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Original poster

"voluntary" contributions to school events

36 replies

hatstand · 25/01/2005 20:00

My school is frequently asking for "voluntary" contributions. I have no principled objection to this however I wondered what you all thought of the latest manner in which these have been requested. Personally I feel the following letter is out of order (to put it mildly). I do not think that parents under financial pressure (which doesn't include me) should have to deal with letters like this. The school has a VERY active and supportive Friends association and gets a huge turn out and huge amounts of help for fund-raising events. This was also for a non-voluntary event. There was never any letter specifically requesting donations. What do you think:

"Dear Parents,

So far we have only received the disappointing sum of x voluntary contributions towards y...If you have already given us a contribution please ignore this letter. Hopefully this is an oversight (I know...it doesn't make sense) and you will provide us with a contribution tomorrow (suggested sum)"

blah blah details of other events..."We may be obliged to cancel some events or ask for more voluntary contributions to cover our outgoings. "

The WORST bit is the form to fill in at the bottom:

"Apologies for the oversight, please find (gap)towards y"

with a bit to fill in your name!!!!

OP posts:
misdee · 25/01/2005 20:01

thats cheeky!!

oatcake · 25/01/2005 20:02

Terrible! I wouldn't pay on principle. I would also shame the head because just think of the stigma for poorer, larger families who cannot afford to pay.

I thought education was meant to be free!

hercules · 25/01/2005 20:06

I support voluntary contributiond to a certain extent but i wouldnt pay anything in response to that.

fisil · 25/01/2005 20:15

This is a difficult one. Legally schools cannot exclude a student from a trip because they are unable to pay. Therefore all contributions must be voluntary, but if the school doesn't get enough money then it will not be able to run the trip. The law is a good one and based on sound principles, and I don't think any teacher/school would disagree with that. However, I know that it can become very fustrating when you can't run trips because the wrong parents do not contribute. Interestingly this was an issue when I worked in a middle class school where the kids got taken off on holidays abroad etc. At my current school which has children from backgrounds who really would struggle to pay it is not an issue. It is such a hard issue - it is absolutely right that children should not be excluded because their parents cannot afford to pay, but it is not right if a whole class cannot go on a trip because some parents who are perfectly capable of it will not pay. The letter you have been sent is not nice and not good. I can see the frustration on which it is based, but from your point of view - which is entirely correct - it is not acceptable. Hmmm.

Original poster
hatstand · 25/01/2005 20:16

It's all a bit ott - the sum involved is paltry but I object to filling in a form where I have to apologise and identify myself with the amount I give

OP posts:
Gobbledigook · 25/01/2005 20:17

I'm afraid I'd be pretty livid if I got a letter like this, regardless of my financial situation!

CarrieG · 25/01/2005 20:20

Our Head goes in for similar clangers & leaves the rest of us to firefight the reaction from parents!

You could return it with a comment clipped to it stating that being expected to 'apologise for the oversight' is insulting, presumptuous & likely to put you off contributing (& include the contribution or not, as you choose) - hopefully the person responsible for the wording will think twice next time.

Original poster
hatstand · 25/01/2005 20:20

I'd quite like to write a stroppy letter but don't want to kick up a fuss when we're about to seek "permission" to take dd out of school for a week. I suppose I'll let it lie. DH says we should use the opportunity to slip the head a bribe.

OP posts:
Original poster
hatstand · 25/01/2005 20:22

CarrieG - I was wondering whether to put some money in an envelope and write on it :

contribution towards x
no name
no apology

OP posts:
sobernow · 25/01/2005 20:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Tortington · 25/01/2005 22:07

i kep tmy kids off from a school trip as they were happening all too frequently and with twins i had to find double the money.

the school said i could apply to the friends assoc for money - i went to see the head twice - obnoxious women with no children, i argues that if the friends of the school had money they should automatically put it towards the cost of lowering the trip - rather than forcing mums to grovel to the school in some shameful way which i refused to do.

she argued the money should go to those who most need it - and if you need it you would apply for it.

mu kids though were so upset with not going on the trip - that icouldnt do it to them again on principle.

they went for a 4 day school trip to the isel of wight costing £200 odd quid EACH - we go on holiday for that ALL of us!

i never sentmoney in for anything else, never contributed in any way to school fairs or any other activity - they could go jump!

Demented · 25/01/2005 22:21

Funny was having thoughts along similar lines myself today. I think the letter is really cheeky and haven't had anything like that to deal with but my DS1 only started School in August and I feel my hand is constantly in my purse for a couple of quid here and a couple of quid there. Today, in addition to the separate book club they run within the School that we contribute to for DS1, we have been sent home a brochure full of children's books (apparently discounted but still very expensive compared to The Book People or ASDA etc), the more books parents' order the more free books go to the School and a request for donations for a casual dress day in aid of the Asian Tsunami (don't get me wrong, very worthy cause, have contributed already but certainly don't begrudge another couple of quid). I do however wonder how less well off families (not that we are loaded by any means) and bigger families cope!

In November they had a craft fair and I donated a whole load of books that I could have sold on Amazon and then we went to the fair and spent a fortune on overpriced books and rubbish.

I feel really guilty if I don't do these things though.

Sorry slight rant. Yes I think the letter is out of order, it's either voluntary donations or it's not, sending you a letter suggesting that you have forgotten and suggesting an amount takes the voluntary bit out of the equation IMO. If they don't have enough donations then IMO the trip should be cancelled and if there were parents well able to afford a donation who were leaving it to others then hopefully they will think long and hard about it next time.

janeybops · 25/01/2005 22:29

agree with fisil.

