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?

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

That goes for everyone in fact - if you don't like your school's approach to fundraising, why dont you join the PTA, then you can see where the money is needed and how its spent, and perhaps you can find another way to raise the money that doesnt involve badgering parents.

Do let us know how that works out for you.

My youngest attends a school that has no PTA. Their approach to fundraising is excellent and the school does not suffer from lack of a PTA. All the things people insist are only possible thanks to PTAs seem to happen. So, perhaps parents of children at a school with a PTA who don't like the current approach to fundraising could ask school to assess whether the PTA is actually needed?

True, we get a once a year ask to be in the hundred club, that's it. Non-uniform days are for other charities which I am much more inclined to feel like I want to support than a lot of the vanity projects I have seen primary schools frisk you for money for.

Older DCs secondary schools seem to have read the room a bit on the ostentatiousness of trips, thankfully. But younger DCs primary PTA is run by people oblivious to how difficult people are finding it, even this year.

This is my ninth year of having eldest DC in school system. It's just money all the time. It's exhausting. I have actually suggested a one off payment for those of us that can afford to do this but the deputy head I spoke to on the phone about this said this has been previously discussed at management level and decided it wasn't inclusive so abandoned this approach.

Such a pity. It could save a lot of stress. £50 or £100 payment would have been ideal.

Schools are terribly underfunded. Covid costs have only added to that. Cleaning, Ppe, soap etc. Not to mention the extra welfare support some of the children (and staff) need.
PTAs have struggled to fundraiser for their school, meaning that lots of the extras usually funded by the pta are either missing or being bought by staff.
It's frustrating to be constantly asked for money, but unfortunately the schools need it.

One suggestion I have for those who have the skills and time - please join the pta and lobby them to sign up to one of the free websites that have the capability to take bookings for events, sign up volunteers for the fairs, take payments for disco tickets and give the option of electronic donations. Honestly, once your school has this facility, you'll wonder how and why you ever coped before.

Big budget cuts, additional costs due to Covid that have not be covered by anyone, standard PTA fundraising activities (e.g. Christmas fairs) not able to go ahead.

I've seen a comment ahove about free school meals and the school then receiving an additional pupil premium payment. I didnt realise that. Do they need to use that money to directly help the child they got it for? Or does it get put into the normal budget? Ive just been give free school meals due to covid cutting my earnings to a third of what they were, but I cant think of anything extra the school would need to provide for my kids. Cant they just use it to buy books or something?

@WhereverIGoddamnLike

I've seen a comment ahove about free school meals and the school then receiving an additional pupil premium payment. I didnt realise that. Do they need to use that money to directly help the child they got it for? Or does it get put into the normal budget? Ive just been give free school meals due to covid cutting my earnings to a third of what they were, but I cant think of anything extra the school would need to provide for my kids. Cant they just use it to buy books or something?

The pupil premium allocation is for that pupil. There's usually a member of staff in school who oversees the spending and provision (usually a deputy/assistant head or the SENCo/INCO) and you could ask for information about how your child pupil premium has been used. It should be being used to benefit your child, although other children may also benefit (e.g. a small group intervention)

@LemonRedwood it isn't ring-fenced for individual children. They could for example fund maths booster classes but a certain PP child doesn't need it so doesn't benefit from it. Its allocated for the group as a whole.

I'm being made redundant in the new year along with a couple of my colleagues because of budget cuts so yes, schools have no money.

I completely agree @blowinahoolie I wouldn’t mind paying the whole amount at once instead of 1-2-3£ each time.

It feels as if they think that either we are stupid and won’t realize how much we are paying if done in small increments or that we lack budgeting skills and wouldn’t be able to pay a one off sum so it needs to be spread.

I haven't rtwt but I went to school in the 70s and we had to donate weekly/monthly/annually to the School Fund. So it's nothing new.

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

It's an unpopular opinion on mumsnet, but I agree with you @Namechangeforthis111.

My Tory-voting SIL and her DH were disgusted by constant begging letters and the lack of equipment, books and basic supplies at the local comp. They cannot see any connection between their voting and the lack of funding.

They opted to send their 2 youngest to an independent school and are now paying £6k per child, per term.The comp could probably have done a lot with that extra £36k a year.

My son went to two primary schools. The first asked for money every single week. If you didn’t bring it in you had to explain why and the teaching assistant would chase you in front of other parents. I was going to the food bank for some of that time and it was awful. His second school asked occasionally but never minded if we couldn’t afford it. By then I was able to contribute but I’ll never forget the utter horror of that first school. I felt constantly shamed. Just evil!

What I found uncomfortable was the fact that the PTA/school are recording the data about who donates. The recent fundraiser was reported as successful and someone had worked out which tutor group's parent had bought the most tickets, which house etc.
I had no idea that my lack of donations would be recorded and noted.

not 'parent' singular - that should have been 'parents'!

@Namechangeforthis111

I'm very sorry; I wasnt expecting a global pandemic which would stop my income for several months. I also didnt plan for their father to up and leave for another woman so I had to afford them all by myself. I actually was doing pretty well until this covid stuff hit, and I've managed to not fall behind on any bills, my kids have got amazing xmas gifts, they still attend the sports clubs which have carried on running. I'm just about staying afloat, but being asked for £10 a week for each kid for school crap is enough to tip things over the edge. I'm so sorry if this pandemic has made me have too many children, what would you like me to do? Put one of them back in?

Well ours ask fairly often and it’s hard to fulfill every request but if I won the lottery I’d give them a mountain of money because I really truly love the school. The teachers have been incredible during the last months, and they’ve managed to keep the Christmas magic alive for the children despite being in an area with very concerning coronavirus numbers.

The Tory government are persistently cutting funding towards education and schools. It seems as if they are trying to keep their funds topped up incase of another cut which may result department closures or discontinuing extra curricular activities and so on.

@NewModelArmyMayhem18

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.

The PTA mostly do know that. But you can't only ask the rich parents to attend events or to donate for things. It's a horrible state of affairs really that the funding is so bad that contributions have to be so high and not a token 20p for example.

You can't win. I wouldn't chair a pta ever again. I'd rather stick a standing order in for what I can afford and leave other people to do what they can privately. It all becomes so divisive and uncomfortable. Even with the best of intentions.

My DS is now in Y8 but I also experienced this when he was at Primary school! There was always something 🙄 His school were constantly adding things like outbuildings and totally revamping their library but I felt under pressure all the time.

Haven’t schools always been like that? People have a choice, if you can’t afford to contribute don’t worry

Schools have had their budget cuts. If they have a wealthy parent base it absolutely makes sense to try and get donations. There shouldn't be pressure on those who can't afford it though.

This is nothing new our kids left school years ago and we often joked it would be easier to set up a regular direct debit than fishing around for money for this and that

My children now adults, but we had stuff useful for schools (tutor business shutting) and got in touch with 3 local schools offering (for example) 500 excercise books. One school got back to us and lovely chap came to collect. He said they’d lost over £30,000 in ‘extra’ school income from not being able to hire out hall etc for various events(covid). So not really surprised that the hand is always out.
When we were PTA members, always used to amaze me how some parents reacted to being asked to support the school (ie their child’s education). This was a state selective grammar school with most parents in professional occupations. It seemed to me that themore the parent earned, the less interest they took in school affairs, and the less support (financial or otherwise) they offered.