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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:
MidniteScribbler · 16/10/2018 23:39

I really don't understand people who getting narky about having to actually contribute to their children's education. My child needs something, I'm happy to provide it. He's getting 30 hours per week of quality teaching by qualified professionals. If I have to buy some books and stationery, then I will do so in order to help enhance that experience.

Dieu · 16/10/2018 23:43

It is a perfectly reasonable request.

Piggywaspushed · 17/10/2018 06:59

caprisun, I rather think I do as I am on the finance committee as a governor, too. The accountants visit annually, and the governors' jobs is to examine accounts and hold to account school staff for any decisions they might make. Ofsted would be very interested in a chair of a finance committee who allowed poor spending! If you genuinely don't believe schools are in very dire fianacial situtations then you must actually be Damian Hinds.

Governors are not only interested members of the public these days. Unless your school isn't an academy.

Original poster
twentypounds · 17/10/2018 07:02

I have the letter in front of me coola

This isn’t a case of someone being awkward and refusing to buy but we don’t have the money at this time.

OP posts:
Cherries101 · 17/10/2018 07:05

Why didn’t you call the school and tell them you couldn’t afford it before your dd got into trouble? Burying your head in the sand re your finances is not right.

Original poster
twentypounds · 17/10/2018 07:05

Finances are private matters.

OP posts:
nellly · 17/10/2018 07:10

Well your niece is the only one suffering because neither you nor your sister/brother can scrape together £20 and won't discuss with school because of pride  There is likely help available for your niece if your family finances really are that tight but yea, you're right, let her miss about and feel embarrassed when everyone else has one because you don't want to talk about it...

Original poster
twentypounds · 17/10/2018 07:19

Finances are very tight. To give you some idea of context I have £13 in my purse to last me until the 31st when I get paid.

So even if I gave her every penny I have it wouldn’t be enough.

The school has disclosed private information before and so tbh I understand why they won’t discuss with the school. In any event they have after a fashion - said there isn’t the money - but she was just told repeatedly to bring it in.

OP posts:
fleshmarketclose · 17/10/2018 07:21

At dd's school children receiving Pupil Premium are given the revision guides. Can you ask about this if your dd receives Pupil Premium funding? If not and money is tight can you explain to the school and ask to pay in instalments? I don't think schools would recommend the study guides if they didn't see them as essential.

Original poster
twentypounds · 17/10/2018 07:24

She’s not PP but in any event these books don’t come under that category. Trips do but not books.

OP posts:
Cherries101 · 17/10/2018 07:35

So you’re ruining dn’s life because of pride. Great. Nobody can help you if you don’t help yourself. £20 per month is the equiv to £5 per week to less than £1 per day. School stuff should take priority over every other expense.

ineedaholidaynow · 17/10/2018 07:38

Is there no-one else in the family who could give/loan the £20 to get the books?

I too am surprised by the governor comment about money sitting there not being used. As a governor on the finance committee that doesn't sound right to me.

Caprisunorange · 17/10/2018 07:42

Piggy I’m sorry but your post is total crap. I know exactly what I’m doing and there is nothing wrong from the finance committees point of view. It’s just a well trodden battle hymn from schools that there is no money when they have no idea whether that’s the truth or not.

IWannaSeeHowItEnds · 17/10/2018 07:43

I do think some teachers, particularly those who work in middle class catchments, have very little understanding that for many families the money just isn't there.
I used to be a teacher and although colleagues used to complain about pay and conditions (justifiably imo), most could lay their hands on a spare £20 quite easily. Sometimes they just don't get it, hence the pressure put on a child to provide something which is out of their control.

I agree with the OP that finances are private and no parent should be compelled to discuss theirs with the school just because some bloody daft teacher hasn't thought about why this child hasn't brought in money.

Angrybird345 · 17/10/2018 07:45

I just paid£150 so £20 is a bargain! Plus, £20 coukd make a huge difference in the final grade.

