Voluntary contributions for school trips

[sagan]

Dd is in year one and will be going to a zoo in a few weeks time. The letter has said that a voluntary contribution may be given, that the trip has been subsidised and that the cost per child is £10. This has made me feel a little uncomfortable tbh, though I feel silly for it. I am a single parent with a 1 year old as well as dd and I was made redundant earlier in the year so money is tight. By askign for a voluntary contribution do they expect some parents to not pay at all? And would some parents pay more than the £10? It's all new to me so I don't know what's expected

school cannot enforce payment, and equally cannot exclude a child because of non-payment

but budgets are tight so payment is requested

schools do expect some to not pay, don't feel bad

ps I don't know of anyone who has paid more than requested

HTH

I have paid more many times.

I am lovely.

I always pay what is due, I can afford it though and only have one child at school at the moment.

I do know some people who could afford it (they have told me) but don't pay "on priniciple" - I have not quite pinned down what principle it actually is - presumably they pay their taxes etc.

This does annoy me as it raises the voluntary contribution for everyone else and is a selfish attitude to have.
If everyone had this attitude, I am sure the school would have to cancel the trip.

IMO, you should contribute what you can afford. So if you can't afford a tenner, fair enough but send in say £2/ £3 instead, rather than nothing.

Pagwatch, that's very nice of you to pay more.

Nah. It is a bit of self interest too.
School trips are fab and wonderful and if parents can't support then they get restricted. I can afford a bit more, others can afford a bit less. It is just adding in what you can afford and I know many many people make a bigger sacrific to contribute theirs - even if the amount is smaller.

pag you are indeed lovely

yy molly, I don't quite get the 'principle' either

We are not allowed to charge "extra" to make up for those parents who cannot or will not pay, so if any parents don't pay, the school has to bear the costs.We will cover as much as we can but school budgets are tight too and there comes a point where we have to say that the trip is uneconomic to run and has to be cancelled. We are quite happy to accept part payments or payments over time, we too understand that parents are finding times tough and the costs soon mount up, especially if you have several children in school ( we have one family with 5 children in our school, which makes whole school trips VERY expensive! ) I know trips are costly-it is the coaches that are the problem, in our area a coach costs £400 per day if we need it before 9.30 or after 2.30!- but we do try to ensure they are truely relevant ( or, in the case of our whole school trip in summer, simply fun!)

if the trip has been subsidized it actually costs more than £10 per child, but that's what they are asking for.

ime
lots will pay
a few won't pay
a fewer still will make smaller payments over a few weeks
1 might pay more or offer to pay for the entire coach (honest, we had this last year!)

We are really short of money but to be honest I wouldn't feel comfortable sending my DD without paying. Although it is voluntary if too many decide not to pay then the trip cannot go ahead which I feel is unfair.

I would always pay, but then I can afford it. I know some parents in my kids classes would really struggle to pay that much.

I'm also secretary of the PTA and we see one of our main fundraising aims to be to make up these shortfalls on trips, so that the school can continue to offer them. Our school never has to make p the shortfall - we do.

Throughout the whole school, I can only think of a handful of parents that I may suspect to be not paying when they could afford to, relying on someone else to pick up the bill. So all in all it';s a winner - those who can pay do pay. Those who can't pay don't pay but their kids (who are probably unlikely to have been to these kinds of things before anyway) get to go. A few people get away with it - bully for them!