A WOMAN has blasted her nephew's school after staff charged her family £115 for breaking a tablet.
The young lad, 14, was using a netbook during his maths lesson when he "squeezed it too hard".
When the tablet immediately broke, the teenager took full responsibility and told the teacher straight away, according to his aunt.
But as he was "marched off for punishment" the Year 9 pupil was informed he would need to pay to have it fixed.
His aunt claims the school didn't contact the parents and they were first informed a couple of months later when the invoice arrived on their doorstep.
The woman, who goes by the name awkward_aunty, shared the incident to the Money Saving Expert Forum asking for feedback.
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In the post, she said: "My sister was never informed that her son was using netbooks in maths classes (or any other classes) and did not realise she would have to pay for it being repaired.
"I am surprised that the school is not responsible for equipment in their classes because as parents if you are not present all the time how can you control anything."
Flooded with comments, other forum users were left divided.
One person questioned: "I would have thought that the school would have insurance for this sort of thing?!"
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And another asked the same: "Question is – why are the school charging when it's covered by insurance? Getting paid twice hmmm?
"Also, what makes people think that all parents can just whip out over £100 at random."
However, one user said: "Sorry but I think they're well within their rights to do this, and if I were the parent in question, I'd support it!
"Surely a 14 year old would know squeezing the screen of a netbook isn't going to do it any good?
"I actually think asking him to pay for the damage is good practice as it may make him think about the consequences of his actions in future."
Meanwhile someone else agreed: "Although it was an accident, the screen still needed fixing, and since it was your nephew that broke it, it seems fair to invoice his parents."
It comes after another mum was charged 20p by her son's school after he broke a pencil at the start of this month.
Louise Owen received a letter which read: "Unfortunately, your child broke a school pencil on November 2, 2022.
“This is school equipment which now needs to be replaced.
"Would you kindly pay the value of £0.20 to the school as soon as possible.”
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