Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

Sick of the school begging

63 replies

Coffee987 · 22/10/2018 21:46

I have four sons, they're all in secondary/sixth form of the same school. Basically every week one of the boys has something they have to 'donate' towards, and none of these things are optional!

What has really pushed me over the edge is that in preparation for the winter ball they all have to sell a full book of raffle tickets and hand them in - this costs £30 a book. My oldest two haven't sold theres (because all our family bought off the younger boys) I've now had a letter off school asking me for the 'donation', in lieu of the tickets not being sold.

Anyone have any experience of this? And how did you deal with it? Ludicrous to think they want £120 from one family....

OP posts:

givemesteel · 23/10/2018 22:44

As in taking 2-4 times the resources out of the school compared to the average family of 1 or 2 kids.

ohreallyohreallyoh · 23/10/2018 22:53

I’m afraid This is the approach I take with three children in the same school. If I refuse to contribute, the school,is losing out on donations it could have had with three single children as opposed to siblings. So Impay for three sets of raffle tickets I don’t want, send in three bottles, three Easter eggs or whatever the item is this week.

That said, you are being asked for a lot of money and it is voluntary.

Spanglylycra · 23/10/2018 22:59

That is a ridiculously high raffle price!

Our school sent raffle books home for an event that parents in our year couldn't go to. I brought one ticket for £1 and sent the rest of the books back in protest.

Sounds like you have a hardcore PTA or business manager if they are going to these lengths?

Theimpossiblegirl · 23/10/2018 23:06

What are the prizes? :)

Yes I agree it is too much. Donations should be per family, not per child. But funding for schools is so bad, they have to try.

GreenTulips · 23/10/2018 23:13

That is a ridiculously high raffle price!.

Depends on the prizes and who donated them!!

Our school give these types of things for the eldest child only.

I agree it's a lot for an optional extra

Spanglylycra · 23/10/2018 23:54

@GreenTulips well for £25 you can enter the draw at the airport to win a Ferrari ... imagine the odds at school may be slightly more favourable ;)

MaisyPops · 24/10/2018 06:45

givemesteel
It depends.
A family of 4 children who are hardly involved in extra curriculars would probably get less use from PTA funded projects than a single child who does lots of sports at our school.

I agree people should do their best for fundraising if they can, but school sending a letter out for money for unsold raffle tickets is out of line. Why not stick it in the prospectus that it's an expectation that a voluntary direct debit shall be set up for £x per year per child and see how parents and prospective parents take It?

Original poster

Coffee987 · 24/10/2018 18:19

Thank you everyone for the supportive comments, glad it isn't just me who thinks its unreasonable to be sent letters about not selling raffle tickets.

In regards to PTA spending on extras, me and DH pay for the extras and give to the specific funds these extras put on, we don't expect things to be free.

Additionally for reference 6 years ago when my eldest was in year 7 - this same raffle book cost £10, and somehow this has tripled and I know the schools funding hasn't drastically changed in that time.

OP posts:

ChinUpShouldersBack · 24/10/2018 18:34

School staff are often rushed off their feet. I doubt anyone had time to take you and your individual circumstances into account when dishing out letters.
Just dont pay it. It's not compulsory and not worth getting angsty about.

Notonthestairs · 24/10/2018 18:38

My kids school PTA aren't funding extras. They are funding essential classroom items. (Sorry that is where government funding bashing comes in).

But I'm on the fence about your raffle tickets. £120 is a vast amount. I think you might need to be prepared to complain properly to the PTA and Govenors. You won't be the only family asked for this.

Panicmode1 · 24/10/2018 18:48

I have four children at three different schools. We live in an affluent, leafy area and two of the schools are highly sought after and stuffed to the rafters with very affluent parents. The raffle tickets are £10 a book - I think £30 is excessive - and the tickets for the summer ball are £45 each - and you know that if you attend, you will be 'fleeced' for raffle tickets, heads or tails, the bar etc etc. Schools are struggling, and PTAs are being asked to fund things which are now necessities, where often the money raised was for luxuries, but I think that in this case, being 'billed' for very expensive, unsold raffle tickets is wrong, regardless of how many children the OP has!

MaisyPops · 24/10/2018 18:57

ChinUpShouldersBack
Personally they could solve that by not sending bills to parents for failing to raise some arbitrary amount.
It doesn't exactly build good home school relationships or make parents want to get involved in the PTA.

Walkingdeadfangirl · 24/10/2018 19:15

What are the prizes in the raffle?
Whats is the money from the raffle being spent on?

Flip

1 2 3