'Cake stall pressure' - is resistance futile?

[choucroutegarnie]

Our child attends the nursery class of a rather sought-after state primary in north London.

Having been brought up overseas I'm amazed at the pressure on parents to raise funds for state schools and otherwise 'get involved'.

For instance, we've been positively told off for failing to bake a cake for the nursery cake stall. We both work long hours under pressure and I'd rather make a direct donation than sit in the rain for 2 hours to raise £20 (not to mention the hours spent the previous evening making the wretched stuff). Oh, and we've been told that 'shop-bought' was a no no.

Other parents say they go along with it because they feel it will give them a better chance of getting their child into the reception class (though officially the head has no say in such a selection).

Am I the only one out there thinking this is a little bit, well, annoying?

As the chair of the pta at dd's school I can tell you that the money raised through ventures like this is desperately needed by schools to pad out their funding. Is the school FM by any chance? DD used to go there.

bollox to all that cake baking crap - i'm too busy teaching the secondary blighters

i love all this primary school pta stuff - it disappears at secondary...no one gives a toss then

i will bake a cake for you to take along, you'll never be asked again

lol nancy - same here

Go to some other school's fair/ fayre, buy up a cake, re-wrap it and pass it off as your own.

Or just don't bother. Life is too short for all that bollocks. I hate it when head teachers / PFA think they can tell parents off as if they were kids.

I may well take you up on that nancy!

The school is not FM, Comeoveneer. I do take your point about funding, though. I'm sure you are totally right, sadly.

Maybe it's just me but I'd rather be told "look, the school is £x short. If we are to do x,y,z, we'd be really grateful if you helped out."

Somehow that'd be more honest - and possibly more effective financially - than saying to parents that "really, it would be SO NICE if you could bake us a cake next time, you were the only one who didn't...".

It would still be a scandal that primary schools are under-funded, but I guess that's another thread!

I don;t bake as my local NCT branch who held an annual cake sale every year can testify.

Seriously, it should be up to you whether you contribute. Baking a cake is something not everyone is capable of. I for example have a crap oven that cooks unevenly.

I would be mightily piddled off if I was "told off" for not doing so and would be having very strong words of complaint with the head.

And the head does have no say in reception admissions. Unless it is a faith school it is all done by crieteria by the LEA.

Here I go again. Don't bake a cake. You're w grown up - you don't have to. you certainly don;t have to "man" the cake stall, or get involved in any way at all. Np problem. But if you're not so skint that the odd 50p's going to cause you problems and you don't even buy the occasional cake, then I hope you tell your children not to ride the tricycles, read the books, look at the interactive white boards, go to the parties or on the trips or play on the adventure playgrounds that the PTA fundraising provides.

Yes, schools are government funded, but only for essentials. Fund raising is necessary to buy the things that can help make it fun, and enrich they chldren's education.

Well said seeker. TBH I get a bit sick of the pta bashing. Last year alone we raised over £10,000 for dd's school. This is going towards replacing all the windows that are in such a bad way that one of them fell into the headteachers office, yet the council won't give extra funding to sort it. We are fairly lucky at our school that the majority of the parents actualy put in the effort to help out this year, where as last year it was only a handful to busted guts to get events organised. If everyone who was able (I realise some parents don't have the time) made a little effort it wouldnt fall onto just a few shoulders.

That's very annoying choucroute. Not everyone feels able to bake a cake tbh. I have never badgered people to bake cakes and I am a member on 2 PTAs.

Why don't you just come out with it and say "look, I am really not a baker, but we want to contribute - can we make a donation of £20 for each event to buy a raffle prize?" or similar?

Don't bake a cake, but I'm sure that there are lots of other ways that you can help. Schools need the money-everyone is busy these days but they can still do their bit-it is hardly fair to opt out completely and yet benefit from everyone else putting themselves out slightly.

IT WILL NOT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE TO THEIR GETTING IN TO RECEPTION!! Honestly these rumours make me laugh! I'm a teacher and my mum is a chair of governors. It won't make a fig of difference I promise you.

