To suggest our head teacher starts asking for parent contributions?

[OperaStation]

It seems as though many of you pay a regular sum or money to your schools to help with their finances. Our primary school has not requested this but I think they should. The school is in a wealthy area with very well off parents.

I read on a thread earlier that someone was paying £30 per year. This seems very low. I would happily pay a few hundred (obviously not everyone can afford this - I do realise that - but the demographic at our school mostly could).

Would I be unreasonable to propose to the school that they introduce an optional annual contribution from parents? I imagine they will have considered it but it must be a difficult thing for them to raise.

Also, how many of you with school age children are already doing this?

It's not your place to suggest any financial advice.

DD'S school requests €250 voluntary contributions, DS was €5 per month pre-covid, envelope collections died with covid.

I didn't mind the fiver the €250 is high but it's a school in a wealthy area where they assume parents have it.

We're not from the wealthy area we travel with the other 30% of DC not from the wealthy area who travel.

@OperaStation

if you're so pally with the HT that's she's telling you about the schools financial position, why didn't you ask her?

Thank you. This is exactly what I’m talking about. The school already has a payment system. It would be optional and easy to set up. I can’t see any downsides.

I’m not “pally” with her. I do some volunteering at the school and it came up in conversation.

The whole point of this thread is to try and gauge opinions on whether or not raising it with her would be the right thing to do.

I think the point is that your school, which serves children from relatively advantaged homes, would be able to raise extra money this way, but that doesn't help some of the schools with very disadvantaged intakes, who couldn't make that request of their parents. The more that school finances are shored up by parental donations, the wider the differences between schools.

Our primary had a book fair, and urged us to spend because they would then get a big pile of books for the library. I'd have been much more interested in us providing a big pile of books for the library at a school where most kids didn't have lots of books at home.

Have you considered setting up a PTA? You'd need to register as a charity, lots of info how to do this online, but parents can then giftaid their contributions meaning you get an extra 25%.

I'd pay & recently donated to a SEN fund they set up.

Both primary and secondary schools ask for contributions here both directly and indirectly
cake sales Christmas/autumn / spring fayre we’re the primary schools usual way to raise funds

secondary schools are much more ‘in your face’ - ‘we require £x pounds donation for xxxx. please use parent pay’ type thing Along with various fundraisers through the year

it’s sad Not sure what happens when most parents can’t afford to
give anything

I think the point is that your school, which serves children from relatively advantaged homes, would be able to raise extra money this way, but that doesn't help some of the schools with very disadvantaged intakes, who couldn't make that request of their parents. The more that school finances are shored up by parental donations, the wider the differences between schools.

This already happens though with very involved parents pushing up the schools eg lots of fundraising, volunteering with reading & trips etc.

Because teachers don't declare their spend to the school. We just buy what we need and no one is any the wiser.

Money raised would have to go through the proper channels and therefore cannot be spent on stationery etc.

You might get away with art supplies, pe equipment and even computer equipment, but not if it's essential to the curriculum, only as extras.

You’re right, but there’s not a whole lot I can do about that (aside from not voting for the tories, which I wouldn’t do anyway).

I hate it conceptually because people who don't have enough to comfortably give will feel they have to pay it.

I think if a school does it they have to be super super clear that it is absolutely voluntary and no one will be chasing whether or not it has been paid and so on and so forth.

I understand the benefit though - I do think it can make a massive difference. Yes it doesn't pay staff wages but if it can pay for library books/a new stage/lights/sports equipment etc, it enables the school to do more with the stretched resources that they have.

Someone was meant to be setting one up but nothing seems to have happened.

From the experiences of friends and family I would guess that people would rather a one off donation to a fund rather than the constant hounding from a PTA along with demands to help run and organise fundraising events.

That’s fine. Those things are all still essential.

I've already had to pay about £30 in 'voluntary contributions ' to 2 x children's art and craft materials this year so that's my voluntary contribution already contributed and we are only in October.

My daughter's old primary school started a fund a few years ago, and I quite happily contributed the £25 suggested.

The school was woefully underfunded and the PTA largely unsupported, so why not. My daughter received a lot from the school.

Whilst the government is meant to pay for state schools, I think the children get so much for free (compared where I was schooled), that I was happy to contribute.

OP - you need to setup a new PTA and/or become a governor. Your ideas could be reviewed and maybe something come out of them.

I think you would end up disappointed. My school is in a very affluent area and about 35% of parents choose not to pay for trips. We take a huge financial hit on every trip as we can only ask for voluntary contributions.

If they said at the start of term please pay £20 quid into our PTA slush fund and we won't bother you again till next term I'd do a happy dance and pay it. Even better if I could gift aid it and they had £25 to use. It's supposed to be fun money though craft, pe stuff, art, baking, ipads for the classroom not for propping up the school electric bill.

A PTA is a lovely thing for a school to have. Their appeal is on organising events really as the money they raise is buttons compared to the running costs of a school.

Mine are long past school age but I'd have preferred a one off payment, or a monthly or termly, than the constant paying for mufti days, or world books days or baking cakes where you spent £5 on ingredients and they sold it for £4 and then you bought someone elses.

The ideal would be schools having enough money for everything but failing that I'd have gone for the donation but it definitely shouldn't be done in a way that shames the child or parents and is totally voluntary.

I don't think teachers should need to buy supplies either, a teacher once said to me that in many jobs people are sneaking out the office stationery and teachers are sneaking it in.

You'd be surprised...

This is nothing new. I was at school in the early 1970s.
It was a comp in a very deprived area. The school asked parents for £10 a term which was a lot of money to ,ost families.

Yes I'd pay a contribution to mine too if they asked but there's not an obvious way to do it and I'm not going to rock up at the office with a fiver in an envelope.

It's quite a big school (3 form entry) so they could make a few thousand just for asking for £5 a term. I'd find that amount reasonable and quite possibly pay more but it's not such a large amount to make anyone feel bad for not contributing if they can't afford it.

I think if you can afford to contribute to your child's education if it improves the learning.

Even if it was a donated box of pens etc.

It's crazy that the educational budget has to stretch to stationery, glue and art supplies

Disadvantaged schools or parents should receive the stationary but those who aren't should pay for their own stationary.

If would free up a lot of cash.