Schools Asking Parents for Money.....
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Is it okay for schools to ask parents for money? 
A new survey shows 87% of parents have been asked to donate to their child's school, with needs like school trips, sports equipment, and books. Some parents have spent up to £138. What do you think about this?
Our daughters school does it all the time, they asked recently for parents to pay extra for a trip or they couldn't go, the extra money was for those who couldn't afford the trip, or parents that wouldn't pay it
martinlufc5637 ...This happened to.my sister who had twin boys years ago, they are 30 next month..
My sister was contributing more on her Morrisons wage but the woman who was pleading poverty & supposedly couldn't afford to send her child on the trip was in a good job with more money than my poor sister!
janphoenix51 yeah it does my head in with some of these who claim poverty, they smoke and go out drinking every weekend but can't afford a few quid for a trip
TheChimp well id personally go without food or drink for a weekend if it ment my kid could have a school day out with her friends
martinlufc5637 You seem to be tarring all benefit claimants with the same brush which is abhorrent.
It sounds like you've had financial stability and certainly don't know about the majority of people on the lowest level of UC. Do you seriously think that they've all got BMW's and smoke and drink in pubs all day? SMH
TheChimp they are not all benefit claiments, and I'd be the first to pay to help someone out if they couldn't afford it ( which I have done many times & never asked for a penny back), one couple have 2 children, drive a new BMW, wear designer clothing, showing on Facebook out drinking every weekend, Yet can't afford
to pay to send their kids on a school trip, should I pay for them?? or do feel the need to judge me more before knowing the facts 
What's more hilarious is, those on benefits pay for their kids those that work and look to be doing well in life don't lol the irony of that eh....
And why not? If those so called poverty pleading "parents" saved up some of their benefits or wages each week or month by not buying takeaways, gambling, smoking, tattoos they all would have enough money to be responsible parents. They have no pride or shame and plea poverty.
martinlufc5637 So you're talking about one family?
Get a grip. There's a lot of people out there that can't afford to feed themselves properly.
Nice to here that you've never been in that position though
TheChimp who said it was just one family, as for getting a grip lol, I don't need to tell you about my struggles in life, I grew up and spend half my life in poverty
martinlufc5637 Then you better if you're telling the truth..
I don't believe you for a minute.
Have you actually been on benefits?
I don't think it's bad parents paying for school trips I think they should be cheaper tho any equipment should be provided by the government unless a child had purposely damaged it
I think it depends what they are asking money for. If it is for school trips then I don't see a problem. If a child has damaged equipment then their parents should have to pay for it. I know that my sons school has signed up to the Asda cashpot for schools.
In junior school I used to arrange fundraising so kids like mine could go on these trips etc. I wouldn’t have been able to afford to send my kids but nothing is for free. I used to arrange raffles and jumble sales. I did a sponsored silence- but it was the parents that went into school for an afternoon. That one bought quite a lot of money in as none of the parents wanted to let their own kids down. Its ok to take if you need the help- but giving back doesn’t have to cost you money.
No giving your time if you can afford to helpsl schools a lot..
My friend & I used to run the Healthy Tuck Shop at her primary school..
Every term a letter went out to parents asking for volunteers to help run the tuck shop & every term it was the same five people who offered..Me & my friend plus 3 more parents..
Mine doesn't but we are being let down from previous governments who cut education budgets and increase sen kids without adequate resources. Given we all pay taxes it's wrong our money isn't spent on the NHS and education
I don't mind being asked occasionally but it does seem to be quite often. I understand schools are struggling but so are parents
They have always done so. I remember taking part in a fundraiser to get a new minivan for our school - there would have been other initiatives at other times. It’s the norm if they can’t get funding from the government
I personally don’t mind, at the end of the day it’s for my child. My school has the best PArent Council and do a lot of fund raising.
I seem to remember years ago there was a school trip to a stately home place, I can't remember which and I didn't go. I often had to contribute my pocket money towards it, I had no interest myself in the trip and I think money was tight at the time so there was about 3 of us that didn't go and we ended up spending half the day drawing and doing other interesting stuff. It might have been Montecute House. I think I didn't pass on the trip form to my mother as I didn't want to go. When the kids came back most of them thought it was rubbish it seems. So it wasn't a trip I felt I missed out on by not going.
I would of hated it if other parents had paid for me and I still had to go. I think some school trips are more of interest to the teachers than the chlldren sometimes and not always that educational. The next day after the trip I remember the trip being discussed and there was a history lesson about the stately home anyway so I still annoyingly got to learn about it. It's like when I go to Longleat I never go into the main building and learn about the history, I'm not interested in what he got up to and how many wifelets he had.
I thought it was normal to be asked to pay for school trips, I know we did when we were children. To be honest I'm very surprised the figure is only £138. In the last twelve months we have paid for 3 residential trips (one abroad that was four figures) and two in the UK that both cost more than that. This is on top of the 'little' trips to museums etc.. that they do throughout the year 
No,, we pay enough taxes, when my kids were at school they were always asking for money
When the school sends a letter out saying ‘we can’t legally ask you to pay for this trip, so instead we ask you for a voluntary contribution of x amount and if you don’t pay then your child can’t go on the trip’
Erm, that’s exactly the same as charging parents for the trip.
Nothing new.
I used to get asked by my Bradford primary and secondary schools in the 1980s.
At the junior school my son attends, any trips are to be paid for by the parents or simply they can't go, they have the usual fundraisers such as summer fayres they also have a type of fun run which half goes to school and the other half to charity. They also have the none uniform day and comic relief as none uniform which you have to pay a pound.
I think it’s fine for those that can afford it. But ive seen some families struggle to buy their kids uniforms. They are so expensive
I think they should ask parents to contribute only if they can afford it. As some parents are well off then other parents, and with schools they don't always have the funding if we all depended on schools children may not get to enjoy themselves.
My daughter in law is a teacher and her previous school needed items for children. I bought dozens of pens, pencils and crayons for her classroom. She would buy food for those that were sent to school without any breakfast.
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