To think this is too much for school donations?

[MamabigTum]

Firstly we are a normal school, not private and we have a higher than national average amount of parents on a low wage/ benefits. We are in a deprived area.

There is a whole week of fundraising. I have 2 children in school and so far we have been asked to

Bring in cakes (DD1 wants to be a baker so won't allow me to take in bought cakes so I made 2 dozen cupcakes)
Each child then has to pay £1 for ONE cupcake (a few years ago it was 20p!)
DD is doing a sponsored run. And the 'suggested donation' per sponsor is £1.
DD2 has a disco which is £5(!!!) per child.
There are then raffle takes sold every week for 20p each which kids are encouraged to buy
A fashion show which is again £1 per child to attend.
Then a donation box has also been sent home to fill up with change.

AIBU in thinking this is too much?

If your school is in a deprived area with a lot of kids on FSM they will benefit a great deal from pupil premium so they should have better resources than other schools.

And I know donations are voluntary but when your kids are asking do/go to things all their friends are it's hard to say ' no you have yo go play alone at lunch because everyone else is attending the fashion show'

They aren't raising money for the school itself. It's for a Catholic Charity during lent.

In short, schools are skint, so I can understand why they're doing this.

We have a lot of fund raising as well, cakes for cake sales, then must buy the cakes you made. I have a deal with DD, I'll happily make the cakes, but if she wants to buy any she can with her pocket money

We also regularly recycle unwanted gifts for raffle prizes (smelly candles, sets of books the kids already have etc)

We spend what we can afford on raffle tickets, but my view is either donate or buy - you shouldn't feel pressurised into doing both.

YANBU. £1 for a cupcake that's beyond extortionate. I know it's not a lot but it's not a little either especially if you've got more that one child or if you're financially on the bones of your arse.
£5 for a disco is again a lot of bloody money. If you've got 3 kids thats a lot of money out of your house keeping. However the schools need to make money some how, thanks to our wonderful conservative government cutting their funding.

Its not for the school. It's for a CHARITY. Non of the money goes to the school itself.

So the fashion show is in school time? Paid for things during school time make me MAD! My son's school does a little shopping thing in school time just before Mother's Day, Father's Day, Christmas etc were kids come out of class and choose tat that we have to pay for. (Although I refuse to now!) While I think its lovely for some of the kids to go 'shopping' especially for example if they have a single parent at home... you shouldn't be doing anything in school time that costs anything. School trips have to be a voluntary donation yet they can invent all these extras that have to be paid for. Discriminatory and wrong. Rant over.

I agree, it's a lot. However skint is an understatement when you're talking about schools. All this stuff actually takes a lot of time and organising by the school so they wouldn't do it if they didn't have to.

Plus, parents complain at all of the fundraising but imagine the complaints when school are unable to fund provision of equipment for their child's education. They're stick between a rock and a hard place.

That being said, there definitely wouldn't be pressure to donate. Pick and choose what you want/can do.

Just read the charity update. Ignore me 😂

If it's for a charity that you don't support I wouldn't do any of it. I've got a similar situation tomorrow - own clothes day with a donation to a charity my DC doesn't want to donate to.

Just buy your kids some cupcakes and tell the school to jog on.

Nothing would make me enable the church

£5 for the disco is downright exclusionary in an area of high deprivation

YANBU OP and whoever thought of all this is up their own arse massively

Well, you could always say no.

Learn to say no to your children.

' no you have yo go play alone at lunch because everyone else is attending the fashion show'

Disgusting.

Yes I could say no. But I was the child of the mum that always said no and I remember it made me feel like an outsider and embarrassed

I feel it's more the schools duty to see that we are not a wealthy community and that it is too much for many parents.

If everything was 20p cakes or £1 disco fair enough, but its so much more.

But I was the child of the mum that always said no and I remember it made me feel like an outsider and embarrassed

You wouldn't be your mum. You are not always saying no. You are saying no to this.

“If your school is in a deprived area with a lot of kids on FSM they will benefit a great deal from pupil premium so they should have better resources than other schools.”

And significantly greater need of resources.

IF THE MONEY WAS GOING TO THE SCHOOL I WOULD UNDERSTAND MORE. BUT ITS GOING TO A CHARITABLE ORGANISATION OVERSEAS, NOT RELATED TO THE SCHOOL.

I don't know why that was in caps

You’re not a “normal” school- you’re a Catholic school. Itn’t this just part of the “ethos”?

Ds previous school was like that for 5 weeks last year they had a different charity they raised money for every week plus did other fundraising during the year. It was too much loads of parents complained. Once or twice a year including one of those being raising funds for the school is fine too me but not constantly being asked to hand money over I couldn’t afford at the time.

I'd approach the Head with your concerns, raising money for the school is understandable but for charity.... I'd point out that it's making things financially hard for your family. And encourage others to do the same.

I was very relieved when the primary years were over.

it doesn't like that much

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