"School Trips" specifically 'GCSE' School trips

Had a letter last week regarding trip to New York. Cost is £1100 for only about five days! How do they justify it? Dd doesn't want to go anyway thank goodness. It is also in the same week as they are offered a trip to London??

Sponsoring - aaarrgghh - it's just demanding money.

I couldn't believe it when some girl turned up at the door recently and asked if I would sponsor her to do a silence or something or other as she was raising funds to go on a trip to South America. I told her that unfortunately if I had any spare cash it would go into my own holiday fund.

I am drumming in to ds that he cannot go on every trip; it seems that the GCSE students go on more holidays than retired people, and that's saying something.

At GCSE we run a local trip for data collection for their controlled assessment - £5 for the coaches. At AS we take students in the school minibuses for their river studies - now I've passed my County minibus test (V proud emoticon) we take them at the princely cost of £3 for petrol and an overnighter at the LEA Field study centre at £20 - surely these expensive trips cannot be compulsory?

we are geography btw so definately are entitled to 'field trips'

dd just brought home a letter about a trip to Brazil (allegedly a charity thing) that will cost 3,000 euro. So beat that .

How about 5K fora cricket tour to teach St Lucians to play cricket - yes well, the day we need teach West indians to play cricket is possibly the day I run NAKED through the streets screaming - "David Gower i WANT YOUR BABIES"

maryz you need to have a spare sponsor form in your bag to whip out whenever your friend gets hers out... Make one up for a summer holiday educational trip for your dd - gloss over the fact that it's one that you're organising for her and then whenever she gets hers out, you get yours and fill her in for the same amount and say that as we've put down for the same amount I'll pay dd and you pay your dd when they've done whatever it is they need sponsoring for and then we'll be quits.

Otherwise you'll need to get stronger about saying that sorry you're only going to sponsor each friend/child once each each ever year and that you've already done it this year, sorry.

Good luck!

£4000 for trip to Borneo in two years time - so that's a big NO from our family. It has been a real strain to pay for a ski trip this year (£900) and we already support a very expensive sport with international travel for 3 kids. I've had to warn my friend that if I can't afford to send my child on this trip then it is unlikely I will be supporting fundraising for someone else.

Maybe it depends on what's on the syllabus that year, jgbmum? I don't know, just vague wondering.

DH wonders why they have to go on trips at all- he claims he never went on any (went to school in SA) and still did ok in his exams (blah blah blah) but I have very fond memories of the couple of trips I went on at school and don't want ds1 to miss out, if at all possible. Not that that means he'll get to go on the skiing trips, however.

It's just that, despite many years of paying for these trips, the cost still comes as a small shock!

DS did AS Geography, their field trip was to Cornwall.
It was a very cheap trip using school mini buses and staying in a youth hostel. They all had a great time, and many got grade As in their coursework, and went on to get As in their end of year exams, so they obviously covered all they needed to.
Why the need for such expensive trips??

I'm quietly glad that DDs music trip was canceled due to lack of support. She went on a very expensive Guide trip last summer (had an amazing time).
We were supposed to fund raise for that and the Guider looked when DD said no way was she going round her bog standard rural comp asking people to sponsor her to go on a trip (which cost twice what the music on would have).
DD doesn't go to her local guides (travels to see a couple of special friends) and it is a more affluent area with many of the girls at private school.

"d just brought home a letter about a trip to Brazil (allegedly a charity thing) that will cost 3,000 euro. So beat that angry"

DS's version to guatemala will cost £4300

He has to raise the money himself, but has thankfully decided against it!

He did have a brilliant trip to Berlin two weeks ago for German

arrive at stanstead airport at 4.30am for 6.30 flight to berlin
train from airport to city centre
visited the Berlin Wall, Brandenberg Gate,Checkpoint Charlie various memorials, picnic lunch at Berlin Zoo,
landed back at stanstead at 10.30
Cost was just £60
The HM decided to accompany them. He sent them all a lovely letter afterwards saying how much he had enjoyed their company on the trip etc

DS2 (14). Next year is saying school are thinking of running trips to Berlin/Auschiwitz & Iceland or Italy.
Plus other field trips for History/Geography.

He went to France with the school for 5 days in July which cost £500.

DS was also told before taking up GCSE History & Geography that there would be field trips abroad.

My son (14) is going to Rome, Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast next June. Four days and £500. I quite fancy it myself!

Ref the Brazil trip we are running a similar one to Africa, a chance in a lifetime trip and it is very expensive. Pupils were told at the time that it was arranged that they would be encouraged to do lots of fund-raising to reduce costs and in the past this has reduced parental costs by up to £900. However staff have arranged/tried to arrange numerous fund-raisers over the last 8 months with little, if any support from the pupils and their parents which as resulted in bag packs being cancelled, sponsored events with only one or two participants and stalls at open days and other school events left unmanned. This time last year we were able to reduce the cost of a Y7 trip by £90 per person because of student fund-raising, it would be lovely to see some parental support in fund-raising so that the cost of all trips could be minimised.

we went to eastbourne for geography field trip, and there was an alternate day trip fpr those who couldnt go/ werent allowed to go in a grammar school

My elder two are doing Drama/Theatre Studies GCSE and A2.

We knew when they selected that subject that there would be a lot of compulsory theatre trips.

Ditto Geography and the field work.

Hopefully this will not be controversial, but at i/GCSE level, no trip is compulsory, even language exchanges. That is to say, not going won't prevent anyone from getting that A*, but lots of other things may. It's slightly different later, but even then, there are very very few compulsory ones and only if they are part of AS/A2 coursework.

As for bonding trips at the start of year, staying away from home may be fun but they don't do what it says on the tin. Even more so at 16/17 than 10/11.

If it is a compulsory part of the course, contributions are voluntary, but if there aren't enough contributions the trip may not take place. Schools usually have a small fund for difficult situations.

School trips are very important, but very stressful and hard to plan for the teachers. They are expensive, that's just the way it is. Kids have to learn that they can't go on every trip.

Ds1 intends to do Geography at A-level. Some mention was made at some point of a trip to Iceland- I don't know any more details but that sounds kinda expensive to me.

Ah well. Better start saving now!