GOATHLAND PRIMARY SCHOOL

CHARGING & REMISSIONS POLICY FOR SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

 

Document Status
Date of Next Review	March 2023	Responsibility	Full Governing Body
Success Criteria for review completion		Responsibility	Helen Isaac, Headteacher
Date of Policy Creation NYCC Adapted - Sept 2021 Lettings updated from School Finance Manual Information Sept 2013	Adapted school written model	Responsibility	Jason Wood, Chair of Governors
Date of Policy Adoption by Governing Body   15th March 2022		Signed
Method of Communication (e.g Website, Noticeboard, etc)   Website

 

This policy takes guidance from the DFE Policy – ‘Charging for School Activities’ which has been recently revised and Local Authority guidance on school lettings. Sections 449-462 of the Education Act 1996 set out the law on charging for school activities in schools maintained by local authorities in England. This guidance complements the guidance laid out in section 7.5 of the Governor’s Handbook.

This Policy will be reviewed on an annual basis by the School’s Finance Committee and will be adjusted in line with new Government or Local Authority recommendations. It sets out the School’s position on charges, remissions and lettings.

If a school chooses to apply a charge for a particular activity then it should make information available to parents as to how the charge has been calculated as well as details of support for those on low incomes or in receipt of specific benefits.

 

Activities Schools CANNOT Charge For

The following list of activities cannot be charged for by school governing bodies and local authorities:

a) an admission application to any state funded school (paragraph 1.9 of the School Admission Code 2014 rules out requests for financial contributions as any part of the admissions process);

b) education provided during school hours (including the supply of any materials, books, instruments or other equipment; sports activities such as swimming lessons and professional coaching; author visits);

c) education provided outside school hours if it is part of the National Curriculum, or part of a syllabus for a prescribed public examination that the pupil is being prepared for at the school, or part of religious education;

d) instrumental or vocal tuition, for pupils learning individually or in groups, unless the tuition is provided at the request of the pupil’s parent;

e) entry for a prescribed public examination, if the pupil has been prepared for it at the school; and f) examination re-sit(s) if the pupil is being prepared for the re-sit(s) at the school1 .

 

Activities Schools CAN Charge For

Schools and local authorities can charge for the following:

a) Any materials, books, instruments, or equipment, where the child’s parent wishes him/her to own them, i.e. a charge can be made to cover the cost of materials or ingredients required for design or food technology subjects where parents have indicated in advance that they would like their child to bring home the finished product;

b) Optional extras (see section below);

c) Music and vocal tuition, in limited circumstances (see section below);

d) Certain early years provision; and

e) Community facilities .

 

Voluntary Contributions and Responsibilities of Staff

A school can request voluntary contributions for the benefit of the school or any school activity.

The Head Teacher or Governing Body should, from the outset, make clear to parents:

• · If an activity is reliant upon voluntary contributions and cannot be funded from any other sources;
• · That there is no obligation to make a contribution as it is voluntary, not compulsory;
• · That the activity will be cancelled if insufficient contributions are received to fund it; and
• · The school’s policy for allocating places on school visits.

A child should not be excluded from an activity if his/her parents are unwilling or unable to pay. Parents must not be made to feel pressurised into paying a voluntary contribution and schools should not send colour coded reminder letters or direct debit/standing order mandates when requesting contributions.

 

Optional Extras

Charges can be made for providing materials, books, instruments or equipment where an optional extra is being provided. Participation in optional extra activity is a matter of parental choice and a willingness to meet the charges. Parental agreement is a necessary pre-requisite for the provision of an optional extra where charges will be made.

Optional extra charges may be made in the following circumstances:

• · Education that is not part of the National Curriculum, or part of a syllabus for a prescribed public examination that the pupil is being prepared for, or part of religious education is provided outside of school time;
• · Examination entry fee(s) if the registered pupil has not been prepared for the examination(s) at the school
• · Transport, other than that required to take the pupil to school or to other premises where the local authority/governing body has arranged for the pupil to be provided with education; and
• · Board and lodging for a pupil on a residential visit.

 

In calculating the cost of optional extras an amount may be included in relation to:

• · Any materials, books, instruments, or equipment provided in connection with the optional extra;
• · The cost of buildings and accommodation
• · Non-teaching staff;
• · Teaching staff engaged under contracts for services purely to provide an optional extra (including supply teachers); and
• · The cost, or a proportion of the costs, for teaching staff employed to provide tuition in playing a musical instrument, where the tuition is an optional extra.

The charge per pupil should not:

• · exceed the actual cost of providing the optional extra divided equally by the number of pupils participating;
• · include any form of subsidy for other pupils wishing to participate whose parents are unwilling or unable to pay the full charge
• · include the cost of any alternative provision for other pupils not wishing to participate in the optional extra where a small proportion of the optional extra takes place during school hours; or
• · include the costs of supply teachers contracted to cover for teachers who are away from school as they are seen to be providing education during school time, not an optional extra.

