State school charging for basics.

[Purplegarland]

Another email from primary school today saying that they are not unable to subsidise school trips at all and will be fundraising/passing costs onto parents. This means that I am required to give even more money.
This month alone they have asked for almost £100 for various things. Including costs for transport, stationary, being a member of school sport teams (kit, transport, pitch/pool fees, and lunch) some of which happen in school time, and a themed day. Of course, I know that trips are optional but I don't see how I could have my child sitting out of a themed day where visitors come in to give a special talk tied into the curriculum. Add in the various charity days and requests for money for wearing blue or whatever and I am paying an absolute fortune on top of any extra curriculars my DC want to do.
Am I being unreasonable that a state school should not be passing so many costs onto parents? Think £40 for a coach on top of day trip fees.

TGIBU - The Government is being unreasonable by underfunding the education system. You are being forced to carry the can and they are kicking the can down the road.

It is sad for those children who will miss out.

@Purplegarland become a school governor and see the perilous state of school budgets. Many schools aren't doing trips anymore because they can't take the financial hit.

@Purplegarland find out how much is costs to hire a coach, and find out how much that has gone up in the last few years.

School trips have always been something parents pay for and children’s own stationary and their own PE kit. If your low income (pupil premium) you can get it subsidised

You can say no.

I feel for the schools as budgets are dire but they also need to cut their cloth with respect to the type and frequency of trips too.

If enough parents don’t pay they will have to rethink what they do. If you keep paying they will keep organising.

Unfortunately for many schools now their budget barely covers staff salaries. We had one local school recently that had to fund raise to pay their electricity - there is absolute nothing available for trips, sports equipment etc.

Totally agree this puts an unfair burden on low income families to find money or have their kids left out, but the school has very few other options. Lobby your MP for more education funding maybe?

Unfortunately this means that children may have no access whatsoever to theatre, galleries, museums, sporty days out etc. I have been a teacher, a school governor, and am now a provider of themed days. A coach costs a blooming fortune. The school isn't your enemy here, they're trying to provide a well rounded experience for the children, many of whom don't get one from their parents. Don't get me wrong, I know this is extremely difficult for tight family budgets, but the real issue is the Tories who give charitable status to private schools and cut state schools to the bone. The teachers know your children deserve more, and they try to provide it. The government really don't care

PS not sure about trips, but for something like the themed day linked to the curriculum, I believe they can ask for a donation but your child can't be excluded if you don't pay.

Parents have always paid for school trips and "enrichment" type activities haven't they? I thought the school only subsidised the pupil premium kids.

We pay £40 a year which covers all trips and coaches. they tend to do one big main trip out, and the rest are workshops at at the school to save on transport costs. Or local places.

Then there are fundraising events but they might be £1 or very little.

Is more fundraising an option? Our school has a really tight budget, so the PTA fundraises to cover the cost of themed days and transport for trips etc. It's hard work, but it means more children are able to enjoy enrichment activities.

This is one of the effects of the Tory cuts in school funding. Did you vote for them? School budgets are in crisis.

Pupil premium meets some costs if you qualify and it used to be that there were funds that supported families who couldn’t afford the whole cost of trips.

Everything has been squeezed so much that the pips are squeaking and there’s nothing left in the communal purse. When teachers are providing stationery, classroom supplies etc out of their own money, it’s clear that it’s a struggle.

No school and no teacher wants to be in this position, but thanks to the government, that’s where we are.

Many Pupil premium funds are spent on TAs, only way schools can afford to have TAs

I think it’s very area dependent as our school doesn’t charge and provides plenty of reasonable activities but I also know of a different school that expected parents to pay £1500 for a primary trip, completely unrealistic and I just wouldn’t pay it on principle (even though we could).

Not all schools are well managed and some are completely deluded about what parents can and should do.

I am pro private sector though and we will potentially send DD to DH’s former school for seniors. State primary in our county though is very good (hence the house prices).

I thought stationary, sportkit and lunch always was parents' job to pay. And a few tips a year.

But of course we would have a limit for paying extra at school. It's not fair for a lot of people struggling to add extra costs.

Yes to this.

Get organised. Band together to put a stop to the paid out of uniform days, the charity collections, and other silly money wasters.

