A group of 25 primary schools in Utrecht have set up a solidarity fund to finance extracurricular activities, raising enough so the first children can go on a school trip.

The fund replaces the “voluntary contribution” scheme, which, in many cases, still puts pressure on parents unable to afford activities, such as trips abroad and extra study support.

Since 2021, primary schools and secondary schools have no longer been allowed to exclude pupils whose parents have not paid a voluntary contribution, and that has resulted in some schools not organising any extracurricular activities at all.

Instead, the parents of the pupils of all 25 schools, united in the Catholic schools group Katholieke Scholenstichting Utrecht (KCU), have been asked for a voluntary donation which is then distributed among all the schools.

This makes individual schools less dependent on contributions from the parents of their own pupils and so far, some 450 parents have contributed around €35,000.

“In some schools, almost all parents contribute and in practically none,” primary school head Michelle Hess told broadcaster NOS. That means that some schools can afford to organise two expensive trips a year while others can barely manage a single cheap outing.

“For some pupils, even a local trip feels like going abroad,” Hess said.

Contributors to the fund can also include family members, neighbours, businesses, charities and the local council and the money is also used to finance local social initiatives.

SPO Utrecht, which comprises 37 primary schools, has joined the fund and Utrecht city council hopes more school organisations will follow suit.