Does anyone have a letter template to send to parents re none attendance and outstanding subs. Need to do a bit of a clean up on the sqn…
Not from specific templates, but maybe on these lines…
Dear Mrs/Mrs/parent/guardian of Cadet XXXX YYYY,
We have noted that your son/daughter has not been attending the Squadron on a regular basis.
We appreciate that sometimes there are other home or school commitments that have to take priority, and would understand if this is the case.
However, if he/she has decided that the Air Training Corps is no longer suitable, we would be grateful if you could let the Squadron Adjutant know, either at our Squadron address above or via email. Please can you also ask your son/daughter to bring back all their uniform/issued items at the next convenient Parade night.
Dear Mrs/Mrs/parent/guardian of Cadet XXXX YYYY,
We have noted that your son/daughter has not been paying monthly subscriptions on a regular basis. These contributions go towards Squadron funds and are used to finance numerous cadet activities.
Currently, your son/daughter owes the sum of £ZZZZ. Please can you make the necessary arrangements to bring the amount owed up to date; cheques should be made payable to XX Squadron Air Training Corps. If there are any special financial circumstances that we need to take into account, please let us know - the information will be kept in the strictest of confidence.
Here’s ours:
Dear Parent or Guardian of
As your son/daughter has not attended a parade night in some time, we are sending you this letter as a courtesy in case they are thinking of leaving the organisation.
We understand that young people have a variety of commitments that may stop them attending parade nights and special events, including school work and exam preparation.
However, it is worth considering that many leading employers and universities encourage young people to continue their extra-curricular commitments through their exam years. They are looking for evidence of the ability to give long-term commitment outside academic lessons, and progress within the ATC is powerful evidence of this. We believe that effective time management skills are also an important life skill. Being able to maintain multiple commitments will prepare young people for greater independence and eventually employment.
We understand that there can be many other reasons that young people may want to leave the ATC, and if there is anything we can do to help, please contact us.
If your son/daughter wishes to leave the organisation, the process is described overleaf. If this letter has been sent prematurely, we apologise and look forwards to seeing them soon!
Otherwise, we hope that your son/daughter has enjoyed their time in the Air Training Corps, and please remember that they will always be welcome if they decide to re-join at a later date.
Yours faithfully,
Dear [insert name],
According to our records your [son/daughter/ward] has not attended paid subs since [date] and by our calculations owes [amount].
I know who you are. I know what we want. If you are looking for an excuse, I can tell you I’ve heard them all. What I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you pay the money owed now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will [pester you with gift aid leaflets].
Yours,
Flt Lt Neeson.
Since we started doing subs by STO we don’t get so many “hangers on”. Most savvy parents get them down with their uniform and cancel the STO. If the parents don’t cancel the STO kerching. We do give them a rebate of 50%, when they get round to it and they ask, but this more than covers the ‘tithe’ to Wing and HQAC.
We do phone calls if they don’t turn up without letting us know, on the pretext of safeguarding.
I take a very slightly less friendly approach
"We have noticed from our records that it is some time since the above cadet has attended the Squadron on a regular basis.
Since the availability of camp spaces, flying slots etc is dependent upon the number of regular attendees on parade nights, it is important that we keep our list of active enrolled cadets up to date.
If the above Cadet still wishes to take an active part in the Squadron, then we look forward to seeing them on a squadron parade as soon as possible.
If not then, unless otherwise agreed, as of (TYPICALLY 3 WEEKS), the above cadet will be removed from our records and considered to have resigned from the Squadron and all outstanding subscriptions will need to be paid and their uniform returned as soon as possible."
It isnt what I would like to do which is a phone call and chat about things, but sometimes there isnt time to look after keen cadets AND deal softly with non attenders. It normally spurs a positive leaving of the cadet and kit return and occasionally a returning cadet. So far only 1 instance of ‘but I thought he was attending, where does he go, just wait till he gets home…’ response.
^^only had that the once?? we have it fairly regular every 18months or so we find ourselves with a Cadet leaving home for Sqn never attending and then either us asking if they wish to attend or Parent asking why they havent come home yet…when they never turned up at all!
Oh we get that more often as regular/occasional thing, just only the once with the letter - which is often only sent 2m+ after last attendance
They are normally caught much sooner than that, mainly as their friends tell us!
I once had the joy of watching a parent bring her son down to leave with his kit. She was quite shocked when we asked for £40+ in subs, as she’d been giving the little darling money every week to pay them (a while ago; we’re on SO now).
Oh how we laughed at his pain 
[quote=“pEp” post=16369]I once had the joy of watching a parent bring her son down to leave with his kit. She was quite shocked when we asked for £40+ in subs, as she’d been giving the little darling money every week to pay them (a while ago; we’re on SO now).
[/quote]
Do parents often pay up for subs when their child has left?
Before STO hardly ever and if they said poke it, it wasn’t worth the aggro, now we have STO we invariably remind them to cancel it.
[quote=“talon” post=16370][quote=“pEp” post=16369]I once had the joy of watching a parent bring her son down to leave with his kit. She was quite shocked when we asked for £40+ in subs, as she’d been giving the little darling money every week to pay them (a while ago; we’re on SO now).
[/quote]
Do parents often pay up for subs when their child has left?[/quote]
It depends on how amicably they left really. Most of the time nowadays yes, because we’ve moved to SO and so they can’t fall behind as easily.
Beforehand, not often. Some parents with a conscious did (but then they tended to be the ones who wouldn’t let it fall behind anyway!)