DT2 Posted March 14, 2013 Posted March 14, 2013 Our kids brought home flyers yesterday - stationary sale at school.... pencils, erasers $.50 - $1 each. Which wouldn't be as infuriating except at the beginning of the school year I spend $300 on buying the provisions list for my kids for the year ahead. And now they're selling it back to me!? Not only that, but the middle of the three started taking her own pencils in, and when I asked why she said that the teacher has no more to hand out...... 1. Stop selling the damn things back to me 2. Don't expect my child to use her own art supplies for school when point 1 is in effect! They just don't get it! I bought 24 pencils per child in September, the supplies were handed in to the teachers, and each child received 2 pencils in return...... so where the #### have the other 66 pencils gone? oh that's right you sold them.... :censored: Where's my cut, because technically I own that ####! And I have to do it all again in September - well, my 3 will not be handing in good stuff to get crap back!! I've heard of fund raising, but taking the urine out of parents.....
OB1 Posted March 14, 2013 Posted March 14, 2013 Sounds fishier than a fishy thing in a bucket of fish... 1
LosOjos Posted March 14, 2013 Posted March 14, 2013 That sounds incredibly dodgy! Seeing as you asked if it's just you, my little one's school take the P somewhat too, though not to that degree, they just have some sort of fundraising event every damn week which means us constantly handing over cash. It's always something like fancy dress or baking cakes too so not only do we have to pay the school, we have to buy a bloody costume for the little one to wear or spend the weekend baking cakes. They say it's optional but of course it isn't because the moment you introduce some element like fancy dress, you automatically make any child who's parents don't pay a target for playground bullying! 1
ICTDirect_Dave Posted March 14, 2013 Posted March 14, 2013 Sounds fishier than a fishy thing in a bucket of fish... @OB1 You web filtering Jedi say the wisest things... As for the 'Great Pencil Debacle' (which is how it should now be known) you simply supply your children with pencils yourself and cut out the middleman next year? To make up for the loss this year you could always get your kids to raid the stationary cupboard and set up an ebay store? (ICT Direct does not condone thievery or child slavery...) Either way I'd suggest a strongly worded letter... 1
jinnantonnixx Posted March 14, 2013 Posted March 14, 2013 It's not a school for financiers, is it? This sort of magic is performed by the banking fraternity.
AMLinington Posted March 14, 2013 Posted March 14, 2013 It seems crazy to me that you should buy a set of supplies presumably 'designated' for your children only for them to be given to others? Surely if you buy 24 pencils for your child, the teacher should hold them in reserve for that child? Sounds to me as though you should tell the school to get knotted and send your child to school with a pencilcase of supplies the way we do in the UK.
Dos_Box Posted March 14, 2013 Posted March 14, 2013 LOL. I have some sympathy here. My kids school have cake and chocolate sales. Unfortunately we have to provide the chocolate and cakes they sell back to us. So we'd spend say £5 on muffins and then have the kids buy them back for half the price. It all goes to the school though. And I get to have muffins later
Andrew_C Posted March 14, 2013 Posted March 14, 2013 Don't get SWMBO started on "Cake Sales". She bakes nice cakes, the kids buy back cr@p that was bought for thrupence from the COOP. Full of YUK. I'd rather give them £20 at the beginning of the year as long as they promise to leave us alone! 2
jmak Posted March 14, 2013 Posted March 14, 2013 At my kids' school, my favourite is the secret Santa, where you donate a gift, then they pay a pound to go into a room and choose from the tut that other parents have got rid of to give you as a Christmas present. I bribed my kids this year and told them to get me something decent from Poundland instead.
jmak Posted March 14, 2013 Posted March 14, 2013 I'd rather give them £20 at the beginning of the year as long as they promise to leave us alone! Hear, hear
witch Posted March 14, 2013 Posted March 14, 2013 I'd rather give them £20 at the beginning of the year as long as they promise to leave us alone! That is exactly what the local high school where my children went does. They don't do cake sales or anything like that. You are asked for a donation for the Parent/Teacher /Charity or whatever at the beginning of the year and they only expect one per family. Then you are not bothered during the year except once when they do a 15 or 21 mile walk for charity in year 10. Various groups do some fund-raising, such as the Rugby teams for their tour, but that up to the individuals and if your child will benefit you don't mind so much
AMLinington Posted March 15, 2013 Posted March 15, 2013 When I was at school there was a 'Parents and Friends' society that basically sold raffle tickets for rubbish prizes and teas and coffees at school concerts and performances. My dad thought this was rubbish so he volunteered to be chairperson and put a rocket up their rears - while my dad was chairman they generated more revenue from fun events like a race night and from investing properly in decent raffle prizes than they ever did before. When my sister and I left the school I think he had to step down and when we went back from an alumni thing they were back to the rubbish way they used to be. My dad was quite disappointed tbh. He'd worked really hard to improve their practises. Cake sales are a bane! You spend time baking cakes that someone decrees as being unsuitable because they are home-baked and hygiene standards cannot be assessed and blah blah blah. Thats why most people send store-bought stuff. I think if my kids were sent home with a cake sale flyer that requested mandatory donations, the school would receive a strongly worded phone call and a letter to their teacher specifically stating that my child will not be participating. To then prevent the sproglets moaning about how unfair it is, I would bake epic cakes and send them to school with sufficient cakes that they would not feel that they needed to buy some from the greed sale, sorry, cake sale.
hardtailstar Posted March 15, 2013 Posted March 15, 2013 Sell the pencils back to school, claim you have more than enough.
