Anger as pupils made to hand ‘tax’ to school

DUNDEE pupils who raised funds for their end-of-year ball will have to give 40% of their earnings to the school.

Sixth-year pupils at Braeview Academy are upset at the “deeply unfair tax” they are being forced to hand over following a number of f undraising activities organised to offset the cost of their dinner dance in June.

The school said they had made parents, teachers and staff aware of the requirement and said what was handed over was only a “small amount” which would be split between charities and the school’s fund. It’s understood that despite raising the money the pupils are not able to decide which charities it’s donated to.

One parent, who did not wish to be named, said the whole matter was unfair.

“My child has been involved with a number of fundraising initiatives throughout the l ast six months to try to raise a bit of money for the end-ofyear ball,” she said. “The pupils have organised bake sales, taken part in a bridge walk and the school has said from the start they would not be contributing towards the dance and the children would have to raise the cash themselves.

“Braeview is a school in quite a deprived area of Dundee. They have been told they need to hand over 40% to the school fund.

“I want to know why the school is relying on money raised for a dance to go toward paying for other needs. It is really unfair.”

A spokesman for Dundee City Council said: “Fundraising events at Braeview Academy work to benefit the whole school. The majority of money raised goes to the main cause and a smaller amount is split equally between charity and school funds. Pupils, staff and teachers are made aware of this.”