School trips and voluntary contributions

[Lichensclerosus]

Today i received a text message and one of my kids teachers saying to me at pick up "oh you havnt contributed towards a trip tomorrow" I have had no notifications on my phone (via there app) about this trip and I did state that to them so I had no idea about it. The teacher told me to delete the app and reinstall it so I did to find 7 letters waiting -4 of them being school trips that need paying for (about £50 worth)
Now I have absolutely no issue paying them but at the bottom it says it is a voluntary contribution (in bold) towards ecah trip and that no kid will be treated differently basically, so if its voluntary why have I been asked in person and by text to make payment this makes me feel pressured . £50 thats a lot of money as a single parent to spend!

Because although they can't force you to pay it and it is technically voluntary, they do need people to pay. If they don't trips can't be run as schools can no longer finance them.

If you can pay , just pay it
Never known a parent being confronted on the playground about it though

Because if you don’t pay it the trip may have to be cancelled.

Schools aren’t allowed to make the charge compulsory by law, but the alternative is often no trip as the school can’t afford to pay for it.

There may be a fund for FSM students or those in dire straits.

Did you child not mention the trip at all?

if someone is unable to pay then they would be expected to talk to the school and not just ignore the contact.

Because whilst they stress that it’s voluntary, realistically, if people can’t pay, the trip doesn’t happen.

I have already had an email about my dc’s end of year trip. They have given us enough notice to do a payment plan of £5 a month!

Did you not have to fill in a consent form about the trip ?

As others have said, schools can't charge for trips but if there's not enough donations towards it then trips don't happen.

Are you being asked for £50 now or is it £50 on trips throughout the year?

It being voluntary is a bit meaningless and I think most people know that - basically you can’t be made to pay but if you and a number of other parents take that at face value and choose not to then the kids will miss out on the trip.

I'm not sure but I think it's to do with their accounts and it works financially better for them to put it down as donation.

Imo, they really need the money.

They can't make you pay they have to frame it as a voluntary contribution however if most don't pay then the trip won't go ahead. Schools cannot cover a trip for a whole class - there just isn't the budget.

Most parents understand this and contribute.

Thank you for the reply no the kids didn't

Say anything both are very immature and forgetful though .
its £50 for 4 trips over the next 6 weeks . Im just annoyed how the way its been brought up . I honestly didn't get any notification of letters

Sounds like an issue with the app. It is a lot of trips though!

I'm a former teacher, I worked in a deprived

Sent too soon.

I worked in a deprived area and often ended up paying a few fees to get the trip to go ahead. Many parents returned the permission without the fees unfortunately. I didn't blame them, they had no capacity. But realistically, neither did I.

childlawadvice.org.uk/information-pages/charging-for-school-activities/

"Voluntary contributions

Schools and Local Authorities can ask for voluntary contributions for the benefit of the school or any school activities. It must be made clear to you that the contributions are voluntary and you must not be made to feel pressurised into paying. Schools should, therefore, avoid sending colour-coded reminder letters or standing order / direct debit mandates to you when asking for contributions.

The school must inform you if a particular activity will have to be cancelled if insufficient funds are collected.

No child can be excluded from an activity just because their parents won’t or can’t pay. the schools must inform you prior to any trip of their policy for allocating places.

Schools must ensure that they inform parents on low income of the support available when asking for contributions towards the cost of school trips."

Sections 449-462 of the Education Act 1996 govern the law on charging for school activities. This applies to all Local Authority maintained schools, Academies and Local Authorities.

Seems to me that perhaps select one that seems most valuable and decline the others, on the assumption that they may be cancelled. The amount in total is a lot for many people, regardless of family size.

Although, as it turns out, it was a good thing she had a quiet word, as it highlighted to you that your app wasn't working, and you weren't getting any information, but now you will.

Two trips each does seem quite a lot for quite a few families though, in the space of a few weeks.

Realistically you did otherwise you wouldn't have been able to pay 'a few fees'.

I am a foster carer and get a bit cross at some of the attitudes here.

My 5yo has three fantastic trips coming up which have a parental contribution of £22. I am sure I could dip into pupil premium but I would prefer that was used elsewhere.

My 14yo has virtually no life experience because his parents never signed the permission slips.

By all means, don't take your kids to galleries, museums and theatre trips, but please allow the school to do so.

Realistically I couldn't and had to do without things I needed to cover it but my heart was breaking for children who were living in poverty and had never had certain experiences.

Do you have to pay via ParentPay or similar?
If so, it may be less about the payment and more about the consent which you need to provide in order for your child to be allowed to go.

Also, although we ask for voluntary donations, we ask parents who can’t pay to let us know, rather than just not pay it.

That allows us to know how much of the trip is covered and whether it can go ahead, rather than cancelling it because parents have just forgotten to pay or missed the information sent about it, as you did.

It's also hard because people have different ideas of what "I can't afford it" means. I've known of families to claim to be in dire financial straits but then get an expensive family pet. Can they afford the trip any less than parents who have made other choices? I also taught in an area where parents just wouldn't pay if they thought they could get away with it (fair enough!). As soon as a text went out saying the trip would unfortunately be cancelled if more people didn't pay, the payments all flowed in.

The reason they have chased as well is that paying acts as consent to go, so if you haven't paid or made an hardship type of arrangement with school then they couldn't take the child without permission
Do you realise how much school budgets have been cut. They simply couldn't afford to run these amazing experiences otherwise.

I’ve worked in 4 different schools. 3 in very deprived areas. In those schools, we always ensured that every child could go on a trip because we assigned funds to cover them. It’s important that they got to do some amazing trips. Staff never had to pay for children! Your problem is that the school hasn’t organised the funding well enough if you’re paying for children out of your own pocket.

Your problem is that the school hasn’t organised the funding well enough if you’re paying for children out of your own pocket.

Or perhaps those schools in seriously deprived areas used some of the pupil premium money that they would have been assigned because they're in deprived areas, to provide school trips?