To not contribute to a private school's fundraising group

[Mcakes]

My nephew goes to a small private school which regularly has fundraising activities (cake sales, fetes, barbecues etc) all coordinated voluntarily by a small group of parents. Other parents are expected to contribute (bake cakes, run stalls etc).
I had assumed all money raised was going to charity but apparently it all goes into a fund to 'enrich the children's education'. In the past, the fund has paid towards a new minibus and replacement windows on the school building.
Am I unreasonable to thing that these are normal running expenses that should already be covered by the school fees???
Flummoxed why the parents would willingly give their time and money to help a private education business that they already pay ££££ to.
I live nearby and sometimes pick DN up from school so am occasionally asked to contribute, which makes me uncomfortable. DN's parents can't see anything amiss. Is it just me?

That is incredibly rare to have a third on FSM. I know the number of children on FSM in private sector as a while is incredibly small.

I agree, I work in a state school, DD's at private, her PTA ask for approximately three times as much each term as ours do (and my school's PTA is very active). I don't mind contributing a bit but I am starting to wonder where the fees actually go.

The schools which fund lots of scholarships and bursaries don't do it through pta coffee mornings mostly it's through rents on land and property they own. The smaller schools which don't have extra income like this do really struggle. But no, they're not businesses, the model is almost always that they're run as charities and as such are not looking to make profit.

Of course they are businesses.

Brasty I suppose it depends on the area. Private schools are ten a penny in London and poverty is but a post code away. There is also a high West African Christian immigrant demographic who place a high value on education. They are the ones working three jobs to pay for music and language lessons to access scholarships.

I think it depends where you live in London. In knightsbridge, 52% of children attend private school. In Enfield, 3% do.

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Nationally only 7% of children attend private school. Lets not pretend that poor pupils have equal access.

The idea that a third of pupils at independent schools are FSM eligible is absolutely laughable. Maybe at a few. Only around half of indy schools have charitable status. The rest do not.

And before I contributed a single penny to an indy school fundraising venture I would want to know that the school was not turning a profit. Even then I would find it very hard to stomach.

The idea that a third of pupils at independent schools are FSM eligible is absolutely laughable. Maybe at a few

Maybe christs hospital? But that is pretty unique.

Bursaries aren't funded via bake sales - funded through old endowments and land usually!

I'm with the OP here. I think Ragusa has it spot on- you only need to look at the profit they are making. For example GDST is run as a charity. It made £260mn in annual profit in 2016-17. Where is that money going? Why is that not being used to fund the activities that the PTA is raising for?

I agree with you OP. At our school bake sales and other smaller events raise money for charities chosen by the children, and the PTA does larger events which mostly contribute to the bursary fund. But every now and then, the PTA will fund something like playground equipment, which I think is just part of the normal running costs and the school should pay. Our school is a business rather than a charity but don’t think that makes a difference.

My school raises money for loads of charities and the PTA and at first I was a bit surprised to be fundraising for a private school. But actually the PTA organise quite a lot - coffee mornings, second hand uniform shop, second hand book sales, picnics, summer fete, movie nights for the kids, discos - and do seem to do a lot to promote a community feeling in the school. Some of the money goes towards bursaries for children from lower income families and the rest, as far as I know, has been spent on equipment for clubs, minibuses, a sensory play area. The PTA have also paid for a dozen Ukrainian students’ uniforms and entrance to events when a lot of the local state schools couldn’t offer places and I think it’s great that my daughter’s class have really welcomed their new Ukrainian friend.

Wow this is an old post, but the schools fees pay the teachers salaries, building upkeep, support staff, utilities, books, resources, stationary… unless it’s a massive and rich school like Eton, there isn’t a huge pot of spare money to buy minibuses and big play equipment.

This was one of the things that pushed us to choose a state school, the idea that our £20,000 per year per child was not all going to fund their education, a significant amount was going to pay for other children whose parents were still well off but not well enough off to afford the fees.

I’ve no problem with my taxes funding education, but the school asking us to also cover the fees of other people’s children felt very different.