'parental contribution'

[Anon7722930]

So I've just received the welcome pack for my child for the primary school she's starting in September (reception) and there is a 'parental contribution' of nearly £2,000 a year per child! I've never even heard of this for a supposed free state school!
Is this a normal thing? We live in the north west

I would completely disregard it. We lived in a London borough and I don’t remember this at all. Maybe my brain just blanked it 🤣. I highly doubt that every parent is giving those sort of contributions- unless you live in a very wealthy area. I means £2000 is a holiday for many people. How unrealistic to assume everyone can pay that.

That sounds odd! We get asked for parental contributions for specific things like school trips, or full day works shops using an outisde company? But its usually lik £5-20 per thing and only really one or sometime two per term?

It sounds odd to me. Is it a particularly wealthy area? I would a) ignore b) be ready to say / reply that your family will contribute to the life of the school however you can. And stop before the "but".

Never heard of anything like this.

I think a LOT of families would have a problem with that! It's over £160 a month for goodness sake, and what if you have several children at the school? Let alone if you are claiming any benefits. or just a family struggling with the cost of living.

Most schools have very tight budgets and I suppose you can't blame them for trying, but they need to be careful that they are not discouraging less wealthy families from applying for a place. Maybe speak to the LEA about it, or is it an 'academy'? it Is it generally a fairly prosperous area?

£2,000 🤣. I wouldn't pay it, it's a ridiculous request and l would ignore it. If they mention it again l would tell them to manage their money better -l know school budgets are under pressure but so is my families

Thankyou everyone for your reassurance that I'm not crazy. This is my first of 2 children to go to school. And when I asked my mother she was most unhelpful and uncaring. We are not in a particularly wealthy area, just the Northwest, a middle area with majority of working families from both, working and middle class

Obviously 2k is unreasonable and they have not right to ask. I would be tempted to raise it was the local authority, as it is putting pressure on parents. Our school lets you give a voluntary donation if you want (no pressure just a button you can press to do it if you want). It is £5, £10 or £20 a month, so completely different and I am happy to pay. I think this is fine to give parents an option to pay a small amount, 2k and presuming you will give it is not OK.

You shouldn't have to feel any pressure on this, it's disgraceful. Does your child have the place at the school ?

Can you just not fill in the form for the 'parental contributions'? Without mentioning it. This was never a thing when mine were at primary. Well I think they might have asked for a small annual donation, certainly less than £100.

It sounds a very big amount to ask for. My daughter’s primary school asked for a £10 contribution each term around 25 years ago, and her secondary school asked for £250 per year. It’s increasingly common for schools to ask for parental contributions nowadays, now that their budgets have been cut so drastically. Most of the schools I work with ask for contributions to help them to continue to provide enrichment and extra curricular activities. But all schools should be making it very clear that this is a voluntary contribution and should not be pestering parents to pay.

a silly question OP, but could the school have put the decimal point in the wrong place in their letter?

£2000 is absolutely mental. I know of some schools who have suggested a voluntary donation of £5 a week, even that is a lot. My DS’s school has an Amazon wish list where people can purchase things if they want to, like books and equipment. There is no pressure whatsoever.

We had one at my kids school. Because it was voluntary they could use gift aid to claim the tax back on it.

It was £20.00 per year though. 😂

ooooo yes missing decimal point is the obvious explanation. There is no way they’d ask for 2k

This has got to be a mistake. They’d be in huge trouble for soliciting that sort of money for parents. Are you sure there isn’t a decimal point after the first zero, so £20.00?

This sounds insane. I have never heard of this before. Are you sure they haven't made a typo with the amount?!

My kids school ask for 6quid a term for baking in eyfs, that's pretty much it.

My primary school asks for 20 pounds per term for class consumables and 30 per term towards the building /maintenance. Both are optional and after 1 automated reminder are not chased. Even those amounts are expensive for more than 1 child.£2k is surely a mistake

Email your mp

I know of one primary school and a high school that ask for around this amount. They are academies and faith schools. They've done it for years. They also have a parents guild which asks for annual subs. It's incredibly odd putting. A lot of the parents are fairly affluent but definitely not all. The schools raise between £500k to a over a million via donations and legacies over the last 5 years according to the charity commission. I've heard of but not seen similar from high schools in a very affluent area but not £2000!
My kids school rarely ask for money. We do summer fairs with donations to the bottle and toiletry tombola and it's never mandatory.

I have never heard of that before at a state primary.
I am used to fundraising events for schools which are always voluntary, but nothing like that

Is it part of a MAT?
I would ignore ignore it or complain to the LA/academy trust.

I would assume a typo, but if it's not, definitely one to raise with your MP

I'd love to know what extras you get at the school for the money? If it was smaller classes, plenty of learning support, great trips and wrap around and extracurriculars etc I'd consider it a bargain compared to private school. I feels there's limits of what fundraised funds can pay for though e.g. not staff wages.

A friend pays similar towards security in her Jewish school. Sad that its necessary

That's quite a lot, one of my dc's schools is a voluntary donation suggested at £50 a month. I don't mind paying it because it's an excellent school & obviously cheaper than private.

that's secondary though. Their primary was more like £50 a yr.