It’s kicking off on the class WhatsApp…

[Creamice]

So limited number of tickets for (after) school event.
It is now sold out. Parents are upset that other parents have bought tickets for their younger children meaning that school pupils can’t all attend. Though I suspect there were never enough tickets for all pupils anyway…
should younger (preschool) siblings be allowed to attend? And if so do they need tickets? Discuss.

I've been to quite a few events where pupils families are invited, so you buy a family ticket covering up to 5 or whatever, which can include older or younger kids you have, but the parents would then be expected to stay and participate. Generally these are fundraising, I presume they make more money having some of the capacity filled by adults who might spend more than they do by maximising the number of school pupils there.

Sounds to me like they need to volunteer with the PTA so multiple discos can be staffed.

Just turn up, the school is not going not let you in, and leave the what's app group if you are brave....if you are sheep, stay on it

PTA chair here, I'd never run an event with limited numbers and invite siblings to attend! I'd also never want to be responsible for a child who doesn't attend the school, assuming some will drop and run!

First come first served but with max tickets per family would be a good compromise, I think.

Sadly, I am not in any juicy whatsapp groups [dailymailsadface] but I am in a few fb groups that kick off in delightful ways and I love them.
I'm a bad person.

This is really stupid from the PTA for a number of reasons:
they should risk assess and I would be surprised if this is based on nursery kids being there,
you can't have a load of adults who are not DBS checked at an event like that mixing with kids who have been dropped of,
it a reasonable assumption that the 100 is based on a risk assessment and space limitation so why are a load of parents (whoever wants by the sounds of it, unless they are also buying tickets for themselves which would be even more ridiculous) allowed to attend.
I don't buy the kids are being discriminated against BS, if there are limited tickets then they are limited but allowing pre-school kids to go is just idiotic.

Ridiculous that people are using the term discrimination because obviously it isn't. But I think it's fair to say it's been poorly managed. Why is the cap at 100? I would have initially assumed it was fire regulation numbers indicates that is not the case. Perhaps it is staff to pupil ratio. Either way I do think actual pupils should have been given priority with a time frame of tickets being reserved for a set time but then tickets being made available on a first come/first serve basis.

Although, even then I bet you still have parents who didn't buy tickets moanin they were being 'discriminated' against.

Discuss.

God, I absolutely hate it when people say this. Patronising.

Sounds like it should only be for children who attend the school, so younger children would not qualify and probably wouldn't be covered for insurance purposes.

No wonder teachers stop running after school activities

Whenever anyone on here barks out the command “Discuss” I just want to tell them to fuck off with their patronising shit.

This makes no sense. I did PTA events for years and all events were either pupils only or bring your child and you're responsible for them. Are you sure people haven't got hold if the wrong end of the stick?

Just archive it and only use it if you’ve forgotten what day world book day is or whatever

I am sooooo happy to be out of all this! For many years I was a primary school h/t in an inner-city setting with a very wide (social-class / poverty&wealth / cultural & ethnic) intake. When something like this was afoot, whether it be School Assoc/PTA or school- organised, I learned to think through, very carefully & in advance, every single possible complaint or disagreement or problem, which might possibly be thrown up, because of some aspect of the event or its organisation. It was a bit tiring. But nowhere near as exhausting as having to deal with the FallOut.

I often wondered to myself about my naive belief that I'd entered Management in order to make a difference in children's education.

😂😂😂😂
Well I hope they get in touch with the Minister of Education, Ofsted, PM and maybe The Court of Justice for good measure.

Our primary school discos and dances were for the key stages, no parents bar formal volunteers, and preschoolers would never have been allowed. Are the school aware that preschoolers have tickets?

Unfair on the infant school kids who can’t get tickets.

Then they unfortunately have to decline the invitation. (Speaking as a single mother with no father involved at all).

I think every child who is involved in the show/event should get two allocated tickets to be purchased up until a certain date. Then any left over can go into general sale and people can buy extra if they wish. I don’t think it’s fair that some parents should miss out completely lwhile others buy tickets for their younger children. This of course should only apply to events that feature the children directly like nativity, graduation etc…. More general stuff like the Christmas fair it’s a case of first come first served.

I don’t see how this is discrimination?? You do know what that means don’t you?

I have been cross about similar before - limited tickets for Christmas nativity. I was working when tickets went on sale. 1 hour later all sold out. Some people were sharing how thrilled they were because both sets of grandparents were going, others step parents and kids, yet some kids had no one. They should have done 2 per child then any spare lucky dip or first come. Anyway, I went. Arrived really early. Went and sat in the church, knew people who be standing anyway so good chance no one would notice an extra one!

Yes, of course I do. I don’t think that there is any discrimination. But found it amusing that others seemed to think so.

You’ve not lived - once on my parents WhatsApp one of the parents was on holiday and clearly very drunk and she started telling everyone how sad and shit they were because she was drinking Vodka in Dubai and we were all boring c**ts - honestly, it was the best entertainment I’ve had in years 🤣🤣

Sorry, I realise now I misread your comment! Some people really do love to pull out the discrimination card for absolutely everything don’t they. Surely if it is a school event then every single child in the school should be able to go, then if there is extra room, siblings can come along. The whole thing seems odd to me.

I feel sorry for the PTA.
Before doing a Halloween event for the first time we sent out a questionnaire to gauge interest. About 10% responded.
So to play safe we did arranged a smallish event to ensure we didn't lose money.
Surprise surprise when we started selling tickets there was far more demand than anticipated.
People don't engage or offer to help, then moan.

You snooze, you loose 🤷 . This is why I don't miss school WhatsApp groups.