Primary school sent nonsensical bill

[newme]

£9 for event that covid prevented.
£17 for events that wer3 cancelled as staff had covid.
£10 for tickets we paid in cash they didn't register properly.
£72 for 'activities' with no breakdown.

In my business life I'd send them an extremely polite fuck off email. It's also his last year. I checked parent pay we we have spend hundreds just this year on stuff. At what point will schools be properly funded? Ever? I don't wish my kids.had kids that's whatever they want. I would like to hope they were not expected to effectively tithe to the school tho should that be thrustnupon them. (Sorry to anyone who this affects).

 

[scifisam]

£9 for event that covid prevented.
£17 for events that wer3 cancelled as staff had covid.
£10 for tickets we paid in cash they didn't register properly.
£72 for 'activities' with no breakdown.

In my business life I'd send them an extremely polite fuck off email. It's also his last year. I checked parent pay we we have spend hundreds just this year on stuff. At what point will schools be properly funded? Ever? I don't wish my kids.had kids that's whatever they want. I would like to hope they were not expected to effectively tithe to the school tho should that be thrustnupon them. (Sorry to anyone who this affects).

Are they actually expecting you to pay for events that never happened, or just being disorganised?

My daughter's secondary school prom was cancelled because not enough people signed up, and the school kept the money from the parents that had paid, and I'd paid for Jay and her best friend - £50! Like with you it was just before she left so it basically became impossible to argue about it, but they really did say "no, we're keeping it ."

 

[newme]

Are they actually expecting you to pay for events that never happened, or just being disorganised?

My daughter's secondary school prom was cancelled because not enough people signed up, and the school kept the money from the parents that had paid, and I'd paid for Jay and her best friend - £50! Like with you it was just before she left so it basically became impossible to argue about it, but they really did say "no, we're keeping it ."

Disorganised I'd bet, we have heard of other people.paying towards x trip that was cancelled then they said yeh but the replacement is coning up this year. Then, nothing. Lucky enough now this is less of a concern but they have many kids on assistance like we were. Receiving this could have just fucked up Christmas based on previous experience.


Already looking at 200+ for his local school uniform in Sept since they have some very sketchy deal with the local sports shop, as does the primary school i the area idk how its even legal. They had standard colours, could buy the lot from Asda. Now it's go to this one specific place and it needs a logo. Including on PE socks? Seems almost as bad as premier league but without the big cash infusion, or maybe there was to someones?

Nothing inspires confidence about this arrangement and they have basically secured thousands of customers between 3-4k kids and those are who I know of. Seems like something I'd be fired for.

 

[May Kasahara]

newme in a rare example of the government noticing and acting on ordinary people's cost concerns, there is statutory guidance about this that all schools are supposed to abide by. Make a complaint if you feel they're in breach.

Cost of school uniforms

www.gov.uk

 

[newme]

newme in a rare example of the government noticing and acting on ordinary people's cost concerns, there is statutory guidance about this that all schools are supposed to abide by. Make a complaint if you feel they're in breach.

Cost of school uniforms

www.gov.uk

Yeh I work in public procurement, without stating to sign into my work tools I can't find any record at all of this contract even being on the register, framework or competitive bid process in any way. The company appears to have turned up out of nowhere 2 years ago and has signed 31 schools within 100 miles and turned over 23m in its first year, seems oddly high.

The entire PE kit, literally every part of it, can only be bought from one shop, then more than 3/4 of the value of the uniform from the same place. Based only on it having a logo, there is no option to buy elsewhere and not even a consideration about what school since they all use the same provider and the bus only goes to one. Considering the value concerned I cannot believe they did not have to post it anywhere. I can find absolutely nothing about it at all other than mentions on the website or on the schools various websites.

 

[equationgirl]

Have you looked into any of the people behind the company on the companies house website?

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Yeh I work in public procurement, without stating to sign into my work tools I can't find any record at all of this contract even being on the register, framework or competitive bid process in any way. The company appears to have turned up out of nowhere 2 years ago and has signed 31 schools within 100 miles and turned over 23m in its first year, seems oddly high.

The entire PE kit, literally every part of it, can only be bought from one shop, then more than 3/4 of the value of the uniform from the same place. Based only on it having a logo, there is no option to buy elsewhere and not even a consideration about what school since they all use the same provider and the bus only goes to one. Considering the value concerned I cannot believe they did not have to post it anywhere. I can find absolutely nothing about it at all other than mentions on the website or on the schools various websites.

This seems really worth making a fuss off. Would local media be interested? Why the hell do kids needed branded kit to play PE.

 

[newme]

Have you looked into any of the people behind the company on the companies house website?

Yes it's appears to be owned by some guy in bologna, ownership is a bit sketchy but there is some parent company of the samish name that's fairly large and is the CEO. Had suspected it was a reroll of the previous company but it appears not, funded with 10k then first years accounts have 23m turnover?

