Voluntary payments at school

[redcrx]

This follows on from a post about school dinners, bu i though i would start a new thread.

Now before I go on I want to point out that I AM aware that there are parents out there who really fdo struggle with day to day finances.

Little CRX is now at school. Hes in reception so i have many years of school trips, extra curricular activities etc ahead of me.

Next week is his first school outing, a letter was sent to all parents about it. The fee is £10 but paying is optional. Now i have paid, I wont refuse to if i wish my child to go on such trips, but i do wonder (certainly at this school) how many parents wont pay regardless of whether they can afford to or not just because it says they dont have to.


Just after he started he was given a sponsorship form for raising money for Barnardos children. Hes only 4 but i explained to him what it was for and he collected a total of £16.

now, bearing in mind that his class have over 30 pupils and there are at least 6 classes i was quite sad to read that the total raised by the entire school was £300. I am certai, when i walk to school and see all the brand new cars, the mums smoking outside school gates and some of the clothing worn that these arent all poor families, though i accept that the position of the school isnt in a well off area.

anyway, on to my question, sorry. If you were given the option of paying or not paying for the school trip yet could afford it, would you pay or not?

me, i would feel guilty if i didnt.

[B00]

Yes, I always pay too. I do this bearing in mind that if ever something does come up that I genuinely couldn't afford I'd be able to pass on the voluntry payment without feeling guilt. That's the plan anyway- lol.

[daffy654]

I always pay and always have done. It does usually state on these letters that the trips may not go ahead if not enough people pay.

[jackthehat]

I always paid.

I discombobulated the head-teacher when I offered to pay and subsequently DID pay when my son caused damage in the boys toilet by swinging on the paper-towel holder and pulling it off the wall - it was an unheard of event, apparently; volunteering to pay.

[redcrx]

daffy, these letters say nothing on them at all about trips not going ahead.

B00 i think thats a good way to do it.

Jack, i too have offered to repair for items damaged by my child at nursery, good for you!

I wonder if anyone will admit to not paying when they could have paid for it

[4getmenot]

can you haggle with them?

[redcrx]

Its a zoo trip. shall i try
"he doesnt like the moneys, so can i just pay a fiver?"

[mollykins]

My school often said that to pay was optional, but if you didn't you didn't go on the trip, as it wasn't compulsory.

[wolf63]

I would of thought that everybody should pay unless they have reason - the way it was when I was a girl.

I remember being annoyed when somebody that I knew used PDSA for her two dogs veterinary charges when she was actually quite well off. That was way back in 1980.

Many people have money because they are tight with money and they would never actually volunteer to pay a non-compulsary charge.

[4getmenot]

yer :-)

[redcrx]

well put, Wolf! I wonder if anyone on here would admit to being such a person lol

[sophie_1003]

I used to work at a school nursery where they asked for a 50p contribution each week which would be saved up for things like cookery ingredients, we also asked for a box of tissues from each child as we got through loads. Some parents were really generous- we had one dad give us an envelope containing lots of notes (I'm not sure how much) at the start of the year- whereas one mum (who had twins attending) said from the start "I won't be paying the 50p or bringing in any tissues" they were well-off and it just came across as so stingey!

[zebra]

I always pay the ''optional fee'' and always have for both my children, our children's letters state that if not enough parents pay the trip might not go ahead..but i also know the same ones who never pay as they boast about it, but yet their kids always get to go on the trips!!!

[Chaffinch]

I've never been given the option, Its always been pay or don't go, OK my daughter is now 18 and will be leaving school this summer, but have things really changed that much?