To not pay full amount for school trip?

[bingisthebest]

School send out a letter saying they are having a trip can you a. Pay a donation b. Pay the sum of .....
I have 3 dcs and although our choice it is expensive for us. Wibu to just pay a smaller donation?

I had to get a refund on swimming once, a couple of years ago. The secretary brought up the class list of 30, to mark off who had claimed their refund (broken pool filter)

Out of thirty, 8 had paid for the term. And in those 8 was me, and the other single mum

The non payees included those in the 400k houses with the 3k holidays every year. They just didn't want to pay and didn't see why they should. Where as those on the breadline were determined to do their bit.

Oh I know. I. Posted on it. Tried to explain.

But tonight I'm past caring.

Bet this goes too goady fuckery of a Friday won't end well.

What an odd letter to have been sent!
Ours ask for the amount and my child either goes and I pay the amount or they don't go.

It's not odd. It's the law.

The point is we don't know how others live, people choose their priorities, should some families not pay for a trip they are subsidies in effect by others who are no better off but who forgo something else in order to pay.

I'm on a low income (dcs receive fsm's) and have always paid full amount requested for trips until the last request I had, asking for £10 per child for a 'themed' day in dds 2 & 3 (twins) class. The theme tied in with their current topic - an expert would be coming in to talk to them and the request was to pay for his time. It's a class of 30, and the parents contribution was for only part of his pay, school to pay the rest. It seems a huge amount of money for what's essentially just another (albeit perhaps more interesting) day in school. It also came at a really really tight time for me financially, so I ended up contributing half (£10). Tbh i'm surprised it was given the thumbs up by the head as a good use of funds.

Unless your later pregnancies were complete accidents, I think it's a bit much to complain you can't afford to pay for school trips because you have too many children!

I didn't realise it was the law to send at letter with two different amounts to pay on it?
Ours just says the one price.

Unless your later pregnancies were complete accidents, I think it's a bit much to complain you can't afford to pay for school trips because you have too many children!

May have had triplets.

Could have had a partner in well paid job who passed away and so they now struggle.

Could have afforded children previously but been made redundant

Could be a hundred and one different reasons....

Can you really not think of any reasons why a family might end up in financial hardship after they've had children supermoon?

Twins and a deadbeat dad Supermoon...

What are the two different amounts? What law?
You can't be compelled to pay it certainly, but they can ask. They can also inform parents that a possible consequence of not paying is cancellation of the trip.

I have to admit that I refused to pay for swimming. DS already had expensive private lessons and the ones the school offered were terrible. I would have preferred him not to go, but the school didn't allow that.

Bubblebed 100% agree! Very few ever see this information about exactly who pays but it's amazing how many don't pay when they are well able - I've run similar trips for a voluntary organisation so have seen first hand. Makes me mad for those that need a bit of support.

OP if you really can't afford it then don't pay, don't feel bad about it.

Oh yeah supermoon that's another thing I must point out to my BF, who's a widow.

Failure to foresee the unknown future.

Some charmed life you're leading, where everything is is foreseen, and under your control.

Swimming is a particularly interesting case - it's compulsory as part of the National Curriculum at KS1/2 (to the point at which children can swim 25m unaided, I believe, but happy to be corrected on that), but funding isn't ring fenced.

I'd love to hear what people think schools that don't happen to own a swimming pool should do about that.

My DD went to school in a low income area and as a result they never went on school trips where the activities cost because the parent's couldn't afford them. They only went to the museum and art gallery where entry is free and the school could afford to cover the coach.

So my advice, if you can afford to pay for the trip, then pay otherwise there may be no trip.

Interesting. As many many PPs have said, circumstances are relative.

Your family genuinely going without- food, bills, decent clothes, etc - make a smaller donation or speak to school about difficulty paying.

Feeling that because you have 3 DC life is expensive and the option of "donation" means you could save a bit of cash to spend on other nice-to-haves not needs - unreasonable. You're prioritising your family at the direct expense of others - not enough money in pot, trip cancelled and for some kids school trips are the only chance to see wider opportunities.

Our PTA subsidises trips for all parents. Mostly, no one appreciates it. If we don't make the fundraising target, perhaps this is the first to go & set up a hardship fund instead.

People complain but don't realise how good they currently have it. It would be a strange school that isn't acutely aware of trying to keep costs down for parents whilst still maximising educational value - if you can afford the trip cost in full, please pay. Otherwise the inevitable end result is no trips at all.

If you think there's a genuine affordability issue, tell school and have a discussion around it.

Normally, if not enough parents pay the whole amount the school will cancel the trip.

Op didn't mention triplets, twins or deceased partners. I'm going on the deets supplied. If op can afford it, pay it.

Multivac DS's school have their own pool. It's still £20 a term. Because they have to budget for non payees. For the upkeep and the tutor.

Our school just says one price too. I know families that are struggling have an agreement with the school that they can go anyway. Sending out a letter asking for donations will just encourage tight arses not to pay the full amount. School trips are pretty high on my priority list. I would only not pay if I couldn't pay bills and food. The school budget should be used for families that are genuine!y struggling, extra books, extra support for sen kids etc.

Fizzyboot the school know I try to pay everything. Even on a low income. I send money via bacs whenever I can. On top of breakfast club etc. The staff are lovely to me. Still makes me feel shit when I am juggling to know that 2/3 aren't even bothering even though for half of them it's pocket money.

Sure, Bubblebed - it's the same argument though. It's statutory. There's no ringfenced funding. How is it going to be paid for, without requests for 'voluntary' contributions?

If you cannot afford the full amount then offer the donation for sure. they obviously expect some people to struggle hence the option for a donation instead.

At my kdis school they don't even have the full amount on there as such. letters always come saying a trip is planned to X. A voluntary donation of X would be appreciated but people are welcome to pay less if X is too much, and people are welcome to pay a bit extra if they want to help the school. And that if enough cash isn't raised to actually pay for the trip it will be cancelled.

Not had to have one cancelled yet. I paid under the suggested donation once...was a very very bad month. Trip went ahead. Next one I paid an extra tenner to make up for the one I paid less for to make myself feel a bit better :)