Charging and Remissions Policy

Click here to download the Charging & Remissions Policy​

Storth School (hereinafter referred to as ‘we’ or ‘the school’) recognises the valuable contribution that a wide range of extra-curricular activities, including trips, clubs and residential experiences can make towards the education of our children and young people and aims to promote and provide such activities both as part of a broad and balanced curriculum for pupils and as additional optional enrichment activities.

The school strives to ensure that all young people have an equal opportunity to benefit from such activities, both on and off-site and within and outside of the curriculum, regardless of their family’s financial means. To ensure transparency in setting charges and also to ensure all young people are able to access all of the provisions we offer, this policy sets out our approach to charging and remissions. It has been informed by an adherence to the law and by following statutory Department for Education guidance.
The purpose of this Policy is to ensure that, during the school day, all young people have full and free access to a broad and balanced curriculum. The school day is defined as 8:45 am to 3:15 pm excluding the lunchtime period 12:15 pm to 1:15 pm. A school session is equivalent to half a day i.e. either one-morning session before lunch or a one-afternoon session afterwards.
We recognise our responsibility to ensure that the offer of activities and educational visits does not place an unnecessary burden on family finances and where we can we aim to:
• publish a list of visits and their approximate cost across all year groups at the beginning of the academic year so that parents can plan ahead for the next 1-7 years;
• ensure our payments systems allow parents to pay in instalments;
• make it possible for parents to pay by instalments beyond the date of the trip when short notice opportunity arises; and
• ensure fair access to popular trips by acknowledging that offering them on a ‘first pay, first served’ basis discriminates against low-income families and we will avoid that method of selection.
Where this Policy refers to “parents” we mean any person with parental responsibility for a child.
Where this policy refers to a “charge”, this is an amount of money that must be paid in order for a child to participate in an opportunity e.g. the cost of board and lodgings on a residential visit where the family are not on the prescribed benefits listed in Section 6.
Where this policy refers to a “voluntary contribution”, this is an amount of money that school would like families to contribute towards the cost of an opportunity in order to make it financially viable. There is no obligation to pay a voluntary contribution but without enough contributions, an activity might be cancelled entirely.
Where this policy refers to “remission”, this is an amount of money that a school will or might agree to provide to fund an opportunity for a child. Governors will make provision for all statutory remission requirements e.g. using the relevant Pupil Premium funding to pay for a residential experience for a child with legal entitlement. Governors might, if funding allows, agree to provide financial support to pupils who are not legally entitled to remission but does so entirely at their discretion.
This policy does not apply to charges made and determined by other organisations offering activities and services on the school premises e.g. our Breakfast Club, or a community club that hires our hall to meet in etc.
Putting the school at the heart of the community where we feel it belongs, we are proud to offer recreation and leisure opportunities to the wider community e.g. use of running track, etc.

Please click on the download above for the full document…