My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Primary education

Trips in Reception & Nursery

41 replies

Schmoochypoos · 25/04/2018 07:36

Just wanted to get a general consensus on what type of trip and how many your school nursery and reception aged children have done?

Ours have visited the local church twice, delivered biscuits in the village to the residents and the following have come into school: police, fire brigade, animal protection and pantomime.

They have one trip planned for the summer term where they will go on a coach slightly further afield. Is this the norm? Some parents have voiced concerns that they would have expected visits to the natural history museum/local observatory/science museum.

The children range from 3-5

TIA

OP posts:
Report
RedSkyAtNight · 25/04/2018 07:43

One slightly longer trip plus a few local things sounds pretty normal.

IME at this age generally more parents are nervous about their DC going on trips (they'll be on a coach! They'll be away from their usual routine! They'll wander off and fall in a river!) than are keen for them to go on more.

Report
tomhazard · 25/04/2018 07:45

My reception age DD has had one school trip to a farm. This was a farm which specialised in school visits and was around 40 mins away by coach.

Next year they do a bit more but nothing spectacular .

Report
Mookie81 · 25/04/2018 07:53

In reception I have taken the year group to the farm on a coach and the Sealife Centre and Natural History Museum on the Tube.

Report
mrsnec · 25/04/2018 07:56

My dd is 3. She's been at nursery since November. We're not in the UK.

She's had one proper excursion where they went to an olive plantation and processing plant and at Christmas they hired a fun train driven by santa and took the kids round the village on it.

That's been it really. I kind of wish it was more.

Report
UrbaneSprawl · 25/04/2018 08:07

Any trip where they use a coach will push the cost up massively. Teachers at our school have been told they can only do one trip that needs a coach per year, because not all parents were paying each time and school was losing money.

DS’s Y1 group have done a trip each term by public transport to museums, galleries etc. in our area (easier in a big city). I think some of the staff are nervous about taking this kids on buses and trams, but they usually have plently of parent volunteers.

Report
Schmoochypoos · 25/04/2018 08:18

Mookie81 do the parents pay for the coach? How many children are in the class? I think coaches work out expensive for our school as we only have 17 children and I know at least 3 of them would definitely not come.

OP posts:
Report
Looneytune253 · 25/04/2018 08:26

No ours don’t really do trips at that age. They have one big trip a year usually to the farm and the parents must accompany the children. As they get into yr1 and up they go on a proper trip every year (without parents) to a museum or art gallery (whatever fits in with their topic) and they do local things like church and library too.

Report
ladymildred · 25/04/2018 08:26

I teach KS1 and that sounds about right. One of the main reasons for lack of big school trips (museums etc) is purely coach cost. It can add another £10-15 per pupil to the cost of the trip and if parents don't pay then school is well out of pocket.

Report
picklemepopcorn · 25/04/2018 08:55

The adult child ratio is tricky at that age. My local nursery does two trips, one to get the Christmas tree and one to the seaside. But everyone goes! Grannies, aunties, etc. Only a handful of children are left with staff to manage them.

Report
ICantCopeAnymore · 25/04/2018 08:57

The norm everywhere I've taught.

The school I'm in now does a big nursery/Reception Christmas trip and a summer trip, both on coaches.

They also have numerous smaller trips.

Report
mrsnec · 25/04/2018 09:00

I was charged 10 e. I have no problems with that at all. It' was about a 40 minute round trip on the couch.

I have been asked to fork out more for other things ie 15e to hire her costume for the nativity. Trips out represent better value to me but I can understand the difficulty with logistics. The Xmas train was a beautiful idea but absolute carnage to organise!

Report
MrsPreston11 · 25/04/2018 11:43

Reception aged our school do one "big" trip (so a day long thing on a coach, to a farm or similar that fits in with the curriculum) and then a couple of smaller bits, so carol service, fire station, library etc.

Report
user789653241 · 25/04/2018 11:57

Trips on the coach is norm from reception at our school. In nursery, they asked parents to bring them to the site themselves, and collect them afterwards.

Report
LOliver123 · 25/04/2018 12:02

My son is aged 3 and is in a private day nursery. They have a trip once a month. Last one was to the theatre, cost wise that was £20. Next one is to one of the bigger museums. They do alot of little local trips to

Report
GrimSqueaker · 25/04/2018 12:30

Ours are out and about in the local woodland and nature reserve etc every week, went up to the supermarket to do some recycling, old people's home and library every few weeks. One trip on a coach coming up to the zoo.

Report
onemouseplace · 25/04/2018 13:32

Our nursery class don't do any trips as far as I know - Reception do a farm one, and sometimes a children's theatre trip if the PTFA fund it.

KS1 is when we start doing a lot of trips, but we are in London so they go by public transport which, as others say, brings the cost down massively.

Report
NotAnotherJaffaCake · 25/04/2018 13:35

Our school has a minibus and DC's reception class is small enough to fit on the bus so they are out at least once a half term - fire station, local museums, zoo, etc. They also went on the whole school pantomime trip.

Report
BitchQueen90 · 25/04/2018 14:35

DS in reception. They've had a trip to the local library and a garage this year and are going on a coach trip to the farm in the summer term.

I don't expect visits to museums etc at reception age.

Report
RatOnnaStick · 25/04/2018 15:00

No outside trips in nursery and one per year in school so far (up to yr2). Normal round here.

Report
Mookie81 · 25/04/2018 16:24

Schmoochy parents pay for the coach and farm entrance. Works put about 20 quid.
Tube and museum free. Sealife Centre is just the coat of the entrance.
I book the trips about 4 months in advance to give people time to find the money, for staff to sort helpers' checks, etc.
Parents on free school meals are covered.

Report
MaryWortleyMontagu · 25/04/2018 16:35

My daughter is currently in reception in London. So far we have done one trip to an educational forestry centre (by coach), one trip to London zoo (by coach) and one trip to a city farm (by public transport). This term we have one trip to the seaside (by coach) and I think another trip somewhere but we haven't had the details yet.

Report
ScaredPAD · 25/04/2018 16:38

Wow so many trips! Ours do one actual trip a year. Sometimes somewhere localish. Plus visits to local church, nearby school for bought in theatre/older kids plays etc

Report

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

IAmMotherOfDragons · 25/04/2018 16:56

At our school,
Nursery....trip to a farm and trip to an educational centre
Reception....church for harvest festival, church for christmas festival, panto, trip to farm and trip to educational centre.

They go on a coach for the trips....

Report
WhiteHartLane · 26/04/2018 14:05

Nursery - trip to farm (parents dropped off and collected). Short walk to the local fire station.
Yr R - will be going to a country park by coach (approx 10 minute journey).

Report
missingone · 26/04/2018 15:25

The provision your school has provided is spot on and just what I would expect from a Foundation Stage class - lots of local visits and perhaps one Summer Term day trip on a coach etc.

As an experienced Primary School Headteacher I would say this is good practice in my book!

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.