to resent the unnecessary additional tasks schools drop on us?

[elliott]

Ds2 has just started in reception. Today I got a note in his bag saying 'Please bring in a 'word tin' for ds2 - a pencil tin is ideal'.

Now, WHY do they need a pencil tin ffs? Do they think we have these things just hanging round the house? Or do they not think twice about expecting that we find time for a special trip to the shops to source one of these things (I have no idea where I might buy said 'pencil tin')? Do they think we have nothing better to do?

Honestly, wouldn't an envelope do?

[thirtysomething]

Elliott I'm totally with you on this one. I have two DCs at school yet work part-time and am also doing a very demanding MA and placement. I simply haven't got time to shop/cook/clean never mind go rushing into town every time i get such demands from school. ours are always along the lines of costumes at 48 hours notice and special food for European day etc. It's very stressful and can tip you over the balance - if you've manages to "plan " your week in terms of shopping cooking etc and getting all your work done then DC1 comes home saying he needs cakes making for French day tomorrow, it can make me cry to be honest at the end of a long day!! SO I do sympathise - I'd much rather spend my little bit of free time talking to the kids and reading etc with them than traipsing them round shops hunting for obscure things!!

[elliott]

pbk, yes I know, their previous school didn't require word tins. That's why I'm so irritated by it - I know fine well it is not at all necessary.
God, I hope they don't expect 'book characters' or other fancy costumes...

[Simplysally]

Wait til you make a sheep costume for a play (out of my old cream towelling dressing gown as it happened) and it is rejected as it isn't 'fluffly' (sic) enough so they give your dc a smelly fake fur cat costume to wear instead (minus the head) as a black sheep. I've never seen a sheep with smooth fur but it must come from living in London . Oddly enough the boy whose parents bought a sheep costume were allowed to wear that even though that wasn't 'fluffly' either.

I had to wash and mend the rag substitute costume before it was fit for dd to put on. I've refused to make a costume since.

[notinlimboanymore]

YABU. Your child's education is your responsibilty too. The request is nothing much.

[notinlimboanymore]

Tesco have them

[TsarChasm]

Actually I know where you're coming from about this elliott.

It's not a big request in itself but the more things required and the more children you have divided by the amounts of time and money involved kind of wears you down eventually.

Sorry but it does.

[TsarChasm]

We did book characters this morning. God that adds a big dose of stress onto the morning chaos.

[IfYouDidntLaughYoudCry]

OMG! I don't have children but feel stressed out at reading some of these. I'm assuming it varies greatly from school to school? My mum is primary school teacher and I don't think they make these kinds of requests in her school.

[Anna8888]

At my sister's children's school (not in UK) the school provides and names all the equipment and supplies the children need all through the year.

[PussinWellies]

The request for Greek toga and 'food for the banquet' threw me a bit at 7-30 this morning, but that's my disorganised child's fault, not school's.

[FlirtyThirty]

Personally, I think YABU.

[SaintRiven]

dd's school want me to lug in her switch and head mount every blasted day rather than supply one in the school. How much time do they think I have evry morning? Its a major peice of engineering detatching the bloody thing.
Oh, and they want a baby photo. They are all digital and I don't have a printer. Argh.
I go into town once every 5 months or so. Any requests have to wait.

[countingto10]

YANBU - really cheesed off with DC's schools. 4 DC and am currently dealing with 3 schools and 1 nursery.  Cheesed off with all the paper that comes back - counted 10 pieces from 1 school today which included a request for me to make a "tudor" costume (picture of said costume also provided) for 3 weeks time.  I know I've got 3 weeks to do it but it's everything else I've got to do in those 3 weeks ie 3 parent's days/evening including an annual review for DS1 who has ASD and is at a sn boarding school miles away (whole day required), 2 harvest festivals (tins etc requested), laptop meeting (don't ask !)various sponser forms etc, etc. And they manage to lose reply slips when you get round to replying. Moan over.

[MrsGuyOfGisbourne]

YANBU. Yesterday at no notice we had a load of spellings from an NSPCC sponsored spell (!!) to be learned by tomorrow, not to mention the blackmail of a load of sponsors to find (child gets better reward for increasing numbers of sponsors) - are teachers secret sadists, who hate parents???

[janeite]

YABU - surely everybody has little tupperware tubs lurking around somewhere, or a Flora tub or something. It's really not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

[FairLadyRantALot]

hm, last year my ms just a brown envelope from school for his letters and that was fine .
This year my ys has one of those little washing-tablet nets...which is quite a cool idea...
but I suppose just a little lidded plastic tub would do, surely? It is just to keep the letters tgether, I suppose?

[Romy7]

MrsGoG - we've had three of those nspcc ones and i don't do sponsors now. charitable giving is one thing, but enforced participation to fundraise through schools is absolutely another. very clever idea for a fundraising campaign though.

[nooka]

I don't think in principle bringing in bits and bobs to help make lessons more interesting is a big deal. I wouldn't find finding a tin or pot of some sort very difficult, as think this is not the request to get bothered about. Worse is undoubtedly ahead of you It would be helpful to have a bit more of a description of the function of said tin, so you know what you could use. We have lots of these sorts of things, as I use tins/pots to store the children's variety of junk in.

Our school provided all the costumes, and made fairly few requests for stuff beyond the special days, which I did find tricky (but not impossible) to fit in around work.

Our new school in the States we have to provide ALL the stationary, and are then asked for more stuff on top of that. Money is very tight for the school, but I still think parents shouldn't have to supply bin liners. We spent about $150 on each child. It would have been much much more cost efficient for the school to buy the kit, and have parents pay, but that's not how it is done here.

[MrsGuyOfGisbourne]

Romy - yes, but I was absolutely spitting feathers last night at the NSPCC!!!!!!!! exploiting the innocence of children by blackmailing parents to contribute - or else you child is the one without the sticker in Assembly ...
Am sending DS in tomorrow with the spelling list but without the form and am composing angry ( ut hopefully coherent ) letter to the governors as we speak.

[kittywise]

Our school has always used old tobacco tins. The same ones get recycled year in year out. I think it should be the school's responsibility to provide appropriate containers personally. They could easily incorperate it in to their stock ordering.

[zookeeper]

Wait until you are reminded at 8.55am that today is Mexican day, that your ds is expected to dress as a Mexican (WTF?) and to bring in some "home-Cooked" (WTF x100) food.

You will be praying for the pencil tin then

[MrsGuyOfGisbourne]

Zoo-keeper - lol!!! YESSSSSSSSS! ( Had erased that one from my memory for the sake of my sanity)

[MoreTeaAnyone]

you'd need a never ending supply of envelopes if you hoped to see out the year with all words present and correct.

[Twiglett]

when school asks for stuff like this I generally send in a couple of extras to make up for the kind of parents who can't afford (or just can't be bothered) to get them