X-13 Posted March 15, 2013 Posted March 15, 2013 I would bake epic cakes and send them to school with sufficient cakes that they would not feel that they needed to buy some from the greed sale, sorry, cake sale. You missed something. You send them in with enough for them and a good number of extras. Sell the extra epic cakes to other students and make a nice profit. If the school try anything cite anti-competitive practices and threaten to sue. 1
witch Posted March 15, 2013 Posted March 15, 2013 When we have cake sales at my schools, we only sell the cupcakes for 30p each so I don't think it is such a burden to give a child 60p to buy a couple. If you make a basic set of cupcakes and let your child ice them artistically, it won't cost much more than that. In fact, I used to buy the plain cupcakes they sell in Tescos and the like, and then just let the kids loose on them. I know that it is an issue if schools ask too many times so don't all jump on me.
localzuk Posted March 15, 2013 Posted March 15, 2013 (edited) Yup, you have missed the point I reckon... Its for charity. Plus, its fun. (EDIT: This is aimed at those complaining about the cake bits...) Encouraging children to be charitable is a good thing, even if it means you're out of pocket doing it. It is a balance though, between doing it too much and too little. @AMLightfoot - I know what you mean. The old PTA here took 5 years to save up half the money for a mini-bus. They disbanded last year, and a new 'Friends of' group set up. In that year, they have raised enough money to buy a mini-bus completely. Plus they don't have monthly 5 hour meetings to discuss things. There are only a few of them so they call around, agree on something and do it. Some PTAs have lost sight of what they're there for I think! Edited March 15, 2013 by localzuk
DT2 Posted March 15, 2013 Author Posted March 15, 2013 It's a very odd school.... But I guess we're still getting used to the different schooling system here. Amelia returned home with a literacy assessment yesterday, simple question sheet, multiple choice. She got 5/5 on the first section and was graded a C, yet for the second section she scored 4/5 and was graded a B. Go figure! They're mad as a box of frogs. Though I have found it to be very clicky, the children who's parents make huge donations of money and time are quite clearly better catered for.... Little do they know I have the handle on their expected donation of laptops this year....... Don't even get me started on cake sales.... my dad used to say; even dick turpin wore a mask!!! Robbery I tell you!
LosOjos Posted March 15, 2013 Posted March 15, 2013 Yup, you have missed the point I reckon... Its for charity. Plus, its fun. (EDIT: This is aimed at those complaining about the cake bits...) Encouraging children to be charitable is a good thing, even if it means you're out of pocket doing it. It is a balance though, between doing it too much and too little. The problem is not giving to charity, of course it's good to teach children to be charitable, it is the frequency with which they hold these events and the nature of them that strong arms you in to contributing for fear of your little one getting bullied by the other kids. Times are tough right now. I know I'm not at all in a unique position of my partner being made redundant and I too will find out next week if I have a job. There are many families just like ours out there right now. So when we get letters home every week telling us about the next round of fleecing "for charity" (9 times out of 10, it's for the school fund) it's tough. Right now, we can't afford to be dishing out an average of £20 a month, that's a couple of days food our family could have and may well need soon. I'm all for charity, but not when it risks depriving my family of basic needs.
AMLinington Posted March 15, 2013 Posted March 15, 2013 The problem is not giving to charity, of course it's good to teach children to be charitable, it is the frequency with which they hold these events and the nature of them that strong arms you in to contributing for fear of your little one getting bullied by the other kids. Times are tough right now. I know I'm not at all in a unique position of my partner being made redundant and I too will find out next week if I have a job. There are many families just like ours out there right now. So when we get letters home every week telling us about the next round of fleecing "for charity" (9 times out of 10, it's for the school fund) it's tough. Right now, we can't afford to be dishing out an average of £20 a month, that's a couple of days food our family could have and may well need soon. I'm all for charity, but not when it risks depriving my family of basic needs. When I was at school there were charity events almost every other week - non-uniform days were the worst. Not only do you have to PAY to come in 'normal clothes' but if you don't have much money and can't afford brand name clothes, you risk getting belittled by your peers for your unfashionable clothes. I hated non-uniform days more than any other charity event as I would usually not have fashionable clothes as my parents couldn't afford to buy me 'United colours of Benetton' jumpers and stuff from River Island. I got things from MarkOne and NewLook if I was lucky. Eventually I started 'forgetting' about non-uniform day (I rigorously endorse school uniforms) then I just out and out refused to participate - it was less hurtful for people to make fun of me for wearing my school uniform than it was to make fun of me for not having expensive outfits. At least in school uniform it was the same uniform I wore every other day so they couldn't mock me for it being unfashionable or cheap (yeah our outfitters were not cheap in the slightest) - the best they could do was to mock me for being a sad case in school uniform which was nothing new. I think if schools focussed less on arranging faffy 'events' and more on educating, we might not be turning out such a cohort of dipsticks... 2
DT2 Posted March 15, 2013 Author Posted March 15, 2013 I was never much the target of bullies, especially after the first to try took a wooden science stool to the cranium I suspect my little mites have developed the same intolerance for bullying.... Harry might only be small, but he's built like a brick outhouse and doesn't take no messing, especially where it involves his sisters. Here in the sticks, expensive or fashionable clothing is not so much of a concern, and I like that. I like that here everyone knows everyone and they all look out for each other. Yes they talk funny and wear camo to school, but it's better than the school they went to back in England. Still school "charity" is ok, when it's every now and then, but when it's every week and you're selling stuff I bought back to me at hiked prices, and then complain you have no money to replace the gym equipment..... come on, pull the other one! I'm not against charity, I'm not against helping out the school, but seriously spending $100 per child for all their supplies at the beginning of the year only to have them taken from them is a joke. I buy them for use by my children...... that's like me stealing your wallet and selling it back to you at an unreasonable margin... you'd have me arrested.
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