School constantly asking for money

[abitofpeace]

Just wondering how it is in other people’s primary schools. Ours is constantly asking for money. Usually raffle tickets, etc but more recently some of the parents are selling stuff through the school and giving the profits to the school. It feels like everyday they ask for something!

There is also a monthly (optional) direct debit if parents want to pay regular. Are finances so bad that thee government need such a large boost?

@glitterelf

I normally happily donate however the requests have been excessive since September and lots of parents are struggling more so now more than ever. Many working parents have been hit hard this year and that also needs to be thought about. Our school is shit with communication especially giving parents notice of upcoming events like the the Christmas jumper day which was sprung on parents 4 days beforehand. We had the privilege of paying a £1 to wear the jumper on top of school uniform whereas if they had said Christmas clothes lots of parents could've cobbled something together out of normal clothes meaning they didn't have to go out and spend. I'm not in a position right now to donate like I normally would and I know lots of other parents are in the same situation.

For Christmas jumper day loads of us just pinned a Christmas decoration onto a normal jumper - you don't have to buy a new jumper!! Also the £1 is for charity not the school.

@PizzaForOne

One solution to this. Never vote Tory

100% agree with this

Firstly - these are all requests for donations. They are not invoices to pay. If you can't afford it, grow a thick skin and ignore the requests. Believe me, plenty do (and not just those that can't afford it).

Secondly - while some schools might be better at managing budgets and applying for schemes and grants which bring in more money (my primary is very good at this so, incredibly, has run a surplus for the last couple of years), the bottom line is that funding for schools is appalling and - I think - has not increased at all in real terms for ten years. Ten years! So effectively it's decreased over that time taking into account inflation. Your anger should be directed at the government who have repeatedly refused to pay properly for 93% of this country's schoolchildren. That is the outrage, not the PTA asking for £1 to help with Christmas parties for the children.

Thirdly - the PTA should be producing accounts each year for what has been raised, and where it has either been spent or is being allocated for a future year. If these accounts aren't published to parents, you should ask to see them. You'd be surprised the weight the PTA has in funding the extras for schools, and you'll see it doesn't go to lining pockets, or putting in luxury loos for staff. If it is, that's a corrupt PTA you have which is a separate issue.

Support your schools to the best of your ability. If you can't, that's fine. But if you can afford to bung a pound here and there into their horrible meagre coffers, do it. It directly benefits your own children.

Schools are hugely underfunded and very very few parents are prepared to stump up any money to pay for the materials to educate their own children. They probably have to ask 20 times to get most people to.part with even a tenner for a school trip.

@Wishihadanalgorithm

Schools are struggling but so are parents. I would be tempted to contact the school and say the constant requests are upsetting and can they limit them. Better still, present a calendar at the start of each term with each fund raising activity on it so you can plan to contribute or not, in advance.

Just ignore the requests. Why do we constantly have to make our own sensitivities someone else's problem? The school needs money. Lots of parents will respond to the requests by donating and this is a good thing for the school and your own children. Why would you tell the school to limit the requests because you personally find them "upsetting"? Just ignore them!

If wealthy parents want to support school financially to the benefit of all children, I’m all for it! I give what I can and though I can’t afford to give what some do, I help in other ways like going on trips and hearing readers etc so I don’t feel bad. They can ask, you don’t have to give and no one really expect you to. It’s just that lots of people can and they do, so these appeals for money raise lots. PTAs round me frequently raise over 25k in a year and all the children read the books, use the tech etc

I am happy to contribute (and am fortunate enough to be able to afford to) when requests are made that actually relate to a school cost or activity. Along with numerous other Christmas activities that we pay for e.g. school disco (obviously not running this year)our school to do secret santa @ £5 per child and send a name and present list home with the children! This is on top of the voluntary teacher presents & its just an expensive hassle. I know it was well intentioned but really awful for people on low incomes or who don't celebrate Christmas. Please any teachers / schools reading this - there is no need for secret santas for primary school children.

I’m not just talking about a £1 here and there and a tenner every so often. It is excessive the amounts they ask, for anyone on a low budget. Surely, a headteacher photographed with the child and parent IS showing favour to that child. It’s not just encouraging fundraising competition.

Yes I am outraged at the government and their underfunding of schools. However, the result of this is an insidious drip drip of favouritism

Happy for wealthy parents to support and contribute but this shouldn’t be seen as any better or worse than someone who can only give a small amount.

Schools finances have been trashed lately but the answer is not some glorified whip round but to use our democratic power to elect governments that value our children's education.

Not bloody handbag sales and constant pestering.

@abitofpeace

I’m not just talking about a £1 here and there and a tenner every so often. It is excessive the amounts they ask, for anyone on a low budget. Surely, a headteacher photographed with the child and parent IS showing favour to that child. It’s not just encouraging fundraising competition.

Yes I am outraged at the government and their underfunding of schools. However, the result of this is an insidious drip drip of favouritism

But the bottom line is that the schools need the money. Parents are donating. Would you really rather they stopped asking for money and lost the money that many parents are happy and able to give to avoid upsetting those that can't? That money isn't coming from anywhere else. There's no alternative source of cash. It directly benefits your children and the loss of it will negatively impact them too.

I hate this. I dread going to nursery. They hassle you to buy the crap the kids have made. Ten bloody pounds they’re asking for a couple of drawings and not just asking but mentioning it every pick up and drop off. Saying ‘it’s so so sad’ I’ve not bought them. I don’t have a tenners to throw away just before Christmas. And it’s dishonest: rather than pretend I want to buy kids scribbles just demand 10 pounds protection money.

