RC stationery fee gone up 90%

babyriver

Dear all, do you know this year RC's stationery has gone up from $200 the last two years to $380 this year that's an increase of 90% . I would like to hear RC parents comments on this issue. The business manager has not given a breakdown of  the $1430 levy although there's a lot of parents requesing the infromation. Do you think it is fair?

almom

So far, I have only paid $1430 this year for my child in primary school and not the $380 stationery fees. And for my child, I did pay more than $200 last year for stationery alone. And for your information, the stationery for different years are different, depending on what are needed for that particular year level.

According to the newsletter dated 22 July 2008, the $1430 includes the student organiser (diary), stationery (including exercise books, markers, rulers etc), swimming lessons, excursion fees (bus fare and entrance fees), LEAP fees, government dental services, etc.

They have explained it clearly in the newsletter that this fees was only an estimation and the amount was estimated by looking at what was needed last year. Any funds left would be donated to the library.

I would certainly say there is probably no breakdown of fees, because activities for different years would be different. For instance, different years would have different excursions and different amounts of money might be incurred. But this is probably the closest estimate.

Honestly, I would not say that this is the perfect arrangement and no matter how things are done, there are parents that are not happy. But certainly, it saved me a lot of trouble writing different cheques for different things. I was one of the parents who suggested that they request for a lump sum in the beginning of the school year instead. I personally do not mind donating the balance to the library.

kodichai

I had paid for the levy, but I still want to know what the levy for?  Does it include the membership of RAPT? if not, why?  As far as I know, the membership is mandatory for all families of the college.  Besides, is the levy of year 1 same as year 6, is it true?   I also heard that some of the parents refused to pay for the levy.  They would settle the fees separately.   Do we have the freedom to choose the way to pay for the fees?

Be honest, I do feel happy to pay in a lump sum to settle all the fees but we still have the right to know what we have paid for?  Someone had sent me a e-mail regarding the reply from the business manager of RC, he said the charge of CAS is also included.  But, does year 1 and year 2 have CAS?  Why don't they simply give us a estimated list for all the fees?

Seed

I am not comfortable with RC's arrangement too since we have the right to know what we have paid for and how much.  Everyone is asking for transparency these days so unless RC gives us a breakdown, the introduction of this arrangement is simply a setback of their administration.  To be frank, I don't mind writing cheques everytime because this is more fair.

BBQQ

RAPT membership is charged per family not per kid.  Families who have more than one kid in the school would pay extra if the fee is included in the levy.  

My kid took all the stationery home on the first day and there was quite a huge lot and good quality one too.

What's included in the levy was roughly listed on the notice.  I am quite happy about the arrangement too.

babyriver

Dear Seed

Thank you for your comment. The school still didn’t release the breakdown of the Levy, most the parents didn’t know that the stationery has gone up so much this year. The stationary is almost a third of the levy I don’t see $1430 it will last long. I think they will ask us for another cheque during the year. In the letter from the business manger he writes very clearly” the list goes on.”

Some mums told me this year the swimming lesson might have gone up from $500 to $1000. Two years ago when the school just started they didn’t charge us and it was included in the school fee. Same to the CAS no charge in the first year and last year some of the CAS lessons had a charge and this year they will run it in the lunch time instead of after school. I don’t think I will book my child in because he is a slow eater. It is not fair to ask me to pay.

I think they should give parents a choice, one bill or pay separate. Like my friend she has got three kids in RC. It is a very big bill for her and the school year just started there are more extra bills for the kids things. I don’t want to affect my child and I paid the levy but it does not mean I don’t want to know the breakdown. If they come up with the figure of $1430 for all primary school years then they must have the detail of it. Donation should be a personal choice not pre- arrange by the school. I wonder why they are so worried about letting us know the breakdown. I hope we will have the figures soon.

yellowbird

I am a mother of two kids, I am agreed it is a lot of extra bills to pay when the kids back to school in the new school year. I think school should give parents have a choice to pay their bills. Kowloon Junior their levy is pay by terms that will help some of the parents need.

RAPT fee? I know some of mums they never pay this fee because they did not want to be the members. And this year we a force to pay the membership no matter you wanted to be the member or not. I think membership should be a personal choice.

I had paid all the bills the school requested. I also like to know what I pay for and how much they are!

Yellowbird

Twolovelyboys

I like most other parents paid for the levy because it is small change when compared with the annual school fee.
My son bought home his stationary from school last week and all it contained was 3 pencils, a rubber, a marker pen, a glue stick and a highlight marker all in a plastic folder which I do not think it is worth the HK$380.
The government dental service which was mentioned (which I first thought was quite expensive) was only $HK20 including the bus fee to the clinic.


As for the swimming lessons, I really do know what to say.
During the school induction/tour they mention how this school has its own swimming pool, gym, Performing Art centre and etc.
I did not expect students of the school to have to pay to use it.
What will happen next will the student have to pay to use the classroom, the playground, the cafeteria, the library and etc…?

As this is my son’s first year at the school, I have not made a fuss at the school, but if it continues to increase year on year, I will certainly be writing to the manager who decides on these fees and refuse to pay unless I get a break down of the fee.

Twolovelyboys

I totally agree with you on that there are no free lunches in this world, but cannot understand why they couldn't add this to the school fee.  Maybe that the way the business world operates

Anyway, I still would like to know the cost of my lunch before paying for it.