 

Music Tuition

The Charges for Music Tuition (England) Regulations 2007 set out the circumstances in which charges can be made for tuition in playing a musical instrument, including vocal tuition.

Charges may now be made for vocal or instrumental tuition provided either individually or to groups of any size provided that the tuition is provided at the request of the pupil’s parent.

Charges may not exceed the cost of the provision, including the cost of the staff that provides the tuition.

Charges may not be made where the teaching is either an essential part of the national curriculum, or is provided under the first access to the Key Stage 2 Instrumental and Vocal Tuition Programme.

Charges may not be made in respect of a pupil who is looked after by a local authority (within the meaning of section 22(I) of the Children Act 1989).

 

Transport

Schools cannot charge for:

a) Transporting registered pupils to or from the school premises, where the LA has a statutory obligation to provide transport;

b) Transporting registered pupils to other premises where the governing body or LA has arranged for pupils to be educated;

c) Transport that enables a pupil to meet an examination requirement when he/she has been prepared for that examination at the school; and

d) Transport provided in connection with an educational visit.

 

Residential Visits

Schools cannot charge for:

a) Education provided on any visit that takes place during school hours;

b) Education provided on any visit that takes place outside school hours if it is part of the National Curriculum, or part of a syllabus for a prescribed public examination that the pupil is being prepared for at the school, or part of religious education; and

c) Supply teachers to cover for those teachers who are absent from school accompanying pupils on a residential visit. Schools can charge for board and lodging but the charge must not exceed the actual cost.

Schools can charge for board and lodging but the charge must not exceed the actual cost.

 

Eligibility for Remission for Residential Visits

Section 200 of the Education Act 2002 outlines the eligibility to entitlement for board and lodging costs for residential visits. When a school informs parents about a forthcoming trip, they should make it clear that parents who can prove that they are in receipt of certain benefits will be exempt from paying the cost of board and lodging: The current criteria is the same as for Free School Meals;

 

• income Support
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
• Working Tax Credit run-on - paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
• Universal Credit - if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)

 

Education Partly During School Hours

Where an activity takes place partly during and partly outside school hours, there is a basis for determining whether it is deemed to take place either inside or outside school hours.

A charge can only be made for the activity outside school hours if it is not part of the National Curriculum, not part of a syllabus for a prescribed public examination that the pupil is being prepared for at the school and not part of religious education.

 

Non-Residential Activity 

If at least 50% of the non-residential activity is spent during school hours then it is deemed to take place during school hours. Travelling time is included when it, too, takes place during school hours. School hours do not include the break in the middle of the day.

For less than 50%, the activity is deemed to take place outside of school hours, i.e. where an excursion to a theatre production involves the pupils leaving school an hour before the end of the school day but the activity does not finish until late in the evening.

Example: Pupils are away from noon Wednesday to 9pm Sunday. This counts as 9 half days including 5 school sessions. The 5 school sessions are more than 50% of the number of half days spent on the visit therefore the visit is deemed to have taken place during school hours.

 

Residential Visits

In the case of a residential visit, if the number of school sessions taken up by the visit is equal to or greater than 50% of the number of half days spent on the visit, it is deemed to have taken place during school hours – even if some activities take place late in the evening. Whatever the start and finish times of the school day, Regulations require that the school day is divided into two sessions. A “half day” means any period of 12 hours ending with noon or midnight on any day.

Example: Pupils are away from noon Thursday to 9pm Sunday. This counts as 7 half days including 3 school sessions. The 3 school sessions are less than 50% of the number of half days spent on the visit therefore the visit is deemed to take place outside school hours.

 

Extended Schools –

 

Goathland Primary School provides a term time only wraparound school childcare service for 5-11 year olds at the Goathland Breakfast Club.  Parents will be charged for use of the service and the session times and charges are as follows:

 

Full morning session including snack    - 8am  -    £3.00

 

Early Years

 

Nursery Charges

 

All 3 and 4 year old children have an entitlement to 15 hours funded entitlement and this entitlement must always be completely free at the point of delivery.  A parental agreement will be required in relation to the funded 15 hours provision.

 

Additional sessions over the 15 hours per week are not currently available, but this may be considered from September 2022, at which time this policy will be updated with the relevant charges.   

 

Important Note: 

Any sums payable by parents for optional extras such as unpaid Breakfast Club provision, to which they have agreed in writing, shall be recoverable as a civil debt and may also be subject to late payment charges.

 

Late Payment Charges:

 

Charges will be levied at the higher of £5.00 or 5% (change as necessary)of the outstanding debt, to cover associated administration costs.

 

 

Signed________________________________ Date _______________