Primary school asking for voluntary donation

[HoppingKangaroo]

My dc just started in reception class. Got a letter about a voluntary donation for reception class fund for £1 a week to be sent in with child weekly or termly. How common is this? Do most parents pay? And will there be more things to pay for on top of this - non uniform days, raffle tickets, trips or school christmas play etc? Just wondering how much everything could cost overall for the year.

We’ve never had that. It would be useful to know what it covers. I would hope classroom resources and maybe trips. I doubt it would cover children in need etc, although perhaps the money could be diverted.

Yes very common. I would imagine all state schools do this, certainly my daughters' schools and the schools I've worked at do. There are constant demands for £1 for this and donations for that, plus school trips etc but schools are desperately in need of funding and without these requests a lot of things wouldn't happen.

I've never heard of a £1 weekly donation.

I doubt it will be in place of other donations such as non school uniform days and trips etc.

Lots of schools do it because budgets are so tight. My school doesn't because I teach in an area where most families couldn't afford it. It's voluntary, so no need to pay if you can't afford it. Things like raffle tickets and non-uniform donations are also generally voluntary (we only do non-uniform donations for charity events like Children in Need). Trips usually need to be paid for but vary in price. Usually they will be at least £20 if a coach is involved.

I think this will become more common. Budgets have always been tight but are stretched to breaking point this year (or indeed have already broken)

Many Trusts are trying to find in excess of £1m to fill deficits

As someone who could afford it, I'd much rather do that than be asked to endlessly bake for bake sales. As long as it is voluntary I don't see the issue.

Ours don't

Used to be called school fund back in the day.

Fair enough Mumofsend.

I've never heard of this happening. It isn't common locally to me in the South West.

If there are school trips we pay separately.

Our primary school is in the middle of a very poor area too. Thanks for the heads up OP I guess we should prepare ourselves for school donations...

(Our school is most definitely over staffed though. Two TAs per class of 26ish and all sorts of extras like a health and wellbeing lead, two admins in the office doing their nails etc so maybe there'll be redundancies first?)

Yes it's common and I remember my mum giving money in the 90s when I was at school.

My dc school does this.

I found out it funds the "top 25" treat every term. For top 25 pupils who have 100 percent attendance. So I stopped.

Wouldn't mind if it was for resources or treats for ALL the kids but top 25 attendance pffft.

Yes our school asks for £1 donation, it is voluntary though.

Very common. Plus contributions for trips, visits, fancy dress day, non-uniform day, etc etc.

Although claimed to be ‘voluntary’ ime there are follow up reminders if you haven’t contributed.

It's not uncommon. I guess the Head will guage if it's going to be affordable for their parents.
I got into a bit of a row with one of my DD's teachers for this - they had asked for a voluntary contribution towards some baking but then excluded kids whose parents had not sent in money.
We had sent in the money but DD was upset (rightly so) by the exclusions. I said it wasn't fair if the school weren't also making it clear this would happen.
Schools are constantly struggling for resources.

We get hammered by the pta and school for lots of things but not a weekly subsidy like this.

It’s very common. Most state schools are really struggling financially at the moment; there is often literally no money for all the ‘extras’ that make school enjoyable rather than purely functional. Contributions from parents are likely to be relied on even more as the energy crisis begins to hit schools harder. Even so, a lot of schools are likely to end up in deficit.

DD has just started Reception and her school asks for £8 a term in cash to pay for craft materials etc. There’s also a maintenance fund of £40 or so a year because it’s a voluntary aided school.This is in addition to the regular contributions for trips, themed days etc.

We do this. A Reception class needs a lot of consumables that the school budget won't stretch to. The money goes on play dough ingredients, new jigsaws when the old ones are too battered, resources to enhance each topic eg farm animals or vehicles for a transport topic. It really does make a huge difference to the experiences your child has access to.

Tory Britain. If nothing changes, in 10 years there will probably be ‘voluntary fees’ of say £1k per year at some state schools to ensure your school can actually provide the basic materials and staff they actually need to deliver your child’s education.

Our school doesn't ask for a weekly donation, but does frequently ask for donations in other ways......that can be money, usually £1 for non uniform days or £5 to cover resources for Forest School. Similarly they'll ask for donations of items.....empty cartons/cereal boxes etc for crafts or an item for the tombola at the school fête. I think it's fine as long as it's clear it's voluntary. I'm happy to help but if people can't afford it, that's fine too. Luckily donations of money are via an app that the school uses so you don't know who has donated and who hasn't between parents.

Yes, DS1 is nearly 19 & his primary asked for a termly donation towards snack in reception. We paid for trips, non school uniform separately.

My kids school does. I try and donate when I can.

We used to have to pay £1 a week to cover snacks in reception.

No ours doesn't
I don't mind contributing for things like this or buying odd stuff at all.
What I can't understand however is why some schools seem to have healthy cash flows and others don't!
Aside from pta differences how on earth can there be such disparity?

Ours wasn't so formalised but yes, there were regular requests for small sums of money. We had a very active PTA who organised a lot of sales so they raised quite a lot too. I baked more while DS was at primary than at any other time. Requests for prizes too.

They used it for new sports equipment, outdoor play equipment, art supplies, the bus to swimming lessons.

I've not heard of this at primary school.

Come to think of it I think we did this at nursery (asked to take some fruit in as well) but I think it was for something in particular that made sense at the time...I can't remember!

Our school very rarely ask for anything but I do try to spend plenty at the fete etc as I know they must need the money. School trips definitely on top.