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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

How much mroe do the PA want?!

37 replies

KellyKrueger1978 · 05/10/2006 16:10

The pa at dd's school has always been very active, wanting money for this and the other. I am really gettign fed up with it now though. Its genes for jeans fri, and then next week is a mufti day and the week after they want cakes. The mufti day is really what annoyed me though, they aren't happy with the usual £1, they want a gift to do secret santa with. So I have to trawl round to find a gift, so that my child then has the priveledge of buying (more moeny!) a secret santa gift at the christmas bazaar! Plus of course they will then want raffle prizes etc.
I know I live in Ascot, but we are not all made of money! I have enough to pay out with ds's school fees, school trip this term, and dd's school skipping extra curricular. And I don't have the time to piss about baking cakes for the school or looking for presents. Am I jsut being mean?

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Tinkerbel5 · 08/10/2006 11:11

last year DD's school was always asking for money for this that and the other and I really couldnt afford it but gave it anyway.

This year though I wont be giving as much and will make up for it by donating my services for 'fruit washing' so that way Im still giving to the school.

rustycreakingdoorbear · 08/10/2006 11:41

I think that the PTA may actually be trying to be helpful by not asking for money for the mufti - hasn't DD got a toy or book she doesn't play with much in good condition which you could send?

With the cakes, when I was on the PTA we always asked for cakes, but we certainly didn't expect every family to contribute - and nor did we put a black mark against anyone who didn't - in fact we were all too busy running round like blue arsed flies trying to organise the event to even notice.

Now DD is at 6th form college the whole PTA thing has gone - they just ask for £50 a year

Kelly1978 · 08/10/2006 15:26

it has to be a present for a mum, not a child and the letter said soemthing along the lines of making sure it was something nice because you could get it back! I jsut feel they have a cheek.

Kelly1978 · 08/10/2006 15:30

I think tbh I would have been ahppier with doing it for a child, because it would have been somethign for the children. I don't want a present from secret santa and I doubt many other mums do neither.

busybusymum · 08/10/2006 15:54

I must confess I tend to reuse the stuff I got/won from the last fundraising event

Sorry if I gave you a hard time Kelly, as a PP suggested, I certainly didnt intend too just having a debate really!

julienetmum · 08/10/2006 21:54

Quote
Don't think you've been on Mumsnet that long Julietnetmum if you think that was Mumsnetters giving Kelly a hard time! Come on, no-one's been rude to her. All we've done is give our opinions!
Unquote

Let me see now, I suppose 4 years isn't very long really.

mumofhelen · 09/10/2006 10:52

No you're not being mean. I think you're just fed up and wondering how many years of these types of requests are yet to come. I don't have any children at pre-school/school myself, but I do attend toddler groups where there are parents with these age range. They too complain about the extras expected from them and all attend state primary schools. There's 3 main options of dealing with it all: give in and not complain/whinge or give in and complain/whinge or ignore these requests completely. Many start with the first, then move onto the second option and by the time their child is 8/9 years old, the parents have moved on to the last option. I suspect you'll follow suit as I will when the time comes and many others will do too.

granarybeck · 09/10/2006 22:58

Kelly, my dd and ds have just started a new school (which we're v happy with), we've been to the school autumn fair and booked to go to quiz night (12 pounds/ticket) which all seems v nice but I was quite surprised to get a letter,jointly from head and pta, asking us to sign up to a monthly standing order to the pta (suggestions of 10 to 50 pounds a month to illustrate the benefit to the school). Didn't quite know what to think!

Original poster

KellyKrueger1978 · 10/10/2006 18:12

monthly standing order?! I'd have had a fit, tbh. Another request from our school today - £1 for book week. Now that seems very worthwhile and I'm perfectly happy to send the odd £1 here and there, but I am really dreading when all four are in school. There is so much pressure to really get into it all too, shiny faced boden types shoving leaflets in your face all the time. They seem to have endless resources of childcare for all these evenign things, I have to fork out £30 for a sitter, I jsut can't do it.

OP posts:

batters · 11/10/2006 08:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

julienetmum · 11/10/2006 12:29

I used to be JulieF batters until about 12 months ago (I de-registered in protest at a certain advert)

The grammar school my cousin's dd goes to asks for a standing order from parents. It used to be a private grammar school, don't think it has quite got used to being state yet.

Not very encouraging to less well off parents who want to send their children there.

julienetmum · 11/10/2006 12:31

I used to be JulieF batters until about 12 months ago (I de-registered in protest at a certain advert)

The grammar school my cousin's dd goes to asks for a standing order from parents. It used to be a private grammar school, don't think it has quite got used to being state yet.

Not very encouraging to less well off parents who want to send their children there.

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