..to object to paying for essential school trips?

[carolt]

Given all the fuss there was in the press only a few weeks ago concerning paying for school trips - basically, it made it clear that though many schools do it, they're not actually allowed to charge anything for trips related to the National Curriculum (any more than they're allowed to charge for textbooks or other vital equipment), I was shocked to get not 1 but 2 letters home this week from my kids school demanding 'voluntary' contributions of £8.50 for 1 trip (to a free-entry museum!) and £6.50 for the other.

I was really shocked and mentioned this to another mum, who mentioned it to the school office, who told her that as it was 'voluntary', any parent who couldn't afford it could go and chat to the headteacher about it.

But this is not the point at all, surely? Surely the school shouldn't be asking for payment at all, in the first place? Parents shouldn't have to humiliate themselves by pleading penury to the head, when actually the school is in the wrong anyway by asking for money?

See:

www.dcsf.gov.uk/popularquestions/questions.cfm?keywords=&gatewayCategoryID= 8&mainCategoryID=203&expandID=4099&new=0

and

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7867848.stm

So - what do you think?

Am I being unreasonable? Should I complain? Do other people have the same problem?

if you are brave enough to face head, fine. but i think those exempt are those on income support..
otherwise the funds come out of the pta, which is supported by the parents in the first place..
it is annoying i agree

But the schools don't have to ofer these oportunities.

And you don't have to pay - but someone does if the school is ot provide them. I don't think you should have to explain your personal financial situation to the head, though.

The quotes from the article above make it quite clear that no, parents are NOT SUPPOSED to pay:

"Mr Balls warned schools that it was "unacceptable and unlawful" to ask for compulsory contributions to school trips which are part of the curriculum.

The survey found that 10% of primary and 32% of secondary schools admitted they did make compulsory charges for trips which were linked to the national curriculum.

Only 38% of parents knew that they should not pay for trips during school hours, according to the report.

Mr Balls also said he was, "very concerned that some schools risk putting extra pressure on family finances, particularly in the present economic climate, because they are not following the rules on charges".

He wanted to underline schools' legal responsibilities to keep costs down - and said they should do more to publicise financial assistance available.

"The rules on charging are crystal clear and no child should be disadvantaged or penalised because they cannot afford out of class activities.

"It is completely unacceptable for schools to levy compulsory charges for activities, like day trips, which are part of the school curriculum or for families to feel pressured into making voluntary contributions."

don't schools limit their trips to only a few over one year>?
i remember a teacher asking if it was ok if they had 2 trips.. it is sort of assumed parents will cough up.

well the key word is compulsory and they arent compulsory contributions, they are voluntary, so they get around it that way.

But they are not essential though surely? The national curicculum can be fulfilled by staying in the classroom, they are over and above what is absolutely necessary.
If you don't pay then the funds will come from elsewhere ie: money being saved for new equipment, DDs school no longer has voluntary payments , you pay or your kid can't go, in 2007 over 50% of the childrens' families wouldn't contribute, in 2008 when it was pay or nothing , 100% paid.

No yanbu at all. However, if I was in your position I would dread having to see the Head Teacher about this. You will probably find other parents feel the trips are expensive too, but a lot won't bother to say so.

If the payment is 'voluntary', could you elect to pay a lesser amount of your choice then?

but mrs james, maybe it isnt that they families wouldnt contribute, more likely, couldnt contribute.

You're paying for the transport, & the cover for the teaching staff who supervise your children.

If parents can't afford to contribute, they are entitled to ask for a subsidised place, assuming it's a trip which is part of an essential course of study & not a ski trip type jolly...

Ultimately, if it costs the school silly money to provide a trip, the trip doesn't happen.

If there's a small number of students whose parents genuinely can't run to it, fair enough, they're covered, & quite rightly. But if the trip isn't supported by an overwhelming majority of parents prepared to cover the school's costs, it won't take place.

isnt the year 6 week residential trip part of the curriculum, and that can be hundreds!!

Subsidised payments for families in need haven't chnaged , it wasn't those families that there was a problem with, it was the familes that could afford the £5 but , because it was voluntary, felt they didn't want to pay.

As chair of our school's PTA I know how expensive these trips can be.

We raise money to pay for bus/coach fares and we ask for parent volunteers to help with the kids and we also generally ask for the children to bring a packed lunch.

Perhaps you could ask what your school's PTA generally pay for, and suggest that some funds are raised towards school trips so nobody has to pay but the school can continue to do them regularly?

School groups to our museum still have to pay something even though we are mostly free. If they live in London they get the free travel but they have to pay coach fees etc and they can be extortionate, especially if you want to use them before 9 and after 3 so they can't do school runs.

The other mum mentioned that another of her kids had a trip to the park, with no obvious costs - yet all the kids were asked to provide £1 for a single cup of apple juice! Seems like very expensive apple juice!

I think what bugs me is it seems like a money-raising exercise for the school, beyond what the trips actually cost.

The thing is each school has an individual and not generous budget with no backup from the local authority if they have unexpected expenses e.g. repairing vandalism or increasing security. So few schools can afford the coach hire for school trips without parental contributions.

You're right to feel aggrieved but it's local/national government who are at fault, not your school.

And I can vouch for Raven's statement that if they don't get the take up then they don't go. The bane of my life is teachers who book everything possible and then cancel at the last minute due to lack of take up but meaning it's too late to let another school have the place

Realistically, they do work out to be quite expensive.

The last one I ran was to a GCSE poetry event in the next city (less than 20 miles away) - £20. Coach & cover.

So the only way we can do it, is by saying it is not an essential part of the curriculum - it's voluntary enrichment. Which is bollocks - it's a fantastic day & massively boosts English GCSE attainment.

Luckily, we're a school with a reasonably affluent catchment. If we weren't, we'd get few takers on that basis, & the trip would simply not be available next year.

My father has been banging on about this for years.

When I was at primary school he used to formally approach the headteacher every year to complain about charging for school trips. Back in those days my father was bit of an hypocrite paradox, a militant left-wing type who ran a successful business. He'd go in, lecture the headteacher on the definition of state education and threaten to withhold payment to make a point, although I never let him!

He threatened to do the same when I went to secondary school when the ski trip was announced, but I threatened to vote Tory for the rest of my life if he tried the same thing with my new headteacher.

Also, I think that in the current economic climate, there are probably far more parents finding it hard to meet the costs of these trips - not necessarily the obviously 'poor', free meals type-ones, but just many parents felling stretched at the moment, who maybe would rather have the choice of contributing to expensive trips or spending that money on other high-priority items.

Our PTA paid a couple of thousand pounds towards the transport for school trips last year. And no, I suppose they aren't essential. But they can be fab. And schools themselves can't afford it. Parents need to pay one way or the other, either directly or through PTA fundraising. If they don't, as cat says, the trips will soon stop. The money won't just be found from the school's own resources. It isn't there.

I think you should ask how the funding is organised. The £1 was possibly a contribution towards the supply teacher back at school - supervisory ratios offsite are very different from classroom ones.

I teach in a school where there is almost constantly a trip for someone running, it is one of the reasons why people choose our school.

We could not charge for the trips but they they would not happen. We do have a fund to help those families who cannot afford them.

It is usually the oach that makes it expensive.

I'm one of those parents who would no doubt "qualify" (for want of my brain thinking of a better word) for my children to go free. I get free school meals for them on IS. However I do pay - the only thing that p*sses me off is that DS1's infant school thinks that 1 weeks notice for money is adequate - and get their knickers in a twist when I tell 'em that DS1 will be going, I will be paying my voluntary contribution............BUT they'll have to wait for it

That is crap FAQ