I can't afford anymore!

[MiddleClassPerm]

This is a wwyd as well as aibu.

I'm a lp with 3 dc's although my eldest is early 20's and working. DS is on his 2nd year of GCSE's and DD has just started hers. I work ft but I earn less than £18k.

So far since they went back to school I've paid:
£150 deposit school trip 1
£40 deposit school trip 2
£60 art
£25 HE
£10 maths
£5 Spanish
The odd £2/3 for lessons I can't even remember now.

I've just received the email for the school fund, £150 for the 2 of them. I didn't pay it last year as I had similar amounts to pay out and received about 10 'reminder' emails throughout the year. I'm dreading getting the same ones again this year and feel really bad about it. It's not compulsory but I still feel I should be paying.

Would you pay in my position, should I maybe contact the school and tell them I can't afford it, or just ignore the emails again this year?

Wwyd?

[YerAuntFanny]

@ThistleAmore, my eldest has just started secondary and we have been asked for money but not to this extent!

£25 for home economics, £5 for art, £30 for guitar lessons (this one is voluntary though and very cheap Vs outside tuition) there is also a £600 end of year trip (again voluntary).

Other than a £6 tie our uniform can be sourced from anywhere thankfully and all they ask for is that pupils arrive with a basic set of stationary so much less of a financial worry.

[LittleBookofCalm]

See if they have a bursary?

[MeteorGarden]

OP, I think you should ring the school and set out what you have in your OP!

It sounds to me like the ‘school fund’ is there to help with things like the stuff you’ve already been paying for...compulsory trips etc.

If the whole class is going to see a play for drama for example, and 2 kids parents simply can’t pay, I’m pretty sure it’s this ‘fund’ that steps in and pays.

If you talk to the school;
A) They should remove you from the mailing list asking for more money.
B) You may actually get some help with costs moving forward. (They’re unlikely to be forthcoming about it but stress ‘I can’t afford to pay for things so if it’s ‘compulsory’ you either provide it or my kids aren’t doing it’.

If a school makes a trip/exercise ‘compulsory’ they have to provide it for students. They ask parents to pay because most will but those who don’t have to be covered.

[Trampire]

I've never heard of a school fund.

We have to pay (well, if we want our D.C. to go obviously!) on school trips but we're not asked for many other things.

One thing we're are reminded of constantly is shopping online through a website like EasyFundraising so it costs us nothing but the school get a tiny contribution from the sale.

Or getting involved with the schools version of PTA for fundraising. They're very hot on that.

[Notmethistimehonest]

Schools have to publish what they spend the pupil premium money on on their website.

OP it is worth looking at where your school spends it. It is several thousand pounds per eligible child each year. Most schools spend a portion subsidising school trips for eligible children.

[Petronius16]

SausageOnaFork spot on with that link. If all the money that had been spent setting up Academies and the money taken out by individuals had been spent on our 'free' education service there wouldn't be this problem. Though when teaching in the 1970's occasionally we dipped into our own pockets to help some kids.

[HelenaDove]

"It amazes me that some posters (not OP) don't realise the teachers might be single parents making the same large contributions to their own childrens schools"


And it amazes me that people dont think that should make them more understanding not less.

[bringbacksideburns]

Eh??

Never heard of it. We pay as we go along for school trips and lesson stuff on parent pay that comes up for the odd subject and that's it.

Do you mean they expect you to do that and also pay £150 per child into a fund each year?

It should go on earnings in that case and as you say it's voluntary tell them you can't afford it as a LP!

[DownAndUnder]

My mum pays £150 a year each for my brother and sister at a catholic school. Iirc religious schools get less funding. My mum struggles to pay it but won’t say no as apparently it goes towards essential things like repairing the roof

[SausageOnAFork]

Thank you Petronius.
I’m always shocked that no one seems to care about the way the academy program is taking money out of education to pay for a whole extra layer of wages that simply don’t need to exist.
Hopefully now it is starting to hit people in their pockets they might start to get upset.

[PurpleTigerLove]

Are you in Northern Ireland ? School fees for grammars here are very common and can run into several hundreds of pounds .

[MiddleClassPerm]

Do you mean they expect you to do that and also pay £150 per child into a fund each year?
Yes
Are you in Northern Ireland ?
Yes.

I've sent an email so I'll see what happens. I hope they don't take it the wrong way

[Petronius16]

Good to know Sausage I'm not the only one feeling the same way, unfortunately UK voters are far too docile to protest and best not start on how many billions the Catholic Church has in its coffers.

[aspoonfulofyourownmedicine]

I wouldn't pay........ £150 seems a lot for a school fund though.

I pay into DS's school fund. It's 50p a week or we can pay per term/year. Works out as around £20 for the whole year per child. This includes all school trips paid for, visitors into school, extra treats etc in school. I don't mind paying it and gladly give £1 a week or more if and when I have a bit extra in my purse, but not all the time.

Is the £150 for anything specific, especially if you're paying for trips yourself.