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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

school demanding £20 for books

116 replies

twentypounds · 16/10/2018 18:38

Is this reasonable - gcse study guides.

My niece is in year 10 and was told she had to bring in £20 for some books.

OP posts:
MuddlingMackem · 16/10/2018 19:31

Our DCs' secondary have said that there are revision guides available on the VLE for free, but if they want books the kids will have to buy them, and they can order them through the school. Since I don't think my eldest would even look at the guides, we'll make do with the free versions on the VLE if he ever does show an interest. Grin

To be fair, I think the only book I bought was for a part-time course, don't remember buying any study guides for my main subjects.

educatingarti · 16/10/2018 19:35

School s have mega discounts with publishers ( often half price) and although you can sometimes get second hand ones, they may still not be cheaper than the school's discounted ones, there are limited numbers of them for the new GCSEs and you need to be really careful you get exactly the right one for the exam board, specification and level that the student is doing. It is easy to get the wrong ones by mistake!

Villanellesproudmum · 16/10/2018 19:38

I’ve bought my daughters, they bulk buy so we’re around £3 each per subject which was cheaper than Amazon.

NorthernLurker · 16/10/2018 19:40

I think dd2s school now owe me £40 'deposit' on her a level TEXT books. They were clear we had to pay though supposedly I will get it back when she returns the books next summer. It's dreadful.

PhilODox · 16/10/2018 19:41

tiggerkid you do realise that the specification of every single GCSE and a level has changed within the last two years? A revision guide from four years ago isn't going to help...

chipsandgin · 16/10/2018 19:48

The government does not fund education properly because they couldn't give a shit - all state schools are forced by circumstance to look at alternative ways of delivering a decent education.

All state schools also understand that the financial circumstances of pupils families vary. There is help available from various sources (special funding/grants/charities) - what needs to happen is that the parent receives the request for the books and gets in touch with the school, privately (usually the finance office) to discuss the financial difficulties and does everything they can to help.

The only reason why a teacher would be frustrated or 'cross' is if the parent had ignored the letter, not bought the books and not provided any explanation or asked for help. Or if the pupil had not sent or communicated the request to the parent - are any of those scenarios likely?

Original poster
twentypounds · 16/10/2018 19:50

Some people don’t wish to discuss their finances chips

It’s private.

OP posts:
ivykaty44 · 16/10/2018 19:52

I thought schools were cashless and parents pay for everything online, it especially stops this situation

NailsNeedDoing · 16/10/2018 21:17

I get that it's diffi To talk about something like this, and it is private, but what do you think should happen instead? Do you think personal books should be given out for free every year when most parents are happy to pay, or that students should not have access to a standard resource to help them in their GCSEs?

MrWolfknowsthetime · 16/10/2018 21:23

When I was at school back in the dark ages of the 80s, we were provided with text books but not revision guides. If you wanted them, you bought them yourself.

Original poster
twentypounds · 16/10/2018 21:24

No. I expect the curriculum to be delivered and students to buy revision guides if they can do so.

OP posts:
EthelHornsby · 16/10/2018 21:25

I had to buy my O-level and A level books 50 years ago - I still have them!

Troels · 16/10/2018 21:28

£20 seems pretty resonable to me so long as the PP kids are provided the books from the PP funds.
I'd ask about see if any of last years students want to sell theirs, unless there have been changes, then she'll need the new books.

Piggywaspushed · 16/10/2018 21:31

caprisun, if you are Cahir of the Finance Committee, is it not rather your job to point out and sort out financial discrepancies, not sneer and carp behind the school's back? Confused

Buck stops with governors on financial (mis)management.

Piggywaspushed · 16/10/2018 21:31

Chair... sorry.

ashtrayheart · 16/10/2018 21:31

The compulsory element to this would rile me. They should provide details of the books and say they can be bought at school, but insisting is not acceptable.

Piggywaspushed · 16/10/2018 21:34

On another note, I don't see why Study Guides should be compulsory. They are and can be a useful supplement or complement to teaching but a child should be able to succeed without them , if well taught, in all honesty. I am always happy to recommend some to students because of stress levels , but one of the subjects I teach has no textbooks or study guides and we manage perfectly well!

Lougle · 16/10/2018 21:39

That seems cheap. My DD's in year 7 and I've already had to pay £14.50 for Art Materials, and I've seen a charge on our school account for D&T materials for £20.00, which I'll no doubt get a letter about once she starts her D&T block next term. Added to the £20.00 for a locker... the list is endless.

EggplantsForever · 16/10/2018 21:58

What does it say about you that you have a problem with paying 20 pounds for books for your child?

Somehow I am sure you paid 20 pounds for a some nice new clothes. Or even a few bottles of beer for yourself and friends...

Caprisunorange · 16/10/2018 22:23

“, if you are Cahir of the Finance Committee, is it not rather your job to point out and sort out financial discrepancies, not sneer and carp behind the school's back? confused

Buck stops with governors on financial (mis)management.”

@piggywaspushed maybe you don’t understand financial management but no, finance committees don’t make budget holders spend their budgets.

Etino · 16/10/2018 22:25

And yet we spend £££ on school
uniform Confused 🤷‍♀️

AlexanderHamilton · 16/10/2018 22:27

We’ve been advised to purchase them. I actually bought several for dd last year at around £6/7 each from Amazon but schools get a huge discount so ds’s school are selling them for £2/3 each.

It’s not compulsory though.

Walkingdeadfangirl · 16/10/2018 22:58

Pretty normal to buy revision guides, £20 is good value. Why are you so against it, someone has to pay for it.

Coolaschmoola · 16/10/2018 23:09

I'm also a teacher...

We strongly recommend that students buy study guides to help them revise independently. We certainly don't teach from them!

We purchase them and sell them on to students simply because we get such a massive discount.

I've never even heard of a school insisting students buy them, I do have a lot of experience of teenagers embellishing facts, or misinterpreting what they've been told.

I would suggest her parents speak to the teacher, as opposed to automatically accepting a highly unlikely and irregular story from a teenager.

LoniceraJaponica · 16/10/2018 23:33

Caprisunorange I was on the finance committee at DD's school and was privy to the school's finances. The school was on its knees, and had no spare money at all. The school was the fourth worst funded secondary school in the country, and was on the local and national news last year when it started an appeal for fairer funding.

Fortunately the parents and local MP got behind the campaign, and the school was successful. It is in slightly less dire straits than it was a year ago.

In response to the OP, I bought the CGP revision guides for DD for her GCSEs. They were massively useful. She had them for A levels as well, but tended to rely more on her notes than on text books.