St Mary's C of E Primary School

Charging and Remissions

St Mary’s CE Primary School Charging for Activities Policy Statement:

CHARGES

The governors will normally expect parents to pay for:

• The cost of activities and optional extras which take place out of school hours, unless these form an essential part of the National Curriculum.
• The board, transportation and lodging costs of any residential trips, whether in or out of school time.
• The cost of ingredients and materials for cookery, needlework, craft and technology when the finished product is to be taken home.
• The cost of repairs for breakages and damage arising from misbehaviour.
• The cost of individual or group music tuition if this is not part of the National Curriculum. The peripatetic music teachers teach individual or small group lessons. The peripatetic teachers charge parents privately for these lessons.

REMISSIONS

When the parent/guardians are receiving Income Support, Income Based Job Seeker’s Allowance, Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 and Child Tax Credit, where the parent is not entitled to Working Tax Credit and whose annual income (as assessed by the Inland Revenue) does not exceed £16,190, the Guarantee Element of the State Pension Credit or an income related employment and support allowance that was introduced on 27 October 2008, the governors will not charge as this will be covered by Pupil Premium funding:

• For the board and lodging costs of any residential trip which forms an essential part of the National Curriculum. However, the governors expect that all parents will pay for transportation costs.
• The full cost of ingredients or materials for cookery, needlework, craft and technology when the finished product will be taken home.

The school is normally in a position to give assistance to pupils whose parents may not be able to meet the full cost of voluntary activities. The governors hope that this practice will be able to continue and wish all parents to know that such matters will always be dealt with in complete confidence.

VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS

The staff, on behalf of the governors, will invite parents and others to make voluntary contributions. All requests for voluntary contributions will make it clear that contributions are voluntary and that children of parents who do not contribute will not be treated any differently. No pupil will be left out of an activity because their parents cannot or will not make a contribution of any kind, however, where there are not enough voluntary contributions to make the activity possible, and there is no way to make up the shortfall, then it must be cancelled.

• The cost of transportation to and from swimming lessons will be covered by voluntary contributions.
• Parents will not be asked to subsidise children from other families.
• Costs will be kept to a minimum.
• Cases of financial hardship will be dealt with sympathetically and confidentially by the school, and no pupil will be identified or treated differently because of such circumstances.