To thinks schools can’t be that short of money then?

[AwakeNotAwoke]

DD has just had a wonderful week attending her soon to be secondary school’s summer school.

I was very surprised that the 200+ kids who attended were given -

a free trip to a theme park(including travel)
free water bottles (expensive metal ones)
free stationery sets and pencil cases
free lunches everyday
a BBQ with an ice cream van on site (all free)

They were also given a good quality t shirt and a hoodie embroidered with the name of school and ‘summer school 2021’ so won’t be worn again

I’m not knocking it at all. It was an excellent way to introduce the DC to the school and DD is really looking forward to starting next month but I’m surprised that the school had so much money to throw around when we’re constantly being told how underfunded they are .

Even the extra embroidery on the t shirt and hoodie would have cost a lot when they could have left the ‘summer school 2021’ off and said they could be used as part of the PE kit. As it is the mandatory PE top is in the same material but a different colour and costs £22!

AIBU to think this was rather a waste?

@Notebooksarefabulous

Extra funding maybe but the things the op has listed must have cost a HUGE amount per pupil. Surely far more than the extra funding?

Plus the ridiculous environmental waste with the hoodies and t shirts.

Nope. Extra funding. Put it this way, the school would not have taken money from a different pot, so it would have been the summer school pot.

Funding was £597 per pupil for up to 50% of the year 7 cohort. Schools had to submit their plans by 30 June and in order to claim they have to show that a place was made available, not necessarily that the student attended.

FWIW my head just said no chance, she wasn't asking staff to organise that at the same time as doing CAGs for exam results and even if she didn't work in the summer school herself the fact that students were in school would have meant she was on duty and she really needed a proper break, as did the staff.

The school will have been given special funding for that. Mine was, we are also running summer school.

But they should have spent the money on more staff so the kids could have smaller group teaching. This was about welcoming them, yes, but also addressing their learning gaps. They don't need hoodies they'll outgrow by xmas!!!

Just come back to this thread. I’m not complaining at all about the programme for the DC. It was very well put together and the DC seemed to thoroughly enjoy it and have a positive view about starting in September.

Yes, @Demelza82, I’m probably not the brightest but I think there would be a better use of the best part of £8k, and that’s just for the 200+ hoodies and T-shirt’s with embroidery which I’d put at no less than £40 for each child, which will rarely be worn again and can’t be used practically as part of the uniform. The supplier must have done well!

I wasn’t aware that the school couldn’t use the money for anything else, so thanks for educating me.

The summer school was open to all year 7s not just underachievers. Not a particularly deprived area either and we are in the South East. The school is Outstanding, has a very good reputation and has run a summer school every year, before Covid.

I think there would be a better use of the best part of £8k, and that’s just for the 200+ hoodies and T-shirt’s with embroidery which I’d put at no less than £40 for each child, which will rarely be worn again and can’t be used practically as part of the uniform. The supplier must have done well!

You’ll probably find they cost much less than that.

Suppliers know that things like that are good “in”. For example the company that donated leavers hoodies to DS1’s year group for cost price has since picked up orders annually from a local dance group and football club, a couple of times from the playscheme I run, and every year since for leavers hoodies (each time being a wee bit more expensive) just based on “what was that company that did those lovely hoodies when they kids got let down?”

Loads of people locally are buying back to school stationery from the shop that donated loads when the kids went back after lockdown. Even though a lot of it is overpriced crap.

I can't believe kids are getting free ipads, at ds school they don't even have enough laptops for SEN pupils who need them for written work, ds was lucky & got a grant for one through his Young Carers group which will take him through his Alevels & he can get a disabled students grant for a suitable one for university.

YANBU to think that there was waste, but in general school budgets have been short for years. There is also a great difference in the levels of funding per school.

We have only a small group of students in, which of course would have affected funding amount if it's X amount per student.

Our provision is certainly vastly different from some of the clearly highly funded schools in here but we are also in what's considered to be a very deprived rural area.

We've opted to 'buy in' activities from groups - eg city football club running a multi sports day, kids charitable organisation bringing in a well resourced coding programme, plus trip to local outdoor activity centre where the kids still get that fun aspect but the learning is built in - eg teamwork to build a raft, rather than chucking them into a theme park to run riot for the day.

As I said, different schools will have different approaches. I know which areas my school have let the kids down in but I also think the provision they have bought in, alongside the department organisers activities, has been well thought out to give the kids an enriching experience that they are actively participating in.

And again, when you've only got a small group of, say 30 students attending, our funding would reflect that.