To think school are cheeky fuckers?

[sandpDy]

DS started school in September. Reception.

September - McMillan coffee morning. Donate £2 and wear something green

October - wear blue and donated £1 to sands, a still birth and neonatal death charity Halloween party - bring in cakes, a bottle of soft drink and something else of your choosing. Halloween coming up - £1 and you can wear your costume to school

November - children in need day. Wear something yellow and donated £2. Childrens fun day, bring in £5 to join in activities

December - Non uniform £1 donation. 15th December Christmas jumper day. Bring in £2.

In addition to this, they've asked for donations in his class for jumpers and socks, and spare clothes for spares. Also asking for a 'small contribution'
so they can buy some for the class

AIBU to think this is pretty wild?!

What is elf shop??

I think asking for a donation is fine. Excluding a kid from a Christmas party or making them sit on the side whilst everyone else plays game because their parents can't pay it would be making me reconsider the school

Kids buying a SUGGESTED DONATION of £1.50 for a children in need snap band. Wasn't a suggestion at all, if they only had a pound they couldn't afford it. Whatever the SUGGESTION stated.

You don't have to justify not volunteerng to me. We're all busy. We all have different priorities.

Jesus. Sorry that my priority isn't volunteering for the PTA when I'm a lone, disabled parent caring for two disabled DC and working full time to provide for us all.

What the hell is wrong with you?

I could ask you the same thing? There's absolutely no need to direct your anger at me. There was also no need to be so snidey in your previous comment, yet you chose to, and are now taking it extremely personally when I've replied.

I have a child with additional needs, have lost my other two children in the last two years and have a husband in the early stages of an irreversible and pregressive disease. I also work full time and have caring responsibilities.

I'll say it again, we all have different priorities, so maybe don't be so nasty and spiteful about the people who do volunteer, they do it so you don't have to. Or rather, they do it for your kids, because you're not able to. And you have no idea of the reasons behind why. So maybe don't be judgemental about them.

The 'voluntary contribution' which is obviously not voluntary at all. Ours are about 15 quid. No option to pay 5 or 10 pound if you want. Just a guilt trip to pay too much for a day out your kid probably will hate

Yes this was advertised on the school FB page by the Head of the PTA. There were so many things like that at this school. No one seemed to bother, I asked about it but was shut down.

@CurlyhairedAssassin other strange things were the extraordinarily expensive gifts at Christmas and end of term from parents. Champagne, money, it was significant and the poorer people (like me) really were in the minority.

This was a state school but in a relatively wealthy area.

The ‘named envelope’ is often so we know who the money belongs to when the child drops it/leaves it on a table/on the floor.

As for the voluntary contribution, at one school I had a parent who often refused to pay for trips etc. they had three children in the school and every time pointed out the voluntary contribution wording. They were landlords of a large number of properties and went abroad every single school holiday. On the other hand we had one girl who for every single trip her mum paid twice. Once for her and once to cover anyone who couldn’t afford it. She was a single parent midwife.

@PriamFarrl voluntary is the point though. You shouldn't be judging parents. Either make it a set amount and then the kid can't go or treat every family with respect. You don't know their situation

I did know their situation, and I knew they could easily afford £5. We always took the child on the trip and the school paid.

Or schools just stop trips altogether, that way it’s fair on everyone isn’t it.

I think schools should be prohibited from asking for contributions to third party charities. And PTAs ought to reflect on how much they let the government off the hook by substituting patents' money for proper funding support.

Absolutely agree. Charities should not be guilting hard working families for contributions. The school themselves need those funds if any are raised. Those of the older generation with their property portfolios and amazing pensions should be making charitable gifts not young families 🙄

I can see that being draining - financially and emotionally - though I would say it's less cheeky fuckers and more schools have certain expectations on them that they have to run on a shoestring and a prayer.

Thankfully, my DDs' school is very clear the charity ones are optional. The direct money ones are all paid through ParentPay - no one takes cash into school - and shows giving more through their drop box for out grown uniforms and kids can donate their ClassChart points to charity so can be done at no additional cost, along with more typical collections at like Harvest Festival or reverse advent calendars done with the drop points by year group or forms across year groups so it's more anonymous and not leaving anyone out.

I did have to pay for the Christmas concert this year, but they were pretty clear it was to help pay to rent some of equipment and it's the first one they've been able to run since 2018 so that didn't bother me. I was a bit annoyed being told less than a week beforehand that they needed particular outfit types for the skit they were in. It was fairly common festive wear, but we just didn't have it - we don't celebrate Christmas though my kids do whatever they're happy to be in at school. One DD thankfully found something suitable in a charity shop, but the other I had to click and collect something quickly as nothing deliverable would be here in time and struggled to find anything affordable in shops near me. That was a sudden expense of money and time that was a bit frustrating.

I agree, this is appalling. If you can afford it you should pay for the trip. But isn't it the way, that the rich never do pay (think of the tax loopholes) but the rest of us end of paying for them.

I really cannot fathom not giving a few pounds for your kids trip if you can afford it.