Based on experience I'd say they got into a framework agreement so it could be called off against but I can find absolutely nothing about it. Idk about school but every oublic entity I worked with had to publish for government transparency. Contract of that size the public should be able to view it. I can't find it and I spend actual time navigating this nonsense.

This seems really worth making a fuss off. Would local media be interested? Why the hell do kids needed branded kit to play PE.

We had the same at my daughters school 5 years ago, she had to buy a full set of PE kit off them. Was a different provider but nearly the same deal. They had the school logo on her skort, top, blazer, maybe even pe socks? This lot it's apparently on everything but black shoes and trousers. Am only iffy about going really as I don't want my name connected to it given my profession. Will look into some form of other reporting.

 

[equationgirl]

I find it curious that the company was bankrolled with £10k then managed £23m in the first year. That's not right.

 

[newme]

I find it curious that the company was bankrolled with £10k then managed £23m in the first year. That's not right.

Yeh if I was doing the DD on this place I would have rejected them without an absolutely outstanding bid, can only imagine the parent company has some agreements and this is basically reselling there stuff. They somehow got onto a framework for provision of uniforms and sports wear then everyone took the easy option of using them for everything. I generally deal with emergency placements and other vulnerable situations now but before it was consultants and all kinds of things.

On price they seem to be fucking people, hows that scored so high? It is just basic kit with a logo sown on, they had generic kit you could buy from a supermarket previously. There is no mention of ESG type things the council may have jumped on to boost a score. Its just some clothing company, with literally one director and thats it.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

If the school is a public authority for the purposes of FOIA you could send requests about this to them under a pseudo, such as via the whatdotheyknow site.

They very likely won't disclose a contract for commercial sensitivity reasons, but if you frame your request in the right way it could result in some info - e.g. confirmation of whether such a contract exists, and the approximate value, etc.

 

[newme]

If the school is a public authority for the purposes of FOIA you could send requests about this to them under a pseudo, such as via the whatdotheyknow site.

They very likely won't disclose a contract for commercial sensitivity reasons, but if you frame your request in the right way it could result in some info - e.g. confirmation of whether such a contract exists, and the approximate value, etc.

Yeh unfortunately been on the end of FOI requests and its as huge pain in the arse, even if we were actually doing everything properly. They had valid concerns tho because of diverting through a private company taking a cut, which appears to be the same sort of situation here if somewhat removed.

Whatdotheyknow site seems a good possibility, not looked yet as I Just booked more time off since the weather. I can usually view just about anything. I know all my contracts are publically viewable, I cannot find a reference to them being on a framework, or ever bidding for anything at all in the UK. Seems odd.

I may have to hold off on the FOI a bit as I know the limitations on it and am very likely to request way more than the limit. A pseudo is very useful tho.

 

[WouldBe]

On price they seem to be fucking people, hows that scored so high? It is just basic kit with a logo sown on, they had generic kit you could buy from a supermarket previously.

When I was at school we only had a logo on our blazers which was simply sewn on. It ought to be relatively simple to get the logos made up by someone and sew them onto kit from any source.

 

[newme]

When I was at school we only had a logo on our blazers which was simply sewn on. It ought to be relatively simple to get the logos made up by someone and sew them onto kit from any source.

In my middle kids school they had that, it was £8 a patch without being attached, which was an issue for a lot of people. These lot have not even given that option. I grew something like 9 inches in a year around his age, the blazers alone are like £65 (not a private school) we would need to buy one every week. At least I just got a bigger cheap shirt and that was that.

 

[maomao]

Idk about school but every oublic entity I worked with had to publish for government transparency. Contract of that size the public should be able to view it. I can't find it and I spend actual time navigating this nonsense.

If it's an academy they're not obliged to publish anything; your best bet would be an FOI request but even then they'll probably try and weasel out of it.

 

[newme]

If it's an academy they're not obliged to publish anything; your best bet would be an FOI request but even then they'll probably try and weasle out of it.

That would explain it, assuming all 31 are academies but I would not be that surprised. I may involve my local MP, is a Tory but has been surprisingly helpful with things like this. We got £2k back from the gov for a nonsense judgement after they involved themselves. I still vote against them every election but they do have some uses occasionally. ,

 

[StoneRoad]

Sounds highly dodgy in any number of ways ...

I bid for work contracts in a very specialised area, using various procurement portals and systems.
IMO, something like this situation would not qualify for preferred contractor status.

Suggested work around - buy generic clothes, and find a concern that will do the embroidery for you {drawback might be the issue of copyright} ...

As for complaining - if you think local politicians / media might not too interested {self-preservation} is there any mileage with the MP or more national scale campaigning organisations ...