原帖由 wisekid2007 於 08-9-8 10:14 發表
Of course you have to pay for using of all these facilities. There is no free lunch especially RC is supposed not receiving any subvention or subsidy from the Government.

Many other IS will raise don ...

hysterical

I think there is some misunderstanding regarding the levy. From my understanding, the levy includes the following:

1. Stationary kit (about $380): pencils, erasers, paint, crayons, color pencils, drawing pad, homework bag, ruler, etc. Upper primary may include more items. Last year, the students took the items home to be labeled and brought home the leftovers by year end.

2. Swim lesson (about $500): The students will have about 11 swim lessons divided into 2 terms per academic year. The $500 goes to hiring the swim instructors, not for use of facilities. The lessons will take place during PE lessons.

3. Dental or health checkup (about $20)

4. Chinese text books (about $150): They bring home about 3 textbooks and 3 exercise books.

5. Field trip travel and admission expenses: The teachers are very cost conscious and always seek out the mose economical way to go. This year, they bought prepaid octopus cards for students for MTR fare. Other times, they would take the tour buses, and all this cost $$.

6. RAPT membership is not included in the levy.

7. Over the year, they used many booklets for writing, spelling, math, chinese, etc. I would say totaling about 10 booklets = $180?

8. My son told me that they also got their own USB and computer headphones this year, but I haven't seen the items so cannot confirm.

These are just some of the items that I can think of from experience. I believe that the school is doing a great job of being organised and collecting these fees before hand so as to not inconvenience parents for writing a dozen checks for small amounts over the course of the school year. I am very happy with this arrangement.

If anyone has further inquiries, why not just ask the school for a breakdown? Instead of developing negative feelings over something really quite trivial, I think it's best to find out directly from the source.

Twolovelyboys

hysterical,

Thank you for your simple and detailed breakdown.

It was a shame that this was provided by a RCHK parents and not the school.

原帖由 hysterical 於 08-9-8 23:06 發表
I think there is some misunderstanding regarding the levy. From my understanding, the levy includes the following:

1. Stationary kit (about $380): pencils, erasers, paint, crayons, color pencils, dr ...

babyriver

Parents have been e-mailing the business manger since before the new school years started and he won't reply and face the request for a breakdown. If your figures are not official from the school, please keep it yourself and don't miss lead the public. If the school made things transparent then this issue would not be discussed on baby kingdom.

babyriver

原帖由 wisekid2007 於 08-9-9 10:36 發表
****If anyone has further inquiries, why not just ask the school for a breakdown? Instead of developing negative feelings over something really quite trivial, I think it's best to find out directly fr ...

Dear Wisekid

Thank you for your wise and fair comments; it is good to have someone’s point of view from outside RC. You have viewed things with an open mind and have provided good information about how other schools run things fairly and successfully. That's what RC should learn; they are new and should listen to all parents concerns. I think team work is respect for other people’s point of view by listening and considering all the options. I hope the school will learn from their mistakes and things won’t be so stressful in the future.

Babyriver

almom

Of course someone would say that there are so many FREE things in the school because the school has already charged for a high school fee.

However, it exactly suits the type of parents like me as it saves me a lot of time in various issues. It is very clear and I have no need to query the purposes of the money I paid for.

I would think the school would be more than happy to absorb the misc fees into the school fees . But for costs reasons, that would mean an increase of school fees. To make all those things "free", we are expected to pay ~$2000+ more of school fees per year (=$200+ more per month). I wonder whether the majority would agree. At least, not any ESF schools.

[ 本帖最後由 almom 於 08-9-11 23:04 編輯 ]

almom

That's what RC should learn; they are new and should listen to all parents concerns. I think team work is respect for other people’s point of view by listening and considering all the options. I hope the school will learn from their mistakes and things won’t be so stressful in the future.

The school DID listen to parents.
I was one of the parents who suggested that they charge us a lump sum of fees for one year.
I am perfectly happy with the arrangement now.
In fact, I would even more happy if the fees is absorbed into the school fee (like wisekid2007's school), even if that means that I have to pay a couple of hundred dollars more each month.

babyriver

原帖由 almom 於 08-9-11 23:27 發表



The school DID listen to parents.
I was one of the parents who suggested that they charge us a lump sum of fees for one year.
I am perfectly happy with the arrangement now.
In fact, I would even mo ...

Yes!!! The school did select to listen to what they wanted and reply to what they feel to reply. I am the same as you I paid my full school fee and all the other bills RC request. Why are they only happy to listen to you but not me or the other parent’s different opinions. I don't think RC treat all the parents equally. We just ask to be listened to and treated fairly. All we ask is a " CHOICE" for different parents needs. Did we ask too much???????

No matter how the bill is paid we still have a right to know the breakdown. It is my consumer right to have this information. If they give us a lump sum why can’t they let us know the breakdown. It should not be confidential. Is it “WRONG” to asked???????

babyriver

Wingba

I totally agree that RC has to give a clear breakdown on what they have charged us. Up till now the administration of RC is still not very satisfactory.

I support that they should charge a lump sum as it saves a lot of time and expenses or the school as well as the parents. But it is very very strange that they could not put down a number beside each individual item to give us a clearer picture.

Everybody knows that it is a rough estimate and I won't blame them for any discrepancy provided a reason is given.

The whole wrangle should not have happened. I just wonder why the Business Manager lacks the basic skill in making a clear presentation of his proposal.

Ciao