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.

LampLighter414 · Today 09:00
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.

@LampLighter414 Both my daughters went through the whole of Primary school under a Labour government and we paid a voluntary £8 per year per pupil to cover arts and crafts costs as the school couldn’t afford it.

Ours is requested via parent pay so it's anonymous in a sense. Sometimes I pay the £10 a term, sometimes I don't.

The PTA is also very active and raises funds which not only go towards the "nice" extras but increasingly things that should be funded by school, like updating library books, contributions towards rotten playground equipment and even railings.

Not sure why our school is so short of funds but the building is increasingly decrepit due to age which I imagine takes a fair amount of patching.

There is no legal obligaiton to pay so just don't pay if you don't want to or cannot afford to do so.

My kids are teens and it was £1 a week then too. It went on extra resources like glue sticks, paint...

It is voluntary so you don't have to pay but as my kids benefitted and the school were clear about what it was for, I felt more comfortable paying that than some of the more random requests that they've sent.

Which should highlight how bad things are now then given that per pupil funding under the Tory government is STILL under the 2010 levels of the last Labour government in real terms. If the school couldn't afford resources then, they definitely can't now.

This isnt new. My dd is in high school and the school has asked for £25 per pupil each year since she started. This is to plug funding gap due to being a VA school. On top of that there are PTA requests for money and/or food. Harvest festival - more food. Christmas fayre -
you make food and wine donations then buy them back. It is constant.

Our school asks for £1 a week, it covers snack and baking.

Teacher here. Never done this at our school.

I've never heard of this, never been asked at any if my DC's schools. It must vary by area. I wouldn't be surprised to be asked though with school funding as it is.

That’s what we get too - there’s voluntary and there’s “voluntary”. Our school very much works on the latter - the emotional blackmail is strong.

we don’t get asked for regular funding, but there are many many things through the school that everyone is expected to voluntarily do - but when a trip to somewhere free costs £12.50 and a trip to somewhere with a £7 per child entrance fee ( schools discount) costs £15.50 you do start querying exactly what they do with it all.

We were asked for a donation of £10 per month in primary school.

I never paid it as I couldn’t afford it.

Of course I could have just answered myself there 🤣🤣 they told us it was £8 for the coach that day and they couldn’t refund us that ( a whole load tested positive for Covid at the weekend so couldn’t go to school) but they’d give us back the remainder if we wanted it.

most of the money raised seems to go towards trips for the year 6 pupils rather than on anything for the various year groups raising it, I think I’d be more inclined to give more if I thought our class were the ones benefiting from it.

think I’d prefer a set amount per term “voluntary” !

Yes I remember there being a school fund at my school in the 80s. The DDs current school don't do a school fund, instead we get lots of requests for specified items. If you don't pay for a snack or milk your child doesn't get them. Fair enough and we sometime opt out because ours dont want what was on offer. But if you don't pay for a school experience or trip, the whole thing is cancelled - this is hardly what I would consider voluntary. Quite apart from finances there are so many messages it is hard to keep on top of it all and the school has historically been really rubbish at doing timely communications. Requests to send your child in dressed as XYZ or whatever have been known to occur with less than 24 hours notice.

I would prefer it if we went back to a school fund as that is easier to budget for and organise. As for all the wretched mufti days I would prefer to donate all our random outfits after use so that next year there was a collection of outfits for children whos parents could not afford it or had not organised an outfit in time.

One of the TAs might well be for a named child with SEN who the LA fund.

When DD started secondary I noticed a £40 "voluntary contribution" on her ParentPay. We didn't pay it. But over the past few years we have had to pay for certain textbooks, exercise books, and art materials.

All schools must be able to account for all of the costs related to a trip and how the end cost per child has been calculated. This information is freely available to any parent who requests it. Schools is not allowed make money on what is "charged" for a trip. In most cases, because a small number of parents don't pay, the school actually loses money on each trip.

That not allowed.
Fruit is free to all children.

They cant ask for any money that supports the core curriculum.

Oh yes, It gets worse & is constantly ongoing. Not always money.. sometimes kids are told that they MUST bring buns to sell for charity - which the teachers eat in the staff room, at least at the school where my sis worked. (Just TOO much going on, she left, disgusted, in the end.)
Happiest day of my life, when my youngest finally left school.

@Trudij123 oh you obviously haven't seen how much a coach costs and insurance! That's the problem even a free visit isn't free. We try and keep trips as low as possible, the money doesn't go elsewhere. Please don't spread this nonsense or school trips will stop completely.

@Trudij123 sorry just seen your 2nd post 🤣

@BrokenMatress we paid snack as it covered biscuits as well and milk (no longer free)

I’ve heard of parents being asked to bring in equipment, like glue sticks. But not weekly donations no.

Twenty years of teaching, never worked in a school where this is expected. Yes to money for non-uniform day, trips, Comic Relief etc, but not just as standard!

Back in the late 90s, my daughter’s school asked for a voluntary contribution of £50 per family. I paid as did most others and was happy it was being used to fund a well stocked library, trips and keep the fabric of the school in good order. I imagine more and more schools will do this as budgets are even more tightly stretched. If you can afford it, I would do it as it helps the school and all it’s pupils.

Nursery teacher in a primary school here. We ask for a pound a week or seven pound per half term. It pays for an additional snack, cooking ingredients, play dough ingredients and messy play e.g. cornflour, gelli bath etc. Every penny is greatly appreciated and spent wisely to enhance the children's learning.