 

[newme]

Sounds highly dodgy in any number of ways ...

I bid for work contracts in a very specialised area, using various procurement portals and systems.
IMO, something like this situation would not qualify for preferred contractor status.

Suggested work around - buy generic clothes, and find a concern that will do the embroidery for you {drawback might be the issue of copyright} ...

As for complaining - if you think local politicians / media might not too interested {self-preservation} is there any mileage with the MP or more national scale campaigning organisations ...

It sound like you may be on the other side of what I do, theres only so many eprocurement portals. New company, no record within the company but potentially internationally, we have a preferred status for local providers, of which the previous one was (wasn't happy with them but they were literally where everyone was).

There has been a lot of local unhappiness about the uniform policys of various schools, especially when they changed in a hurry and excluded the supermarket stuff everyone was buying. We have mates up the road who could be totally wiped out by having to get this kit for their kid. It is a very high priced area but with council/LHA places in it (like mine). We were basically destroyed until Christmas every year with 2 kids there and no job forthcoming and thats with me being an ex accountant and doing the finance stuff. It comes up every year in the papers. Thinking it may be worth roping in a few local journalists, there are not many and anonymous source with proof seems to be far beyond their usual level of investigative powers. Not to mention a number of facebook and other groups that could be assembled.

We just got a basketball court and tennis court upgrade based on funding applications and local support, which I did not lead at all but added some experience to the bid team from being on the other side, I think no one would ever be against having to waste money on a piece of clothing they will grow out of every year.

 

[StoneRoad]

School OH used to teach at {some years ago now} wasn't in a poor area, far from it, but when they were converted into an academy - as part of a grouping - the new regime decided to have new uniforms etc etc ... but didn't go to any extremes.
Someone set up a neat scheme, basically a uniform / sports kit / book exchange, which works quite well - kids at that age have growth spurts ...

[and there are a number of places that will do embroidery locally]

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Yes it's appears to be owned by some guy in bologna, ownership is a bit sketchy but there is some parent company of the samish name that's fairly large and is the CEO. Had suspected it was a reroll of the previous company but it appears not, funded with 10k then first years accounts have 23m turnover?

Based on experience I'd say they got into a framework agreement so it could be called off against but I can find absolutely nothing about it. Idk about school but every oublic entity I worked with had to publish for government transparency. Contract of that size the public should be able to view it. I can't find it and I spend actual time navigating this nonsense.

We had the same at my daughters school 5 years ago, she had to buy a full set of PE kit off them. Was a different provider but nearly the same deal. They had the school logo on her skort, top, blazer, maybe even pe socks? This lot it's apparently on everything but black shoes and trousers. Am only iffy about going really as I don't want my name connected to it given my profession. Will look into some form of other reporting.

Tip off a decent journalist at the local paper.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Or on that kind of scale, maybe Private Eye? If the schools are local authority, it might fall under their Rotten Boroughs section? Or they report sometimes on academies, if a number of the schools seem to be academies.

 

[newme]

Tip off a decent journalist at the local paper.

I have a number of names of journalists at the local paper, I feel I may need to write the article for them however as its a reach plc publication with the journalist integrity of Donald Trump reporting on his own performance.

 

[newme]

Or on that kind of scale, maybe Private Eye? If the schools are local authority, it might fall under their Rotten Boroughs section? Or they report sometimes on academies, if a number of the schools seem to be academies.

Fuck I would love private eye to pick up on this, I don't actually read it regularly but have been a fan of some of the output

 

[newme]

School OH used to teach at {some years ago now} wasn't in a poor area, far from it, but when they were converted into an academy - as part of a grouping - the new regime decided to have new uniforms etc etc ... but didn't go to any extremes.
Someone set up a neat scheme, basically a uniform / sports kit / book exchange, which works quite well - kids at that age have growth spurts ...

[and there are a number of places that will do embroidery locally]

Embroidery is one thing but then it also has to match the style, which is not available locally for the blazers and PE kit at least, its specific colours and cuts. I couldn't even find something comparable, then they don't have the sew on stuff it would be a custom job for everything. I know fuck all about embroidery but I imagine anything custom is not cheap.

Current school has lost property sale (if not claimed within a year and no name), exchange, parents group with exchange of clothes, lifts, you name it its like nothing I ever saw before kind of level of support. It is the next one that seems to be an issue, they seem to be operating close to the definition of a monopoly with a single supplier and no alternatives, even if you can switch school. When I was at school we had to buy a school tie and rugby shirt and that was it. Plus it was not a fortune to get either.

 

[equationgirl]

Some areas here in Scotland have a school uniform bank where they distribute new or lightly used second hand school uniform items (I've seen one include stationery items) however there is definitely more scope to include supermarket items.

What provisions are made for neurodivetse children who may have problems with labels or certain fabrics making their sensory issues worse?