to be seriously annoyed that dd's school are charging parents 4 quid PER ADULT to see our own children in the Christmas play?!!

[YeahBut]

And not even (as far as I can tell from the flyer) to raise money for charity. Actually, if they were raising money for charity, I'd prefer it if we were asked to make a contribution if possible when we went along.
I just think it's such a cheek and bordering on emotional blackmail! I'm hardly likely to turn round to dd and say, "Sorry dear, on principle I'm not coming along to see you in the play."

we charge parents to come to productions, not £4 a head though. As a teacher I pay to see kids productions! If there is a financial reason that parents can't pay we would just let them in though.

We give half to charity and half to fund next future productions, without that money they just wouldn't happen.

£4 seems a bit steep. We get charged £1 but I think that might be for materials used in the production. They sometimes do a collection for a school in Africa they have links with as well though but of course that is optional.

My dd is giving a concert with the local authority clarinet band and we have to pay £6 per ticket. I think that most organisations will charge as there will be expenses such as caretaker time, copywrite fees for the use of music/scripts and possibly the hire of the school hall out of hours.

Can I point out that dd is at a (not cheap!) fee-paying school and so I don't think that they are struggling for cash.

Maybe this is how they mke money to put on a farily lavish production? No harm in you politely asking what the money is put towards. Might make you more (or less) likely to want to pay.

Twinset - you are a fool to pay to go to work!

Yeahbut - I have every sympathy. You are already paying twice for your child's education, once through taxes and then the school fees. It's outrageous. Private schools often charge over the odds for things. Eg I knew a school that charged £25 for a half hour piano lesson to a beginner! Indefensable profiteering.

My dc's school asks for a voluntary donation towards copyright fees etc and I think that's the way it should be.

Don't private schools charge more for everything though?

I would be pissed off to be honest. So what if you can't afford it? Are you not allowed to go?

I have no objection to being asked to donate towards the cost of copyright fees or to a chosen charity. It's the "If you don't cough up this random amount, you can't see your own child in the Christmas Play" element of it.

Elasticwoman - I am not a fool thankyou and only pay as I know funds are short and I won't miss a few pounds.

I rarely pay anymore as I am often backstage doing make up but if I am not I take my family along and we pay.

We are a state school that really struggles for cash.

As I said above if a family could not afford to go we would just give them tickets.

If we did not charge the events would not happen as simple as that or teachers would be paying out of their pocket for something else.

OK Twinset, for fool read "overly generous". So the school is short of funds - why should you be expected to sub them? This is your living.

Why would teachers be paying for something else out of their own pocket if the production did not happen? I don't understand what you're getting at there.

We go to see our kids in assembly, in plays and for Harvest but never have to pay.

Teachers in school short of money regulary pay for things outof their own pocket. Whether it be pens and pencils or rewards.

I agree I should not be expected to sub my school but I will also not see the children I see go without the things they need.

There was an article in a paper a few years ago about the extent to which teachers subsidise their classes.

I am not wording my posts clear, my brain is mush due to a day writing reports and marking. What I meant to say was that if we did not charge entrance for productions they would need to be funded somehow. I our school the Christas show builds up a pot of money to be used at the summer show and so on. If that money was not there the shows would not happen or teachers would be paying for things.

I don't know about DS1's secondary school, but I know that at DS2+3's primary school, several teachers, TAs, the admin, the Head and the governors, as well as the parents, put their hands in their pockets often to subsidise the school.

We're not charged to attend the play though, but there is a raffle on the way in, and a collection on the way out, usually shared between school funds and a specific charity.

TBH I think the state education system relies on teachers being overly genourous with their time, money and at times their wellbeing. At times it pisses me off and I consider leaving and at other times I think you can only make a change from within.

I agree. I know the Head spends far too much of his so-called holidays at school, and his wife gets dragged in to do all sorts, and several of the staff (eg teach + her partner - one of the admin staff) do loads of extra work.

The other admin spends her other days in class as a parent-helper (worked wonders on the costumes at last year's Christmas play).

And I know the Chair of Governors spends a lot of hours in school too - and not just in meetings, on top of his full-time shiftwork job, and often has his hand in his pocket (I know, cos I'm married to him, lol).

Yes my dp is in school regularly doing my displays, filing he has also written a lot of the spreadsheets I use as my markbooks or to track my yeargroup.

Would it be very controversial if I said if you can afford private school fees you can afford 4 quid for a Christmas show? Yes, I thought it would be....maybe I won't say it then!

lol seeker.

seeker its not whether you CAN afford it but the principle. At up to £9000 a year for primary schooling, I can't imagine what a few hundred quid raised at a nativity can be needed for?

Outrageous profiteering especially as there's nothing you can do except a)not go and upset your child or b)withdraw child...and upset your child !!!!

Yous hould launch a protest, get the mums to all send letters.

up the revolution!

It's the thin end of the wedge. Once they've established charging, then there's no reason to stop it or reduce it.

Mind my old HT was a past master at extracting money from parents 'for new school curtains'. He used to strategically place infant children with large bowls, salted with 50ps or pound notes (this was late 70s/early 80s) on the way out from school plays. He was well-known for it. Strangely enough, his foibles are still spoken of affectionally since he was a damned good teacher. I guess the school are just being upfront and pointing out that things do cost money to run. £4 seems a bit steep though - £2 would be nearer the mark IMO.

But if your send your child to a business to be educated, surely you expect to pay for all elements of it? You don't pay for the bread and not the butter when you go to Tescos, do you?