PattiStanger · 17/10/2018 07:46

If you simply don't have the money no amount of telling you it's only a £ a week will make it magically appear but that's no reason not to tell the school you can't buy the books at the moment. Why are the parents not stepping up and making this clear to the school?

I'd challenge anyone to get guides for the correct current syallbuses cheaper than from the school. If you don't have children taking gcses now you probably don't understand that you can't go to amazon or eba y for them or use old ones. A poster above said schools were cashless now, maybe i live in a backward are but they certainly aren't here and you would have to take the money to the library to get the books, I didint know that was unusual

Nenic · 17/10/2018 07:48

Totally normal and nothing to do with the Tory’s. It happened under labour but I don’t see pp slating them

PattiStanger · 17/10/2018 07:49

OP - there's no categories for pupil premium, it's up to the school what they spend it on, just an FYI in case she does qualify in the future

continuallychargingmyphone · 17/10/2018 07:49

Please tell me you’re not a teacher cherries

FYI it takes a lot to ruin someone’s life. Not buying some books doesn’t really come into that category.

OldBean2 · 17/10/2018 07:51

Twenty pounds, I am a CoG if an inner City school and have been a governor for almost 30 years and financially schools are back in a similar position to 25 years ago when we were looking at redundancies to save money. Study guides are an optional adjunct to lessons and textbooks.

I know you are embarrassed about your financial situation and believe me I understand that, my mother would not claim FSMs in the 60/70s for me. However you are not the only one, talk to the school, most of us have discretionary hardship funds. Also write to your Chair of Governors and explain what a difficult position this is putting parents in.

Finally, a Chair of Finance further up the thread posted about not understanding why they seemed to not be spending their surplus. Firstly, how much of this is monies set aside for invoices which straddle years, where work has been carried out but not yet been paid for or ringfenced for capital projects? Then fold into this equation your contingency funds for the day the boiler blows, the roof falls in, six members of staff fall pregnant or in our case when part of the playground sinks into the bombed out cellars beneath it! Believe me, those thousands soon disappear.

POPholditdown · 17/10/2018 07:51

So you’re ruining dn’s life because of pride. Great.

Bit of a reach, that.

TrentBridge · 17/10/2018 07:56

School funding has been drastically cut under the Tories and the current situation has everything to do with them. Who knows what the actual figures of expenditure are - they had the gall to include private school fees and university tuition fees in their spending figures.

That said there will always be some schools who have managed to avoid that - I'm also a governor at a primary school which has a large surplus that keeps growing due to some pretty unusual circumstances.

My son in year 7 has been asked by his secondary to bring in money for English and maths books, however the letter made it clear these were voluntary contributions, and specifically that PP children would get the costs paid directly from school. We can afford so I paid - don't know what success rate they've had over all.

usernameusername01 · 17/10/2018 07:57

Just say to the school that you won't be buying them at this time. If you can't talk to the school about finances then they can't help.

I also don't think anyone will have the time to chase up the fact you haven't bought revision guides.

DontMakeMeShushYou · 17/10/2018 07:57

She was definitely told she had to buy them.

This sounds as though it could have been misinterpreted. They're study guides, not the texts, I guess. I suspect she doesn't HAVE to HAVE them, but if she WANTS them she does HAVE to BUY them, if that makes sense.

Caprisunorange · 17/10/2018 07:58

“Finally, a Chair of Finance further up the thread posted about not understanding why they seemed to not be spending their surplus. Firstly, how much of this is monies set aside for invoices which straddle years, where work has been carried out but not yet been paid for or ringfenced for capital projects? Then fold into this equation your contingency funds for the day the boiler blows, the roof falls in, six members of staff fall pregnant or in our case when part of the playground sinks into the bombed out cellars beneath it! Believe me, those thousands soon disappear.“

Don’t your accounts know how to use accrual accounting? Perfectly standard and very vey strange not to. However, my school pay the LA for a finance service and they are crap so I wouldn’t be surprised.

And it’s nothing to do with spending a surplus. They don’t have a surplus. It’s not spending allocated cost budgets whilst teachers moan there is no money to pay for anything.