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.

My daughter, Y1, is going on a school trip that is going to cost £15. We can't really afford it but not paying doesn't seem right. If too many people don't pay then the trip will be cancelled.

Just give what you can afford. Put it in a sealed envelope and send it. Remember schools often run trips at a loss - coaches are very expensive to hire and entrance fees can be exorbitant. Even if you only give a couple of pounds, it will help the school.

We've never added on or rounded up for any of our school trips either. Parents who can't afford the full whack often just write on the permission slip something along the lines of 'can't afford the £10 at the moment, here's £5'.
I've had a lot of flack from parents for 'harrassing' their children for payment, a term which I object to because basically, as already said, we can't take a child unless we have the permission slip.
There are always families who are a bit disorganised and although you know they'll be sending in the slip and the money they need a fortnight's worth of reminders.
How are teachers expect to know which children can or can't pay if we don't have that information from parents?
Should I stand up in front of the entire class and say 'right x, I know your mum can't afford the cash but send your slip in and y, I know your mum is rolling in it so send the readies and slip asap'
It is not a big issue for teachers or schools at all - just let us have the information and I'm not talking about a full breakdown of your incomings and outgoings - a short note like the ones I sometimes get is more than enough and in a good school will only need to be done once in 7 years!
And by the way coaches are ridiculously expensive; £400 upwards is pretty standard and most places don't charge for the adult helpers - teachers and parent helpers go free.

it never crosses my mind to be upset about paying the full whack when others dont for whatever reasons they have ( in response to pirategirl)

I was a single mum for 9 years, from when my son was 4 until he was 13. Like Goingfor3, I couldn't usually afford to pay for school trips (or hardly any other trips come to that) but used to take the school letters at face value and feel guilty that if I didn't pay, the trip might have to be cancelled for everyone. So I did pay - and invariably went without in other areas (or went into debt). Though my son was never able to go on the longer "holiday" type trips.

Reading all this, I guess I must have been naiive. My heart used to sink at yet another "request" - sometimes week after week, but it never occurred to me that NOT paying was an option. Looking back, I just hope I wasn't subsidising better-off, but penny-pinching, families.

My little one starts school in September but from attending preschool I know the actual school does a couple of trips a year and they send out the standard letter re cost,

Would never cross my mind not to pay and I am lucky that we can afford it. However it would cross my mind too as to whether everyone who didnt pay actually couldnt or did it on principle as they think trips etc should be free.

Ours is a small country school with only 65 children, therefore if lots dont pay the trips would probably be cancelled.

I have just done a simailar thread ,our zoo trip is 11.35 and if I took d2 it would cost £1 each + tiny bit of petrol so am not happy but would pay if they allowed more time

Diva- can you hint at which school?

Rosin was telling me about her school with a good system for school trips (need ideas for the head)

Haven't read all the replies but I attended a nursery parents meeting recently and we were discussing fund raising for our trip to London Zoo in a few weeks. The tickets were donated, but coach hire has got so ridiculous recently that many London firms are charging over £600 a coach. If there are too many people to use the more reasonably priced council ones they have to fork it out or cancel the trip.

I've had to pay to go on school trips where it's involved going to a zoo. It was free for places like the National Gallery where the only expense is for the hire of a coach (they stipulated that the cost was per child, the helpers effectively went "free").

Our school is pretty good and dd's teacher in y1 used to do lots of local trips, most of which involved the kids walking to the forest or the local library. So no expense there .

I'd contribute a fiver and don't feel guilty.

well you said it is voluntary, just give them what you want or can afford or can you offer to help by going on the trip with them?

I've just booked a coach for 60 children and adults for a day out at a a cost of £150! - I'm a secretary of the preschool. I think your school needs to find a more reasonable company!

Stroo

When I was teaching we were not allowed to charge extra to cover the cost of others who didn't pay, nor to over charge. The letter sent out to explain about the trip, with the permission form on, had to have a break down of the costs on it for parents to see.

However we did have a clause that said if not enough people paid the voluntary contribution then the trip could not go ahead.

Coaches are VERY expensive IME, which is often a massive percentage of the total cost of trips.

Permission slips have to be sent in before a child can go on a trip so these will be chased.

People who could not afford to contribute (or contribute full amount) did need to speak to the organising teacher beforehand to allow arrangements to be made to cover financing that place if possible. This was either in writing, or preferably in person or by ohone.

mrswho-i couldnt find your thread.
the schools are in hindpool.ds and dd1 went to blackpool to see a show when they were in infants and i only had to pay £7 for the whole thing(ie coach and show).ds2 went to the zoo with nursery to do the big toddle for barnados and i had to pay £2 each for me+ him on the coach and £3.50 for my zoo entry.

the junior school trips have been around £10 and they sent letters out 2 months before,then reminders about 2 weeks before.i have never been asked for a 'voluntary contribution',everybody has to pay the same but they give you plenty of notice so you can pay £1 or so a week if need be.

Thatnks Diva are you near the new park then?
dd2 was desparate to go there the other week when we nipped to my friends house but it was raining

quite near,more town way though.ive been a few times,prefer the dock museum one though!

Yaeh the new one on Walney was great too then they took the web-thing away and stuff is starting to get wreck

I've just volunteered to be a parent-helper on my dd's school next week - it's going to cost £14 per adult to go to London Zoo!!

Grumble grumble. I'm going to suggest that the parents who don't go, should pay a few quid more to cover the cost of entry for those who do go to help out. After all, it's not going to be a fun day out is it? I don't mind paying a fair share but it seems that you have to pay to go and work.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr