School trips - voluntary contribution

[hermanmunster]

... getting fed up of requests for "voluntary contributions" for school trips. Latest is £35 for day playing on climbing frames... at least that is how my driver described it. Actually I thnk, trapeze, mazes etc etc.

As it is voluntary do I have to pay ?
Will they take the kids anyway?
What do they do with the kids if there stingey parents won't pay?

[fm]

If they are aware of your economic abiltity to pay, I imagine they will either embarrass you or your child into paying. I can't think they would take him/her regardless because that would not be fair on the other parents who do pay.

I think they are called 'voluntary' because they are not allowed to insist on the money but, if a certain percentage of parents ceased paying, then the trips would probably cease, too.

At my son's school there were no trips at all because many of the parents wouldn't have been able to afford them which is perhaps why I am happy to stump up for the trips my daughters have enjoyed at grammar schools where, by and large, the parents were better off.

[mad?]

at least that is how my driver described it.

?

[Looking for help]

I think the school will take the children if they are asking for voluntary contributions and some parents do not pay. I think the consequence of parents not paying is that trips in the future will be at risk, as the school will have to meet the bill, whether or not parents pay up, so they may decide to opt out altogether as they may not recover costs.

It can be a costly exercise especially at this time of the year, when there seems to be more trips than normal school days

Driver ?

[hermanmunster]

Not Chauffeur but I could hope!

Nah NHS out of hours service .. they don't like "lone workers" so we get someone to drive us around, park on double yellow lines, make tea, fetch bacon butties, find the oxygen, take you home to get changed when you slip and land in mud , moan over the football with and find elusive far flung houses...


Re the trips - I don't think any of the trips so far have been worth the effort so really wouldn't mind if they didn't happen. The problem I have is the moral blackmail of the teacher going round the class ticking off who has brought the form back with the £35...

curious to know if they will let her have a day off orshe will have to go in and do the same "enrichment day" on careers for 2 days running

[ourmaminhavana]

Hermanmunster, I agree with your concern, but I think the idea is usually that if you can pay you do and if you can't the school will subsidise it so that all of the children can go on the trip. As mentioned, if enough parents don't pay it jeopardises/stops the trip for everyone.

[Amber]

I am clerk to governors at a school and this issue has been a real concern recently. 2 trips have been cancelled because of the high number of refusals to pay voluntary contributions. This is separate from those who genuinely cannot pay because of hardship - there is a small contingency fund for those cases, though interestingly, they are not usually the ones who decline to pay. I think the best thing to do if you do not agree to the trip is to decline the opportunity to let your child go, otherwise the school has to find the money for your child out of school funds, or cancel the trip if more than a couple decline. Certainly at the school I am involved with, the margin is pretty small and more than one or 2 refusers would tip it over to being unaffordable.

[hermanmunster]

I have e-mailed the member of staff running the trip. I can afford the trip, I just don't think it is good value or worthwhile, I am also concerned that many will struggle to pay for it but will feel obliged to do so.

[Looking for help]

I have e-mailed the member of staff running the trip. I can afford the trip, I just don't think it is good value or worthwhile, I am also concerned that many will struggle to pay for it but will feel obliged to do so.

That is a good idea, sometimes I think they run trips just for the sake of it, where they are not really necessary and parents do feel as if they have to stump up. With several children all having two or three trips at the same time, it can become very expensive

[jingle]

At risk of appearing a total 'tight wad', I am with Herman on this. Have just been asked to cough up for a very local trip to a very local attraction which is £3.50 normally for kids to get in. The trip is less than two miles away and the cost is £17.50!!!!!! Plus they need packed lunch and spending money!

Lots of people don't pay at our school, so am wondering if this is why it is so dear?

Not a huge amount perhaps by itself, but combined with other kids/trips/enrichment weeks/holidays with the school (that "ALL my friends are going on" it really does mount up.