School trips and 'voluntary contribution'..for costs

[rainbowface]

Hi just being nosy here, I always do but does anyone not voluntarily contribute towards costs of school trips?? DS has trip coming up and am strapped this month toying with this idea of just sending in permission slip but no money is this a no no ....anyone??

Our Headmistress 'invites' people unable to give voluntary contriburion to 'discuss' with her . I think they nag the kids about it every dayu in class because the DC are always reminding me even after i have sent in the dosh.

I once genuinely forgot to include the money and I got a note from the sec saying 'Dear Mrs Threadworm, you have not included your voluntary contribution...'

I think that if they dont get the 'voluntary' contributions the school has to make up the money from school funds. Which means less money for ALL children.

If you can afford to pay, you should pay. Sorry.

A couple of times I have arranged to pay for the trip at a later date when I can afford it.

Receptionist was very off about it, said dc couldn't go. Spoke to Headteacher who said no prob at all.

Our school says that trips can only go ahead if all "voluntary" contributions are received and know that one trip to the zoo was nearly cancelled for this reason when dd1 was in Reception. Imagine breaking that news to a class of 4-5 year olds!

Apparently, the school is obligated to put the word "voluntary" in, as they are not allowed to insist on payment for activities during school time.

So, it may say "voluntary", but the £ is often essential iyswim

You can't charge more per head than it costs per head.

And you can't exclude a child for non-payment.

So for every child that doesn't pay the equivalent amount has to be found elsewhere.

It is a very difficult situation all round.

Our PTA is contributing to the cost of school summer trips this year to try to keep costs down.

this is why the PTA is so important - they often support the funding of these trips...and if you can afford to pay,then you certainly should.

rainbow face - in our school there is a very well of woman who never ever pays for her ds's swimming costs. The swimming is free but the transport must be paid for and she won't pay because she thinks it should be free.

What she doesn't know, and what I will thoroughly enjoy telling her on the last day of swimming lessons, is that I have been paying her ds's costs.

If you can pay you should. The last thing on earth you want is for some other mum to come up to you and tell you she paid for your childs trip.

i have paid the 'voluntary' contributions for all but one of the trips, and DS is in year 3 now, I genuinley forgot to pay and only remember about 3 weeks after the trip. schoool did not ask for it, nor was he prevented from going on the trip

my friend has 3 dcs at school, and the voluntary contributions can rack up.

They can rack up indeed. But coaches are eye-poppingly expensive unfortunately.

Get the PTA on the case.

Interesting comments thanks everyone - looks like I'll be coughing up as usual then!!

This is something that concerns me a little. Im a single mum, but until finances are sorted h is still paying the bills. Once im officially on my own I may struggle to fund our school`s horrendously expensive trips & swimming. Since they went back to school in January ive had to fork out £60 on swimming & 2 outings. Its something I simply will not be able to do all the time once im on benefits. Im hoping our school will be ok about it as were in a fairly affluent area & im sure everyone else can afford to pay.

As a classteacher I have had parents come to see me to say they can't afford the trip. Usually an arrangement is made discretely to pay a % of the cost (what they can afford). The remaining is found out of school funds.

I work in the office of a school one day a week plus helping out with the morning & afternoon rush on the other days, so I do a lot of checking money & permission slips.
You get to know the parents who never pay, but tbh it's more often forgetfulness rather than not being able to.

There is one mum, who is probably the most annoying person in the world (the office tends to empty when we see her coming)but when I started to help at the office I discovered she always includes extra money to help pay for those who can't afford it - but we are not allowed to thank her or mention it at all.

The PTA does a lot of 'topping up', but we have been pretty close to having to cancel a trip a couple of times.

With residential trips, where if you don't pay you don't go there are charities who can give grants - they paid for two of our year 6 to go to the Lake District last year.