The price requested from each child is not allowed to exceed the cost of the trip so if some people are unable to pay in full or in part then the school has to find the money from somewhere else. This is not a problem if it is just for a few children in a group, but is a problem when there are a lot.

However, that letter is a not really on!

weightwatchingwaterwitch · 26/01/2005 09:37

This is exactly what 'friends of the school' type organisations should be raising money for imo, making up the shortfall for events like this. Ds goes to a school with lots of poverty (i.e. one little girl who was in his class used to smell because her family couldn't afford hot water so she only bathed once a week) and some (quite a lot actually) CAN'T AFFORD IT. What are you going to do? I'd write to the head, the PTA and the governors but then, I am stroppy like that!

weightwatchingwaterwitch · 26/01/2005 09:40

Hatstand, I wouldn't worry about the head refusing you permission because you complain about this. You don't have to be nasty, you can write a nice letter outlining your concerns. I've written several times and we still were 'allowed' to take ds out when we needed to. In one instance the head definitely agreed with me and said so when I spoke to him about it. He'd been outvoted at a meeting about this partic event and so was glad that some parents objected.

anorak · 26/01/2005 09:43

A friend of mine with a lifetime of work in the education sector (who ended up as a school inspector) used to receive letters like this from his kids' school. He always sent a letter back saying that the wording was inappropriate and that unless it was changed the school would receive nothing from him.

Eventually they did change the wording to reflect the spirit of the voluntary contribution system.

Beep · 26/01/2005 09:52

Iused to get cross about the wording on school letters from ds1 primary school where you had to fil in the slip saying " I am willing to contribute x amount" as I thought it should say I am able to .....,mind you most of the letters from that school were very badly worded

Caligula · 26/01/2005 09:53

Interesting, I think your inspector friend got it right Anorak, in merely pointing out that the way the school communicates is bad.

I'm always getting hopelessly worded letters from school, but I make allowances for the fact that they're obviously not trained in basic communcations skills! Funnily enough, my friend who is a deputy head, has just signed up for a comms training course because she's realised how poor her schools' communications with parents and the outside world are, and how much easier her job would be if she got that right, freeing her up for more important stuff.

I can understand the school needing to make up the shortfall, but this is probably the least effective method of going about getting it.

iota · 26/01/2005 09:58

I agree with Fisil. It's a shame that the letter was so badly worded.

At ds1's school 'voluntary contributions' are requested for events such as trips to the pantomime - not part of an essential education, but a 'nice to have' and as such I am happy to pay for my child.

BTW the Parents Association covered the cost of the coach hire to the pantomime, so the voluntary contribution was a lot less than the true cost of the trip.

open · 26/01/2005 09:59

I always pay the so-called voluntary contributions, contribute to school fairs, book fairs etc etc. Last year we hit a crisis and I couldn't afford to pay what we had said we would for the school sponsored event (for school funds). I literally had to spend it on lunch money. We had note after note from the school chasing this.

It's not always the larger/poorer families who can't contribute.

oatcake · 26/01/2005 20:42

true, open. we all live according to our means (ie. we spend whatever we have coming in, regardless!)

tallulah · 27/01/2005 18:45

I think it's a cheek. This was always my biggest bugbear at primary school- this constant drip drip of demands for money. With a trip, you can't dictate where they go & some of the sums requested were outrageous. One my boys went on to a local zoo the school wanted something like £10 each. The boys were junior members so didn't usually pay to go anyway & I took them up there in my car so they could go & we didn't have to pay the "voluntary" contribution. I think the Head probably thought I was being mean but we have 4 children & at the time had so little money coming in that we were having to cut down on food..

Now they are at secondary school we just get asked for the annual school fund & the raffle tickets at Xmas.

(Don't we already pay for education through our ever-increasing taxes? )

Yurtgirl · 27/01/2005 19:34

Message withdrawn

nutcracker · 27/01/2005 20:08

We recently had a prob like this when the school asked for a voluntary contribution of 11.05 per child for a trip to Shrugbrough Hall.

We were all quite amazed at how much they were asking for, especially as it is quite cheap for kids to get in there. Alot of people only paid the deposit of 5 pounds and then the school nearly had to cancel the trip days before it was due to happen.
I would rather every had to pay the same amount, as i know that some people who can well afford it, only pay a bit as they know most will pay all.

As it was the school trip was brilliant, the kids did loads of activities, making cakes, dressing up and washing in an old laundry etc, and so i now understand why it ws so much, and feel it was worth it.

I think a good idea in future would be to send out a detailed list of what the money is for, what the kids will do etc, so we can see where the money is going.

Hatstand - The letter is cheeky yes.

jampots · 27/01/2005 20:16

I resent the fact that the school (ours anyway) are always asking for money and it seems to me that any excuse to make a bit for school fund. A couple of weeks ago they had a Tsunami day where the kids could bring in 50p for making cakes or something and £1 to wear their own clothes. It was presented together and I thought if they raised 200 (amount of kids) x £1.50 it would be a good sum of money. Very sad to find that only the £1 was for the tsunami appeal and the 50p was for school funds on the back of this. They also hold a mufti day on the last Fri in each month so once again most kids want to wear their own clothes so its £200 a month income. Im pretty sure they add a bit on for school trips etc.