Amount of money for school fundraisers

[Gettingfleeced]

If you have school age kids, how much are you asked to donate/pay for fundraisers and functions and stalls and discos and picnics and photographs and class trips and theatre visits and bake sales and donut days and non uniform days and Easter trails and Christmas decorations and movie nights and summer fetes and sponsored skips/bounces/balances/races and on and on and on?

I find it relentless. I think I'm down at least £70 this school year. Maybe more.

What happens when you can't pay? Does the school discreetly waive the fee or does your child go without? I've not paid for the last 2 nonuniform days and got an email reminder which I ignored, but worried more about kids potentially missing class trips in future.

Please no bashing, I totally understand that schools are underfunded with overstretched budgets, but so am I!

I think most schools will allow/find a way for children to join in even if they can’t pay. With things like non-uniform day I’d think it was a crappy school if they didn’t let a child join in because they didn’t/could t pay.

I’m mostly ok with school fundraisers so long as they have an out for parents that can’t afford it or a cheap options. A few weeks ago though out school sold out childrens clay pots for £12 each. Encouraged all parents to look around the display after school and buy their child’s pot. I thought that was awful. For someone with 3 kids at the school it would have been £36!!! Too much. And the way they did it so all the kids wanted their parents to look at the display and them of course most kids wanted their pots to be bought. I emailed the school after as I thought it was very poorly done. I heard several parents getting stressed, ot having to explain why they weren’t buying the child’s pot!

Out of uniform, 50p a go, three kids, once a month. No one comments if you don't pay. Twice a year or so it's something for the Xmas or Summer fayre. No comments if you don't.

Sept big trip to the beach £15 per kid. If I couldn't afford it (£45 this year!!) school would sort something.

Couple of smaller trips, £6-£10 each, as above.

Panto once a year, £3 each, as above.

Red Nose Day, Child in Need etc, again no comment if you don't pay (I just forget!!)

But school heavily subsidise what they can, we're in a poor area, Uniform doesn't have to he logoed.

My child's school did this with Christmas decorations. A lot of pressure on parents to buy decorations the kids had made. The kids whose parents were working or couldn't go to school that day/couldn't afford it were heartbroken as their stuff was just binned at the end. Why not just ask for donations and give every child the stuff they made?!

What did your school do with the unsold pots?

Our primary school have gone online so they'll post a link which you can make a payment through but it's not monitored and students are not penalised for not paying. Things like children in need etc, this is how it's done so totally optional for parents to pay or not.
It's much better than D's high school where they send a minimum of 4 messages a day asking for parental contribution leading upto the charity fun day and a demand of payment on the last day. His school are always asking for donations towards something or other, I just ignore them all now except for trips, if he really wants to go we pay otherwise he opts out.

Well it was really weird because the unsold ones went to some art gallery for part of a children exhibition. Apparently they would be on sale there. It’s odd though because most of them were terrible…like the type of kids things ONLY a parent would buy. I assume none/very few were sold at the gallery because who who’d buy childs art from a child you don’t know?! So they must have ended up thrown or something. Even £5 each would have been better or a suggested donation and a pot for people to donate into. I don’t think they’ll do it again.

It get more expensive when they transition to secondary, I've just paid for two trips, one for a theme park in the UK £80 and £400 for a 3 day pre Christmas trip to the continent, last year it was a weeks skiing for considerably more.

My middle child in year 6 has something every term but much more manageable, they have more wish lists and
" suggested " donations but not set amounts for decorations and candle holders/seedling pots etc.
Discos/movie nights are decently priced and the snacks for movie night start at 10p, cups of squash or water are free.
Not too bad really.

@Gettingfleeced that's a awful. Poor kids and what a waste

@shams05 our school is the same

Think it's £1 for own clothes

Had a lot recently due to school fete so jam jars filled with sweets - wrap a small lucky dip (1.50) cakes donated

End of term disco possibly £3 can't R.E.M.

I only have one child so it's ok

I know they do a trip in 6form. Think away 4/5 days

Same place every year which will cost. Not sure how much. Possibly £400 rings a bell I must ask.

I would like to pay a little each month /year now towards it - dd is in yr 1

But know it will be a cost in 4yrs time

Last few weeks I've paid

50p for a bird feeder my child made.
£6 for the school fair stalls and ice cream. Most was free on the day.
£5 school trip including lunch, travel and entry

I know of parents who can't pay and it's dealt with very discreetly and the children have no knowledge of who paid and who was funded by the school.