Can a school fair make too much

[Bestbe]

My boys go to a school in a very mixed part of London. It’s not overly affluent and there is a real mix of kids. It’s a 3 form entry school.
The summer fair was last weekend and they have just announced they made £8400.
My reaction was to be appalled. It’s just exploiting parents.
They introduced a no cash policy so you had to buy tokens. But it wasn’t until you got in that you realised that all food and drink had to be paid for with cash. By the end of the fair everyone had tokens over but you couldn’t get them refunded.
The kids had to be involved in the stalls so you had to stay.
At the end there was a massive queue at some stalls because people were trying to get rid of all the spare tokens.
I just feel we’ve been exploited. We all pay taxes so why are we being made to pay again.

[TwinkledontTinkle]

Aargh! rogue apostrophe!

Forgive me, I mean Mums!

[Mum2two1979]

@TwinkledontTinkle - is the OP Bromley? I'm Bromley. My children's school released their total of just under £8,400 yesterday, took tokens for the first year, communicated it well and took tokens on the bar and BBQ. @TwoBlueShoes if OP is also Bromley (I haven't seen anything to say they are) then surely that can't be a coincidence. We have to be the same school right?
@Crazyjustcrazy @englishbreakfast @KeepRunningMum (and anyone else I've missed who believe they are at the same school) are you also Bromley?

[Crazyjustcrazy]

Yep! Bromley based school x

[KeepRunningMum]

Yup, Bromley too!

[TwinkledontTinkle]

OP didn’t say Bromley, I’m the first to mention area but all the details matched.

I feel I was made aware that the BBQ/bar were taking cash and that no tokens could be exchanged for cash at the end. I felt well informed and thought the PTA did a great job.

[Mum2two1979]

@TwinkledontTinkle

Thanks for clarifying. I thought I had missed something ☺️ well if we are the same school (I'd say we are) then I feel the same. Thought it was great 😊

[TwinkledontTinkle]

This really goes to show how you have to be so careful what you post, as clearly we are all at the same school.

cheery wave to other Mums

Perhaps we should ask to get this removed as possibly outing for some. I name changed, but perhaps others didn’t?

[englishbreakfast]

Yep, Bromley too!

[LockedOutOfMN]

DB and DSIL work in schools in Bromley borough, one secondary and one primary. Bromley schools are - presumably like many, many others all over the country - absolutely starved of funding. Teachers who left the schools today are not being replaced and there are teachers at secondary level teaching 4 different subjects, without specialist knowledge or training or even a GCSE in that subject.

Well done to the PTA of this school for raising so much money which I am confident will improve the students' educational experience next year.

[fairgame84]

Fuck me YABU.
We have 400 children in the 2 form primary where i work and we're lucky if we make £600 at our fair. We would be ecstatic at £8k!

[KeepRunningMum]

@Mum2two1979 @TwinkledontTinkle

Totally agree - great day out, great fundraising, great PTA and (at the time) great footie result!

[Toldyouitwasfun]

I too have children at the school in question. In defence of the OP not all parents, grandparents or extended family member are privy to correspondence about or discussion of school fairs. I enjoyed the fair but was not immediately aware that food and drink could be paid for with tokens. I can totally understand why the school went with tokens, and echo how much effort goes into running school events and how schools are horrendously underfunded.

[MonumentVal]

If it was my school, then I'm not in Bromley, but elsewhere in London!
There was a steady stream of families entering all afternoon and any excess tickets could have been sold to any of them.

[Equimum]

It must really depend on the size of the school. Our school only has about £140 pupils but the fete made over £2000 profit this year. We did, however, change the format slightly and ran into the evening with food, a bar and entertainment. I think the majority of the profit was from alcohol!

[Viebienremplie]

Our fair was also on the Saturday England played and we took double the usual bar and food takings as people stayed to watch the game. It was a good day for school fairs I think

[jessebuni]

It sounds like it wasn’t organised very honestly but money wise my kids school isn’t in London and they made £9000 from their summer fair. There are just under 600 pupils.

[Sixgeese]

Can a school fete make too much money? No!

Our 2 form entry outer London Primary school made over £14k on the summer fete this year. This was the result of months of hard work by a dedicated team of Mums and Dads and it is money which will be spent on our children.

This was the first fete in years I didn't run a stall at and have always had the policy if you don't like how it's run, volunteer to help next time.

[Crazyjustcrazy]

This upsets me hugely, as it was organised so well and so honestly - such clear communication throughout - just that this particular parent must live in a cave......

[strawberrisc]

It’s just not fair 😀

[smackbangwhollop]

YABU: You also have to remember it's not 'just' parents and family that go to the school fayre. The events are advertised for the community as an event and a family day out. All the money our school raises goes back into the school for the benefit of the children. We are not 'forced' to volunteer and I never have, I just attend the fayre with a £10 budget. I don't understand the grip to be honest.

[Mrseft]

While I think they ran it poorly, the token system clearly sucks and it wasn’t fair to not tell you about cash for food and drink; I don’t see why you’d moan about money that will be used to enhance your child’s education and school experience. Surely that can only be positive?

[VerbenaGirl]

Is it bad that a significant part of our primary school’s summer fair profits come from Y6 parents knocking back the Pimms in celebration of never having to go to another one again?

[PortSouth]

They're going to reinvest the money back into the school to enhance your child's education. Why would you think that a scam at a time of significant cuts and
a possible no deal Brexit looming?

[Greensmurf1]

Email your pta President with constructive feedback, go to PTA meetings, volunteer to help out at the school fairs. Read the pta and school newsletters. If you want to change things or have influence over them, find out what’s going on and find a way to get involved.

Maybe you don’t realise just how incredibly difficult it is to organise a school fair. It takes months of planning with a lot of people getting involved and a lot of thought goes into it. All the while parents who are volunteering to run these fundraisers are juggling their own work, childcare, elder care, and other commitments. Sometimes, there are things that could be done better, but it’s no use complaining on a forum if you’re unwilling to provide constructive feedback and participate in helping to make the next fundraisers meet your expectations.

School budgets are shrinking and things that taxes used to pay for are not going to schools anymore.
I wish we had made that kind of money on our school fair, then we might not have to plan so many other fundraisers to make sure our kids have decent playground facilities, science workshops, health education, special treats for leavers, ICT tablets and a usable library.
Did you know that there is no requirement for a school to have a library? How does a school with families from a wide range of incomes, a wide spectrum of family education levels, and a substantial international population across all age groups ensure that all children have access to books to match and challenge their interests and abilities if there is no requirement for state our council funding for a school library. How do kids beat the obesity crisis if their playgrounds are falling apart? How do you foster a sense of community in the school if you’re talking behind the backs of the active volunteers instead of joining in and making a difference, constructively sharing your perspectives and experiences to make the pta fundraising benefit all the kids?