of it.

That being said, schools need to have enough fridge space to safely store the things that are made in the lesson so that it's not wasted. Our school didn't have enough fridges to keep savoury food that we made so anything other than pizza or muffin type food was safe to eat after being stuffed in lockers half the day. It was a phenominal waste of food and effort.

Is Home Ec/Food Tech a compulsory subject now? Or is it just the OP's school? I've never heard of that. When I did it in the early '80s we had to buy the ingredients and take them in to school on the day.

My DD did art for GCSE - we had to both source art materials and pay for them ourselves, though the school did have the basics they could use.

Is the £25 a "suggested contribution"? Some people wouldn't be able to afford that and they can't be excluded from the course.

I went to secondary school under a labour government and we still had to take in food from home.
Dd is at secondary now and we pay £30 in September to cover the cost of everything she makes. Which is usually bought home and put straight into the bin (by her) as nothing looks even vaguely edible.
As pps have pointed out, you've had to pay for other 'essential' parts of school, pe kit, logo'd uniforms, lunchboxes, calculators etc, it's just another 'essential.
Dd said some of the children haven't paid but they aren't excluded from taking part. The £30 likely covers one child's ingredients plus extra to cover the shortfall of non payers.

£Is the £25 a "suggested contribution"? Some people wouldn't be able to afford that and they can't be excluded from the course"

Wouldn't pupil premium cover stuff like this?

Does it mean you don't have to send ingredients in? If so-i would love it! I spend about £10 each time DS made something in ingredients (having to buy £2 pots of things only for one pinch to be used is such a waste!)

I thought from your post you were having to pay £25 just for her to sit an exam?

Would you object to sending her in with all the ingredients each week?

it doesn't matter how many generations of families have always provided their ingredients for cooking at school. Since at least 2008 English state schools are not allowed to charge for ingredients, equipment materials or transport for activities in the school day (except, for some reason, voluntary music lessons). They may ask for a voluntary contribution, but they may not treat students differently if they do not pay, other than letting those who pay for materials take the finished product home.

It's quite clear and it's laid out in this government document.

That sounds reasonable - and you'll be getting the goodies to eat every week.

When I was at school we brought our own ingredients and cooked recipes as had decided on within a particular remit:
Dinner for a pregnant woman with a low iron count
Picnic food for a child who is vegetarian
Pudding for a special occasion
Etc

DH was supposed to pay his school for ingredients to cook set items. Those who didn't only had access to the 'store cupboard stable' of flour, sugar, eggs, milk, etc and he ended up making pancakes on a weekly basis while other students cooked the 'proper' recipes

I'm in Australia and I foresee the UK education system becoming more like the one over here.

If your DC go to a state school, you have to pay for pens, books, paper...all kinds.

My dc only did six weeks of home ec in a school year. I actually think it's quite a lot if it is just for home ec ingredients. We were asked for £10 and that covered all areas of the curriculum such as textiles etc but not ingredients. I had to supply those. I don't think I spent much more than £15.

I did a catering course at school for gcse wanTed woodwork but couldnthe be trusted apparently costeoporosis us a pound a week plus ingredients. One time we were told to bring in a whole chicken. No help for families on benefits and if you couldn't afford it you had to wash up for everyone else. Hated that class, and failed it as I refused to cook something that my family couldn't eat.

Our school asks and we pay, I think a few subjects make the request.

I would prefer this. My dd always gives me a list short notice for ingredients that I can't get from the local shop so need to go supermarket. I am glad she is not doing food tech for GCSE.

We pay a lump sum at the start of term for Home Economics which covers ingredients for cooking and fabric for textiles. SO much easier than either scrabbling around for ingredients to take in or remembering money each week. We do have to supply a plastic box for them to bring things home, but child's home economic lessons are both periods before lunch, so nothing ever makes it home.