Secondary School - 'Donations'

[smithyssister]

Have namechanged for this. DD is off to secondary school in September - a state school but an all girls grammar if that makes a difference.

We've received a welcome pack that asks us to contribute at least £15 a month, by standing order (!), to the school fund. In return we get a 'free' scientific calculator and dictionary. DD's friend is also going and her mum said to me this morning they'll be giving £50 a month Keeping up with the Jones' starts here..?!

WIBU to tell them it's not free if it costs me £180 a year?!

Sadly we all have to get a reality check, socialist principles or not. Schools are on their knees. It’s a thousand little cuts as well as the big ones. You can be aggrieved all you want, but if we want our children to have any decent resources, then we need to help the school financially.

We’ve donated a mid three figure sum so far this year and will likely make another.

With my PTA hat on, there are so many ways of donating to the schools that don’t cost you a penny. Many schools or PTAs are signed up to one of the online shopping clickable affiliates - Give As You Live, Easy fundraising, Amazon Smile. Go via these sites and it raises money for your charity. I do Top Cashback for my shopping, but use GAYL or Amazon Smile for those like Amazon who don’t give cashback. We’ve only 45 parents supporting us but it still raises over £250 a year - that’s enough to almost pay for our art workshop which we paid £300 for.

Lol @ jenthelibrarian. I'm a Head of RS (not RE, RS is an actual academic subject). Would it bother you more or less if i spend my budget on copies of the Quran instead of the Bible? I teach Islam and Christianity at GCSE...

Do let me know and I'll stock up in your honour with my pitiful budget next year :)

My Dd is an atheist but RS is her favourite subject (she got Grade 9 & is now doing A Level )

The academic skills she learnt studying this subject will be invaluable in life.

Happy to hear that Comefromaway! Most of my pupils are atheists, I don't know why people still see RS as a less worthy or less academic subject in this day and age. We've moved well past the era of "religious instruction" in schools. Even in church schools that do that (like my last two schools) that is part of assembly/church, not RS!

She likes the fact that the A level syllabus is quite heavy on Philosophy & Ethics.

My niece teaches elementary school in an area of deprivation the US and I've donated a few times for projects for the pupils. One was to create a reading corner I think and another for maths resources and maybe another for reading project bags for them to take home. It's on some academic version of "just giving" or "go fund me " type of thing and people can use it to make tax deductable donations. the donations are usually matched by funding from various charitable funds too. It's not just the UK or developing countries that struggle with education budgets.

We are asked for £50 pa
I haven't paid it

namechange RS is a great subject. It’s my dd’s favourite GCSE subject and she wants to do it for A Level.

Why not ave?

What a bunch of over political miseries on this thread. Just don’t complain when your child’s school cuts subjects, teachers or resources.

What a bunch of over political miseries on this thread. Just don’t complain when your child’s school cuts subjects, teachers or resources.

But surely that's partly the point. If the 'middle classes' all donate to their schools because funding isn't sufficient, what happens to the schools is poorer areas whose parents can't afford to top up?

Unless you are happy to do away with state education altogether or agree with a three tier system (private, good state + top up, underfunded failing state).

I went to a state girls grammar in the 80s, and parents were 'asked' to sign a covenant and standing order as part of the admissions procedure. Not much has changed except that more schools are doing it, I would guess. Personally I would rather commit a regular amount than have demands for cash for trip money/ fundraising events/ non uniform days/tech materials everey week.

Some posters seem to think this payment is in place of other fundraising, trips etc- it's not! We will still have those costs, plus £22.50 annual locker fee, music lessons (optional) and £30 a year to cover ingredients for home economics... they are just the ones we already know about!

@twosoups1972 - I was on a previous thread where it was suggested that schools should live within their budgets rather than relying on parental top ups. I'm still debating my position on it and as I'm not currently awash with extra cash I've decided to hold off contributing

If everyone gives at my child's school they get an extra £100K a year

Thing is though that in my experience, it is those with the most, that give the least. I've mixed with people on all levels and the ones that are most flush are the tightest.

Everyone or no one should give IMO with the exception of those who genuinely can't for whatever reason. I am not paying for others DC whilst they sit back. As said, use that money for extra stuff for your own DC to help their schooling or the school should say YOUR child needs certain things for school.

But surely that's partly the point. If the 'middle classes' all donate to their schools because funding isn't sufficient, what happens to the schools is poorer areas whose parents can't afford to top up?

That's a very poor excuse for not contributing. Yes the system isn't fair and yes we should all be thinking about the bigger picture. But not contributing to your child's school is not going to help other schools. But contributing WILL help your child's school, not just for the benefit of your child, but for ALL the children in that school, some of whom will not be able to afford to pay.

I would absolutely pay it.

@twosoups1972. It's not a 'poor' excuse. It's a valid argument. I will not give regular donations to my daughters middle class school for the very reason it enhances inequality and takes the onus off the government. Its a slippery slope, the more we pay, the more the government will get away with it. I do however, spend a significant amount of my time lobbying my MP regarding school funding. As I said previously, we wouldn't accept having to set up a direct debit to use out GP surgery but yet we don't question this. It's wrong. Education is free and should be funded fairly wherever you live and whichever family you're from.

As I said way way upthread.
I think asking for regular donations is wrong in principle.
But I would probably pay if school asked.

Actually, what we should probably all do if we can afford it, is pay donations to our school if asked, but then also pay the same sized donation to a disadvantaged school at the same time.

Or, at the next GE we could vote out this callous, cruel, self serving shower of sh1te.

But we do that already. It's called taxes. If the government need more money to fund education or healthcare then they should increase taxes or devise a supplementary fund, such as insurance that's paid centrally and shared equally amongst all hospitals and schools. Just imagine if your local hospital started asking for monthly donations. It's pretty obvious the hospital in the well off area is going to fair better than the one in the poor area. People would be up in arms, but for some reason we are walking into this one with our eyes closed. Or is it a case of 'I'm alright Jack'?

Great posts Nancy, I completely agree with you.

nancy even in a middle class school, there will be children whose parents can't afford to pay the contribution. They are losing out due to parents who refuse to pay on principle.

And why send your dd to this middle class school? You could choose to send her to a less affluent school and give them financial support.

No one is disputing that education should be free and funded fairly. But the government is not going to increase funding because a few parents refuse to contribute on principle. It's great that you are campaigning for change and I hope it will achieve something. But in the meantime I don't want my dc's education to be compromised because of a political statement.

Thing is though that in my experience, it is those with the most, that give the least. I've mixed with people on all levels and the ones that are most flush are the tightest. I would agree. Also there are those who believe in doing things for the collective good of their children's schools and those who will focus all their monies on their own. At DS's school it is the 'usual suspect' (in the minority) parents who contribute in a myriad of ways to help the school but the vast majority don't...

I also know with absolute certainty that some schools know that if they develop a culture of donations then it will keep out the riff raff.