@abitofpeace

I’m not just talking about a £1 here and there and a tenner every so often. It is excessive the amounts they ask, for anyone on a low budget. Surely, a headteacher photographed with the child and parent IS showing favour to that child. It’s not just encouraging fundraising competition.

Yes I am outraged at the government and their underfunding of schools. However, the result of this is an insidious drip drip of favouritism

It’s no more favouritism as having a photo with reader of the week or a kid who did a good deed or a sporting victor

Unless the child is actively benefitting in some way then it’s not favouritism.

Our school seems to be reasonably funded compared with many, in terms of its facilities. We also get the £1 here, enter this competition there stuff, but this term they have had to ask twice for donations of liquid soap. Now, I have no problem donating a couple of bottles of hand wash, but I am honestly shocked that in the current climate they have to ask for soap donations.

As per previous: don’t vote Tory. (Autocorrect just turned that into “don’t bite Tory .) But we live in a die-hard Tory area despite the school having a very socially mixed catchment area.

I think PTAs can sometimes go into overdrive in their money-making ventures. All with the best of intentions but as most PTA members come from comfortably off Middle-Class backgrounds they just don't understand how the constant demands for cash are not always welcomed.

It has been refreshing since the DC went to secondary school how much less frequent these requests for money are.

@snowballer

Firstly - these are all requests for donations. They are not invoices to pay. If you can't afford it, grow a thick skin and ignore the requests. Believe me, plenty do (and not just those that can't afford it).

Secondly - while some schools might be better at managing budgets and applying for schemes and grants which bring in more money (my primary is very good at this so, incredibly, has run a surplus for the last couple of years), the bottom line is that funding for schools is appalling and - I think - has not increased at all in real terms for ten years. Ten years! So effectively it's decreased over that time taking into account inflation. Your anger should be directed at the government who have repeatedly refused to pay properly for 93% of this country's schoolchildren. That is the outrage, not the PTA asking for £1 to help with Christmas parties for the children.

Thirdly - the PTA should be producing accounts each year for what has been raised, and where it has either been spent or is being allocated for a future year. If these accounts aren't published to parents, you should ask to see them. You'd be surprised the weight the PTA has in funding the extras for schools, and you'll see it doesn't go to lining pockets, or putting in luxury loos for staff. If it is, that's a corrupt PTA you have which is a separate issue.

Support your schools to the best of your ability. If you can't, that's fine. But if you can afford to bung a pound here and there into their horrible meagre coffers, do it. It directly benefits your own children.

...how can you say 'grow a thicker skin' to those worrying about making contributions then further down clearly display judgement of those who don't. This is what causes anxiety for many, many parents in some schools.

You don't know the financial position of any parent. Perhaps better not to judge?

Generally the requests are to do something nice like a film night, trip or non uniform day. Or to fund something that the school really needs.

Our school has massively cut back on these extra curricular things (even before Covid) presumably because of complaints from parents. I think it’s a shame as my youngest has not done half of the things that my elder 2 did (trips/residentials etc).

I agree funding needs to be higher, but feel like a pound here or there or £10 for a trip isn’t a lot to ask if it enhances the school experience.

From reading this thread and many others it feels like some people have way more children than they can comfortably afford.

There are threads like this on MN every week since I've been here (2002) so I don't think it's a new problem. £120/month is a new extreme, mind.

@orangecinnamon

Eh? Where did I display judgment of those that don't?

What helped in our school to increase fundraising was total transparency of the PTA.

We had a school newsletter each months where the PTA clearly stated how much was raised and how much was spent on what. The funds are not going directly to the school, the head gives them a wish list and the PTA then pays for specific items.

The PTA was one of the least clique ones I have seen, happy to talk to parents and get people involved, took criticism on board and was open for changes.

And playground equipment was one year part of it, it was agreeed that good equipment means children are using breaks to let of steam, be active and hence more relaxed and engaging in the following lessons.

I must volunteer for the 'wrong' PTAs.
... Both the PTAs I was involved with did a huge amount of work but struggled to reach the £5k threshold needed to get ... certain benefits(?!), can't remember what, but let's you register with charity commission or Just Giving. Big schools, 330 primary, 1200 secondary (in a posh town).

School 1 is running a fund-raiser where we the PTA are beneficiaries -- almost immediately funds raised will go to a family hardship fund. Our PTA routinely donates to that fund at Christmas time, but this year we struggled to raise any money & our coffers are right down.

Mostly I have no idea why they are constantly in need of money.The parents are hugely wealthy (I’m not btw) and seem to be always giving a lot of money to the school. Some parents approach large shops and ask for them to give free stuff to the school.

It could be a business strategy then. Yes, funding has been cut, but there have also always been schools who like asking for money. At the most extreme end, those rich public schools whose new libraries get funded by parents/former students. If the school has wealthy parents who want to give their money away and the school is happy to take it, let them. Your dc's will benefit from the results. Just do what you feel comfortable with.

Its voluntary. Shrug and ignore

Is this an Independent school?

I’m in Scotland but this is a really useful resource -- cpag.org.uk/scotland/CoSD/toolkit - we (parent council) have shared with school and supported them to make changes - like planning requests for money throughout the year and giving advance warning, having a sliding ‘pay what you can afford’ button on parent pay, easy routes to ask for help. We have also made changes to social activities - we sell tokens in advance so the school can give those to families who need them and it doesn’t mark them out on the day. We have normalised second hand uniform and sharing resources etc. I guess my point is that will a bit of parental action you can make changes