Would it be wrong to only pay half of DS school trip cost?

[Shirtbuttons26]

DS is going on a school trip. Its costing 45.00. Would it be wrong if I only paid 20.00 /25.00? I am on a low income and I'm juggling things a bit at the moment. I have another child at the school as well so I have been paying out for 2 children.

The school rang me saying i need to pay by tomorrow.

It does say contribution but I feel wrong for even thinking about it.

Yep but again it depends how long you’ve known about the trip. If you haven’t had long to gather the £45 then fair enough but if you’ve known about it for ages it’s on you I’m afraid, you found the first half so surely had time to find the second. If not, you should have let the school know sooner.

Schools dot have budgets to pay for school trips? They've always been paid for by parents. Do you not remember bringing in money for yours as a kid.

With the greatest respect OP, this is your child so you need to take charge of the situation. The school aren't mind readers and if they assume someone is in need of help when they don't want it that could be deemed to be offensive.
Just speak to the school.

I get what your saying. But i wouldn't know to ask if I did know it existed. Same as they wouldn't know money is tight at the moment.

@Icecreamandcoffee I am an ex-teacher (primary) and felt sad reading your post about children missing out on trips. It made me want to donate to your school fund, or do something about it in another way.

A few thoughts:

All children deserve to have an enriched curriculum and trips are part of that education.

Better-off parents who don’t value what is offered during a school trip (‘We take our children there anyway’) are overlooking the fact that other children may only get the chance to do so by going on that school trip.

School trips do offer something different to going there as a family. There are often facilitator-led experiences that are only open to educational groups. I remember amazing talks that really brought a particular topic to life for my class.

There have been several references to the PTA ‘covering’ it, yet schools in deprived communities, where there are likely to be more parents who can’t afford trips, often don’t have an active PTA because parents have too many stressors going on in their own lives and they just…don’t. My first school as a teacher was in a deprived area of London and, although a PTA was eventually formed, it was mostly teachers manning the stalls at the summer fair and cleaning up afterwards. It took a core group of about five parents in the PTA (who could probably all be categorised as struggling families themselves) two entire years of summer and Christmas fair fundraising to buy one piece of playground equipment. I think there was more support after seeing that equipment but it was still an uphill struggle, as there just wasn’t the money in the school community. Parents were generally on lower incomes so would come to the fair but not spend much, or not come at all.

My next school had some equally struggling families but also a huge hardcore of generous, middle class, socially-connected mums who would arrange amazing raffles, hampers, set up games, make Christmas wreaths to be sold for £30 a piece, cook refreshments and generally buffer the school with their support. Teachers barely had to do a thing as there were so many parents in the PTA (although many of us did still attend or volunteer at fairs) and it was eye opening to see the difference.

If the PTA is supposed to be the invisible hand of financial support then why are so many MNers so cynical about PTA involvement themselves?

The only other possibility is looking at local trusts and grants. These exist all over the country, have all sorts of different criteria and may provide funds directly to families or to schools. There is one local to me that will provide funds to a family in need, such as for white goods or school uniform. But this would probably need organising in advance.

But it is not easy and I do have sympathy with the OP’s situation as she needs a solution now, not an overall system change.

@Shirtbuttons26have you explicitly told the school you can’t afford to pay the rest?

But equally how would a parent know this? If a child is on pupil premium then the school most definitely do know that they come from a lower income household which is likely to impact on paying for trips etc. Every communication I’ve had from primary and secondary school about trips over the last 12 years has stated that pupil premium / FSM families get a 50% reduction in the cost. Because otherwise why would the parent know? It also avoids the parent having to have a conversation about it with the school which some may find difficult or embarrassing.
In this instance it’s on the school, not the OP.

And edited to add: all parents get sent the same information, so there’s no singling out.

I remember a post on MN not long ago by a parent whose partner was in the Armed Forces and as such they got the Pupil Premium. It appeared that their school took the approach that everyone who got the Pupil Premium was the same, they all got the same treatment and the poster didn't like this approach.
So not all instances are the same.

You just reminded me of something. Last year they were doing the FSM vouchers, for during the school holidays. I had to take my child to hospital. We were there for hours. It meant I missed the pick up slot for them. And they wouldn't let me have the vouchers. And they wouldn't let anyone else pick them up. They knew I was at the hospital. And now I'm only just learning about people premium. I doubt I'm not the only one not to know theses thing's.

My view was that schools should show money in, money out, what happens to the leftover, if any.

And in the breakdown of costs I would expect a supplier, if asked, to provide a breakdown of their charges to you. In the same way a restaurant will itemise a bill.
You won’t know how much is for profit any more than you know how much is for profit when you pay for a lunch out. But I would expect parents to know how much you spent on the lunches.

Showing you have got quotes from four suppliers for insurance purposes is not sharing anything with parents at all.

I think parents and for anyone tasked with managing money which given some of the trips will be substantial should have some sort of receipt or transparent understanding of where the money has gone.

@Shirtbuttons26 Why haven't you told the school? That would be the first thing I did. Then you got your answer.

That is so kind however this was over 15 years ago. Most of those children are now adults. The school sadly no longer exists and area the school was located in has undergone significant gentrification and had a huge shift in demographics.

It was so sad, there was little we could do other than try and make up shortfalls. We had the cheapest most sensible uniform possible with no requirements for logos or branded items and made all the PP money and grants we applied for stretch as far as possible. We had an assistant head with a brass neck who would ask many of the very close by banking and insurance institutions if they were willing to fund/ donate things as part of their "community outreach" initiatives. Many of the parents were both time and financially stretched and adding a PTA into the mix would be a challenge for our parents who were working every hour they could to make ends meet.