Having said that, I went to school in Ireland, where parents pay for both stationery/ art/ writing supplies and school text books/ workbooks. This has recently changed - there's a schoolbook loan system, and writing supplies are also provided. We went on one trip per year.

My DCs went to a parochial school in the US where parents paid for all art supplies, writing supplies, stationery, and classroom supplies such as paper towels, antibacterial wipes, boxes of tissues, ziplock bags, and tonnes more. Again, one paid trip per year, though there were also walking trips to local places of interest.

Certain private schools (public schools) have always been charities. This isn't something the Tories introduced.

Are you saying that trips aren't being subsidised for kids on fsm's any more?

If you are low income AND on benefits maybe If you are £10 a month over benefit levels then no. Expected to keep coughing up

YANBU to feel it shouldn't be necessary but YABVU if you think it is the school's fault. Education budgets are simply not enough to pay for even basic stuff in some schools, never mind subsidise trips. My niece is a primary school teacher and she buys her pupils pencils, paper etc out of her own pocket as well as having a drawer full of breakfast bars and cartons of long life orange juice for those who haven't eaten before school. And she is not unusual.
We live in a fairly affluent area and parents donate quite a bit to my DC's secondary school. A local business run by an ex pupil recently funded some renovations. Actual, structural work on the school being paid for by donors - it's appalling really. I've just donated to the latest appeal for donations to buy books. If you asked the kids I think they'd say their school was well resourced but that's only because a lot of parents are able to make donations. Otherwise we'd be struggling like many others. And it isn't the staff's fault.

When my youngest was at junior school a couple of years ago it was all paid for by the parents, theme days included. Things like enterprise week where they had to come up with ideas in a group of things to design and sell to the parents on the last day of the enterprise week. In the case of that example, by default the parents mums had to organise it between them, this was quite tricky as the groups weren’t organised As friends and the parents didn’t necessarily know each other. When we did exchange WhatsApp messages some were at pains to tell you how they couldn’t possibly do anything as their jobs were very important, we all worked and my job is important but I mainly wfh so I ended up doing one of the most expensive parts of the enterprise and time consuming buying bags bad bags of ice, crushing it all and delivering it to the school in time for it not to melt, another parent just provided the straws! Tbf they made a big profit but ironically it all goes back to the school funding pot they didn’t even reimburse you costs of materials!

YABU.

It is a voluntary contribution. Just don't pay it.

(But don't forget if they don't get enough contributions, the trip will not happen).

The cost of bus hire has gone through the roof. Our local bus company charges £160 just to take the kids to the swimming pool 6 miles up the road and back. It's a LOT of money but as KS2 have to do swimming, it needs to be paid, so the school ask for contributions.

I work in a secondary school trip and the bus to the airport for the trip I organised (Easyjet flight was cheaper than a coach!!) was eyewatering and made up a huge chunk of the trip cost.

Most schools have a PTA group that fund raise for primary school trips.

My DC's school (secondary) is having to make teacher redundancies and cut subjects because the amount the government pays is not enough to cover the salaries that the staff are entitled to. There is no spare money

I am happy to pay for trips if that means my DC get to experience enrichment opportunities. PP students are subsidised and the PTA work hard to support cases of hardship but parents who can pay should. The alternative is no trips.

There (really) is no spare money.

Every year I buy overpriced fairy cakes with questionable hygiene from various events and fairs and classroom tatt to support the school. I'd relish the opportunity to just hand over cash without the charade.

Weren't school trips, experiences, swimming lessons etc always charged to the parents (except those on low income)? They were even when I was at school back in the dark ages, and they were when my kids were at primary 15 years ago.

There is an increasing demand for extras that you would think the school should pay for, such as basics including stationery, but that's because schools are woefully underfunded (thank you Tories). And even for simple trips out that need a coach, the prices has increased massively. We take a scout group out once a year on a coach, and the cost has more than doubled since covid, and entrance fees to attractions/events have shot up. Schools just don't have the budget to cover that.

I guess the alternative is more fundraising by the PTA, but funds raised this way are increasingly spent on the basics/essentials, whereas before they were spent on the 'nice to haves'. Plus fundraising seems to be more difficult these days, so many parents just don't want to get involved the way they used to.