Aibu to not want to fill a smarties tube with £1 coins

[Invisimamma]

This will be outing if any parents from my child's school are on here...

Both children came home from school and nursery today with a tube of smarties each as a gift from the PTA with instructions to eat them and fill the tube with £1 coins or 20p, letter specifically states not coppers or 5/10ps. Apparently the tube will hold £12 of 20pences.

There will be a prize for the class who brings back the most money.

Now I have a few issues with this:

1. my friends child has a diary allergy was really upset he can't eat his treat (she didn't know this was happening so couldn't provide an alternative)
2. we still have lots of Easter chocolate and don't need more
3. dp and I both work but childcare and other costs are crippling us at the moment and we're skint, an extra £24 is really beyond us just now
4. we've just paid £46 snack money to nursery and £12 for a school trip for one and £8 for a trip for another (amongst lots of other recent school costs)
5. does anyone even has coins lying around the house anymore? I use contactless payment for almost everything and don't draw out cash.

The children have been hyped up about it and both have said they need to raise money for the school. I guess I'm feeling guilty that we're not in a position to participate/it's a pain in the arse idea.

Stuff it full of monopoly money. CFs

Just don't participate if you can't afford to. I am in the US and we get asked directly to give $300 per child at the start of the year and if you don't donate you don't get your yard sign- neighboring district ask for 2 k per family. Again no pay no lawn sign. Some years we pay some years we don't but no one should give money if it leaves them short. The fundraisers have their agenda to raise money and they may not think how it impacts you.

It's very out of touch with what's going on at the moment with many families struggling with the soaring prices of pretty much everything. I'd either ignore or fill with coppers (assuming they don't open them to count in class). I don't like the way the school has hyped the kids up about it and made it a competition, it's pretty tasteless.

@nat94 you do realise that "only" £12 is a lot to someone who is living month to month without any spare cash? "Only" £12 becomes £24 when you have 2 children and so on. It's rather crass to write it's "only".

Goodness, I teach in a deprived area and we could never ask our parents to do this. I agree that the government should fund all schools fairly but things like this make me realise how much extra schools in deprived areas are probably missing out on because we can't rely on additional donations from parents or an active PTA.

@raspberryjamchicken schools in a deprived area would be uplifted somewhat by pupil premium though, so the school gets extra funding for those kids from very low income families. Our kids school has a very low % of pupil premium kids so they have to raise more money, usually by similar silly activities where you are just handing over cash every few weeks!

Not a zombie thread - @beefcurry refreshed it as it's happening to them now

@Bookescapeartist

Just don't participate if you can't afford to. I am in the US and we get asked directly to give $300 per child at the start of the year and if you don't donate you don't get your yard sign- neighboring district ask for 2 k per family. Again no pay no lawn sign. Some years we pay some years we don't but no one should give money if it leaves them short. The fundraisers have their agenda to raise money and they may not think how it impacts you.

I’ve never heard of this before. Is it a lawn sign saying what school your child goes to that you get?

why not start your own thread @beefcurry?

this is a zombie thread

zombie

I think no it’s outrageous that children are effectively being used to beg cash for their education whereas we have voted in the successive governments that have destroyed primary educational .I would deeply resent my children being used in this way

schools in a deprived area would be uplifted somewhat by pupil premium though
But then this money is used to make kids opportunities more equal and for essentials, so they still miss out on the added extras that the fundraising is for. I’m a teacher and I couldn’t afford to be filling tubes so I wouldn’t feel comfortable asking my class!

I teach in a school with a population that is very mixed in terms of affluence. Not many of our pupils qualify for pupil premium, yet we keep in mind that we do not always know the financial situations of our families. We are incredibly conscious of ‘poverty proofing’ everything we possibly can. For example if we have a dress down day pupils are told they can all dress down and that donations are optional. Our parent council are allowed to fund raise but everything must be optional and everyone included with or without donating.

We have very strict restrictions on asking for money for any event. We are lucky that as an inner city school, we can walk to lots of interesting museums and historic sites for free.

We know it's a zombie thread. But the point still stands. It's shocking that a) schools aren't properly funded and b) pressure is put on families.
I remember filling smartie tubes with pennies with my mum for a charity she was involved with back in the 80s, but the idea was that you had time to do it, and the pennies were loose change after shopping.
Pressing families for £12 was appalling in 2019 and it's still appalling now!

Yanbu my DD has to dress up as something “spring themed” EVERY DAY next week for preschool 🤯 after world book day & Red Nose Day and we’ve also been asked to donate money for the Easter raffle. It’s all too much - I couldn’t afford £12 at the moment.
I’d just fill it up with 5ps/10ps and not even worry if it’s only half full. Your child is nursery age and will never know x

Just realised this is zombie. Oh well it’s still true I guess 😅

So sorry for you and your children. I hated sponsored events when I was at school because my parents couldn’t give much, I had no local relatives and my mum wouldn’t let me ask neighbours we didn’t know, so I always had much less than almost everyone else, or at least that’s how it felt.

@Nat94

It is is a bit cheeky telling you how much to give but its only £12 at the end of the day.

only £12.

You have no idea. And that's the problem.

Honestly id write a letter to the head teacher explaining that you feel its thoughtless,
Given the pressure on families over the past couple of years with covid, and now the extortionate rises in cost of living, yet the PTA has asked for such a large amount, and the children are really excited to raise this money. It will be divisive for some students.

Whilst you want to support the school, but the expectation of £24 at once is a huge ask, and unfair to place on families.

My son’s school does this but there’s absolutely no expectation to fill the tube. Children are encouraged to earn 20ps to put in the tube. I think the most we’ve ever done is about £2.

I saw that this was a zombie and thought ‘oh well, at least PTAs should have a bit more sensitivity with everything that has happened since 2019 and this won’t be happening any more.’ Then I saw @beefcurry’s update. How tone-deaf of the committee.

This really isn’t right, it’s coercion, the kids whose parents can’t afford it are going to feel awful. It’s not fundraising, I would actually email the pta and point that out.

Think I'd just put a few 20 pence in e.g. 3, and send it in.

I added on my comment on the zombie thread as a regular mumsnet reader I frequently see people saying... there's loads of posts about this any need to start another, plus I added in my post that I realised it was old.

It's not "just" twelve pounds. It's £24 to me as I've two children in the school. Not going to go on about my circumstances but that is ALOT to me personally just to give away.
I'm more aibu with the lack of manners from the PTA, the expectation without any thought or a please or thankyou.