MENUMENU
Kingham Primary School believes that all our children should have an equal opportunity to benefit from school activities and visits (curricular and extra curricular) independent of their parents’ financial means. This charging and remissions policy describes how we will do our best to ensure a good range of visits and activities is offered and try to minimise the financial barriers which may prevent some children from taking full advantage of the opportunities.
The 1996 Education Act requires all schools to have a policy on charging and remissions for school activities, which will be kept under regular review.
The policy identifies activities for which:
Separately from the matter of charging, schools may always seek voluntary contributions in order to offer a wide variety of experiences to children. All requests for voluntary contributions will emphasise their voluntary nature and the fact that pupils of parents who do not make such contributions will be treated no differently from those who have.
The law says:
*If a pupil fails, without good reason, to meet any examination requirement for a syllabus a charge may / will be made.
It is the policy of Kingham Primary School that charges will (or may) be made as indicated below. Parental agreement will be obtained before a charge is made.
Non-residential activities other than those listed above which take place outside school hours but only if the majority of the time spent on that activity takes place outside school hours (time spent on travel counts in this calculation if the travel itself occurs during school hours).
When any visit is arranged, parents will be notified of the policy for allocating places. Charges will be made for the board and lodging component of residential trips deemed to take place during school time. The charge will not exceed the actual cost. However pupils whose parents are in receipt of certain benefits (see Remissions below) will be exempt from paying the cost of board and lodging.
If the number of school sessions on a residential trip is equal to or greater than 50% of the number of half days spent on the trip it is deemed to have taken place during school hours (even if some activities take place late in the evening). Whatever the starting and finishing times of the school day, regulations require that the school day is divided into 2 sessions. A ‘half day’ means any period of 12 hours ending with noon or midnight on any day.
Music tuition for individuals or groups of up to four pupils to play a musical instrument or to sing and which is not an essential part of either the National Curriculum or a public examination syllabus for all pupils.
Charges will be made to cover the cost, or a proportion of the costs, for teaching staff employed to provide tuition in playing a musical instrument or singing, where the tuition is an optional extra for an individual pupil or groups of up to four pupils.
When any trip is arranged parents will be notified of the policy for allocating places. This should recognize that parents may not be able to pay quickly and may have to budget for the trip over a reasonable period of time.
Charges may be made for optional activities that are known as ‘Optional Extras’. Any charges made will not exceed the actual cost (per pupil) of provision.
Charges will/may be made for any materials, books, instruments, or equipment, where a parent wishes their child to own them, such as a charge to cover the cost of the clay for a clay model.
In order to remove financial barriers from disadvantaged pupils, the governing body has agreed that some activities and visits where charges can legally be made will be offered at no charge or a reduced charge to parents in particular circumstances. This remissions policy sets out the circumstances in which charges will be waived.
If remission or help is available in relation to a particular charge it is indicated in the right hand column of the table above. Children entitled to Free School Meals will qualify for remission.
The governing body recognises its responsibility to ensure that the offer of activities and educational visits does not place an unnecessary burden on family finances. To this end we will try to adhere to the following guidelines: