to think that DS2's school is being unfair?

[mumoftwo37]

DS2 attends a small primary school, only one class per year group. This year the school have decided to take all of them to a local amusement park. They say that as everyone is feeling the pinch at the moment that they will heavily subsidise the cost of the bus but we will all have to pay the entrance fee for our child(ren) - Fair enough no problem with that.
This is the bit I think that is unfair - every family has to pay £2.50 towards the bus regardless of how many children you have got. I disagree totally with that, why should I pay as much for one seat as the family down the road who will use 4? It is not the cost it is the principal. Dh says just pay it but I disagree.

I would just pay and be glad that the school is subsidisiing the cost of the trip as far as they are able. I agree with your dh tbh, why does it matter so much?

Its only £2.50, I'd probably just pay it, although it would be fairer if the cost was split per person.

I could argue either side I think. A parent of 4 kids has more child benefit so can afford to pay 4 shares which makes you right.

On the other hand what the school actually thought was probably "no one will miss £2.50, but unexpectedly asking for 4 times that is a bit much"
So I'm sure it was well intended and you should probably let it pass.

I wouldn't have a problem with it, but I can see that people would.

I think the family with 4 children will be delighted as they would have had to pay £10 for the coach and 4 admission prices. Wow! I'd be pleased it helped them out a little.

I dont think yabu because it means you are subsidising larger families. A family of 4 will get 4 times as much child benefit than you so why shouldnt they pay per child? I think I would still just pay it though even though it seems unfair.

I agree with both you!

You (on principle) and your dh( it's a token amount, so just pay it).

The teachers may be thinking that parents of large families will be stretched enough by paying multiple entrance fees to the amusement park.

I agree with you Bluefox. There are 3 mothers in DS2's class who I know feel annoyed by this system and the won't let us club together and be a family of 3 as they say the ocst won't be covered!
My point of view is that if it were a public bus I would have to pay according to how many seats I would use. FWIW every time there is a letter asking for a voluntary contribution I pay the full amount and as the school is rural and don't have a mini bus, DH or I have offered to take children to / from sporting events etc.
I am not asking for a free ride I just want it to be fair. If I had wanted to pay for extra children I would have had them!

I have 3 DC (two at school) and would point out that you don't get 4 times the child benefit if you have children,. (First born gets more).

I have one in Y3 and one in YR (same school) and they came home with their trip details yesterday (Space Museum). Our "voluntary contribution" is £12.50 each so I need to find £25! I did think a sibling reduction would have been nice but the money has to come from somewhere. There are about 140 in the school and I think just under 100 families.

I can see your point, but it can work the other way too. I had 3 children at the same primary school for a while, but, when it came to voting on anything (such as for governors, etc.) DH and I only got one vote. According to your view, we should have had 3 votes.

I doubt that your £250 is subsidising the other family. I would think that the school is.

Sorry, £2.50, not £250! Now that would be something to complain about .

As Freckle says, the school will be subsidising the cost of the extra children, not you. You are not wrong in principle, it is just that I can't see why it matters so much.

Why shouldnt parents comtribute for each child? Would it be right for example if the same charge for school meals was levied per family irrespective of the number of children?

The school have admitted that it needs every family to pay the £2.50 otherwise the cost won't be covered, so I will be susbsidising it. It doesn't matter to me if it is £2.50 or £25 th point is it is unfair IMO.
FWIW I have another DS at secondary school whom I paid £64 recently for his school trip and there would have been no sibling reduction. There is also no sibling reduction for the new PEkit and uniform etc I have to buy from DS1's school for DS2 to start in September.
Just another point would you ask for food costs to be reduced if you have a larger family or would you apy for what you use.

No Hatrick I wouldn't have to pay £2.50 if everyone apid the same per seat which is what you do on every type of public transport. I don't care about the amount it is the principal.

kids are free on buses so moot point there

you can't sweat the small stuff really

Depends where you live hana - they aren't round here.

The point is surely that the bus will cost much, much more than that, so essentially what the school are asking for is not that everyone pays for their child, but that each family makes a token contribution to the cost of the bus.

really? well that's unfair!

but then so is life!

Kids aren't free on buses here.
The coach is paid for as a unit so that unit should be divided between the amount of children sitting on the coach.
You pay for how much food, fuel etc you use so why should you not pay for how many seats your DC's sit on on a coach on a school trip?

Everything is more expensive once you have siblings doing things - I think it's nice the school is asking each family to contribute £2.50, so that each parent contributes the same, rather than some contributing far more to the trip than others. The contributions won't even cover 1 child's bus fare, so you're not subsidising anyone - but some children will be receiving more of a subsidy from the school than your child.

Look on it as being fair that all parents contribute the same.