Oh and also baking cakes is SOOOOOooo easy, I don't buy into the 'I can't bake' HOWEVER I totally understand about not having time!

choucroutegarnie your living overseas hasn't included Oz and NZ then? See thread on equipment parents have to provide there. Perhaps that would be more up your street than baking a cake though?

The LEA will have a list of school entry criteria, baking cakes isn't on it!! However I assume that you want a place because it is a good school; one of the things that makes it a good school is parental involvement-so you ought to be prepared to be involved.

What I do whan i haven't got time to bake a cake is buy a shop made one, ice it and get the kids to cover it in chocolate buttons etc. It looks the part and by the time it's been eaten nobody will know who brought it in.

not all parents have time or energy to bake a cake. Buggered if I'm doing one then carrying it nearly 3 miles to the farking school. I did my PTA time when the older 3 were little. I don't have time to do it again.
And dd takes her own money into school for her equipment cos she is SN funded.

I hate all this PTA stuff.

'But if you're not so skint that the odd 50p's going to cause you problems and you don't even buy the occasional cake, then I hope you tell your children not to ride the tricycles, read the books, look at the interactive white boards, go to the parties or on the trips or play on the adventure playgrounds that the PTA fundraising provides.'

...and that's why.

hmmm, dd can't ride tricycles, look at boards or play on the playground. The PTA makes no effeort to cater for her at all.
So I'll eat my own cakes

roundcornvirgin - don't understand.

needmorecoffee - what would you like them to do?

My very close friend has just become chair of (previously non existant) PTA at my sons special school - she has done so much to raise money etc and she is brilliant - i don't have a problem with PTA's but the difference is she doesn't work and i do...(I would rather they increased the parental fund contribution - i do actually give more than requested every year cos of my PTA guilt)

Also I personally would love to know how many people are on PTA's at secondary level cos secondary schools need cash too - i think most people seem to have had enough of it by then (which i think says a lot actually)

I did make an effort to join the PTA for my son's secondary school. But they meet in an upstairs room and refused to meet somewhere I can get in. So I thought, well fuck you then.
Seeker - I'd like to see them considering what disabled children need for once. Why would I contribute towards a tricycle? On a selfish note maybe, but why would I?

I've been on PTA, helped out at school and do voluntary work in the community, so I've done my bit.. What annoys me is the negative attitude directed towards people that don't get involved in things, which I've only picked up on from PTA members in RL and on MN. It's voluntary FGS. I give up an hour a week helping to run a group. The parents are quite happy to leave their chn in the group and go. That's what it's there for. We don't groan about the fact that there are only 3 of us that help. People have lots of reasons for not helping. If you are going to help then good on you, but don't begrudge the chn of people who choose not to.

By GaspodisWearingASantaHatHoHoHo on Sun 14-Dec-08 08:09:57
Oh and also baking cakes is SOOOOOooo easy, I don't buy into the 'I can't bake'

It's not easy when you don't have a properly functioning oven. Unless you like your cakes burnt one side and uncooked the other.

Our PTA has funded a sensory garden, a whole range of toys for KS1 children with a variety of special needs and made sure that the books bought for the library reflect our school community.

Have you tried suggesting how some funds could be used? If the committee doesn't know then they can't really be censured for not doing anything

I've lost count of the times people have posted some variation of "Get a Life" whenever fundraising is mentioned. Not getting involved is fine - although I'm a bit surprised that buying a cake is considered an onerous commitment, but abusing the people who DO get involved is not fine. If somebody approaches you and says "Please could you bake a cake for the fair?" you say "I'm very sorry, I'm too busy this week". And them it would be great if you didn't then come on Mumsnet and post "Some doo-gooding control freak of a woman on the PTA asked me to bake a cake! How dare she invade my personal space in such an aggressive manner. She should get a job - and anyway she only does it so her child can be Mary in the Nativity play!"