to object to a voluntary contribution of £10 for a school trip to the zoo, when I am a single mum

[pirategirl]

and skinto.

Thats all the letter says, what does it mean ffs. That i can give what I like that anyone can give what they like.

Whats happened to all the money we keep shelling out for the PTA!!!

I f idont give my tenner I'll feel rotten, but i cannot understand how its gonna cost £400 for the school mini bus to take 4o kids (aged 5) to the zoo which is half an hour away.

I nkow there are group discounts, and the money doesnt even include food, we have to provide it.

This is the first school trip, so maybe I am overreacting. The zoo only costs £5 for kids normally, when u take them.

Pop a note in?

...but if they just tell people they don't have to pay, they can't chase up the forgetful/tight ones without appearing to harrass the financially strapped.

plus of course if you just didn't pay the teachers would know that you were either hard up or tight.

Yeah but based on the trips DTDs have been on this year I would have had to put £30 each in a fund in Sept. Thats £60 for the 2 of them, along with new school uniforms, shoes etc.

I can afford £5 here, £10 there. £60 in one go would have been tough for me - so how would people like PG have dealt with that?

gonna put my fiver in an envelope ( sealed)with the permission slip, and scarper.

As a teacher, I can tell you that most schools build a little extra into the individual cost in order to cover children who may not be able to afford it. You should speak to your child's teacher and explain that you will find it difficult to afford, and ask if you can pay less (or not at all, depending on your circumstances). They shouldn't get shirty about it, but I must say that I have heard of completely out-of-order reactions in certain schools. Unfortunately, in very low income areas, arguably where the children might benefit the most from them, the trips become unaffordable if few people can pay full whack. Good luck. Hope you manage to work something out.

I'm more with irishbird here. (but no schoolkids) PLEASE tell me the head of a school has better things to do wiht his time than discuss personal finances with puplis parents? Do I take it I would be some way away from normal to just retuen the permission slip with whatever I 'wanted' to contribute and let them got on with it?

the problem i have is two children at same infants school and the teacher says this is the letter for a trip then a week later whilst reading the register out she says, "oh you have not paid x" and "you have not paid y" then the kids come home and say we got to pay she keeps reading out our names.
i did go in once and state i could not pay that much and the headteacher offered me a weekly payment so i said i would pay just £10 between them they had to lump it

i felt bad for my kids and it is not right

why not just tell parents the actual cost rather than voluntary contribution?

Some parents will pay when they can't afford it - why should they pay for other kids?

Because the schools are not allowed to ask for the money to cover the trip so they ask for a voluntary contribution and hope that most parents can give the full amount.
What I dissagree with is how some children have their names read out/ written on a board so every tom dick and harry can see whcich parenst are unable to pay

Our school decided this year that instead of this they would write letters but the teachers still gave them out in front of all the other parents!!

duchesse,

I am also a teacher and I have never addedd extra costs to individual payments to cover those that don't pay. In fact in all 4 schools I have worked in I have been told this is illegal. Correct me if I am wrong. IME the school sunsidises trips and the full cost is never just what the parents are asked to pay.

I have also had parents who caouln't pay. I do not need to know their finances. TBH I know who has money and who doesn't usually so they usually just pop in and say I can' afford x can I just pay y? Then I say OK!

what I mean is, say it comes to £10.42 then I would charge £10 and would not be allowed to ask £10.50. I was always told by my various Heads that to ask for the rounded up amount would amount to fraud as we are not allowed to make a proft from trips.

Maybe it's because I was working in a PPP school that we had such blatant disregard for rules and regulations. It was secondary level of course. Don't know if that made a difference. All the schools I was placed in generally added £1 or so to the cost per person. Maybe they have changed the regs since I left teaching. Surely for the worse though if so?

It would for example explain the pressure I've heard being put on parents. And the PTA seems more and more to be drafted into educational activities when they are meant to have a para-educational role- eg buying the fun stuff. Subbing children who can't afford trips does not sound like traditional PTA remit.

I'm not knocking it, I'm just surprised and wondering how long it will be before low income parents have to present themselves before a board and expose every last financial detail to other parents from the playground before they can get funding for trips. Way to go to empower people who may already feel bad about their situation.

Mind you, when I was a child growing up in France, we simply didn't go on those trips if we couldn't afford them, so things have moved on somewhat.

I haven't read the others' replies but I think you're being unreasonable. You'll be surprised at how small group discounts really are. Plus the minibus to get there.

Of course, if you really can't afford to, then don't pay. On the other hand, would you be able to afford to take your child to the zoo yourself, transport and all? It would cost you both more than £10, plus organising it all.

You're not allowed to bump up the cost in a secondary school either.

When my kids were at primary school we did a lot of fundraising, particularly weekly tea afternoons hosted by each class in rotation. We made an absolute fortune (regularly) which paid for stuff like this. All you had to do was bake some cakes and volunteer to serve the tea etc. That way, nobody was asked to stump up for anything individually, bcs we were so rich.

At ds1's school the letters about school trips come with a slip at the bottom. You can tick one of 3 boxes:

1. No I don't want my child to go

2. Yes I want my child to go but I will not be making a voluntary contribution

3. Yes I want my child to go and I will be paying £x

This means that parents who can't pay don't have to go in to the school and explain why.

As well as the entrance fee and coach the school also has to pay for insurance IIRC.

chugnuts thats a good idea, i am new to the whole thing about the school tips, and it would be good to have a box to tick in this instance.

I am not going to discuss with anyone in school my financial difficulties, so it would be good to have a clear cut bit to fill in.

Perhaps it IS the norm for low income to pay a bit less, I havent had a chance to ask around with it being half term.

The trip to the zoo, well we have been to the zoo twice this year, and of course it cost me more, but it was my decision to take her.

The school has 2 mini buses, that the teachers drive, so there won't be a coach to be hired.

I dont think £10 is a ridiculous amount, just the way the letter is put iyswim.
This is a very affluent area, but lots of single mums too. I wonder how the more well off people feel about having to inevitably stump up the tenner?

I would think it would be better suggest a minimum voluntary cont of an affordable £5, with a light hearted sentence, saying anything over this amount wuold be gratefully recieved.

Hmm, maybe I should go and suggest this!!!

I haven't read all this thread, so sorry if this has already been said! I was shocked when I had to pay £25 for a terms swimming lessons. The note said voluntary, so I spoke to the school secretary and she said it is voluntary and if you can't afford it then don't paid it, just put in what you can afford.

But then you would only get the fiver - even from the affluent parents.

It is a really awkward thing, and I don't think there's any getting round it without doing without trips.

I organised a residential field trip for my sixth formers, and one boy's mother couldn't afford to pay, so the school paid. His mum sent me a letter, and I phoned her up to let her know what was happening. She felt embarassed, I felt embarassed, and I did wonder whether the trip was a good idea. But it was great, and they got so much out of it, that I really think it was. Still felt awful to have put her in the position though. Tough one.

At our school if not enough contributions are sent in then the trip is cancelled.