"Trip of a lifetime" half way through A-levels - good plan or not?

Also, travelling is tiring - and A level studies are exhausting. What about a summer of relaxing, going to a festival or two, and actually not having to squeeze studies into her one or two weeks she will actually have 'off'. I would be the bad guy and veto on cost and other grounds, but maybe promise to fund a shorter cheaper trip that holiday (maybe a trip with you), or something after A levels.

Beka
And NCS is so cheap compared to anything else comparable.
I don't know how anyone could get rich from it.
You do not honestly think that the money the parents' pay covers the cost
do you ?
NCS pays a grant to each provider to cover the cost less the parental contribution
hence how the scheme has cost £2 billion so far
and is well and truly in the NAO's sights for appalling governance and oversight failings

Nope Ta1kinPeace doesn't work like this around here - the staff tend to be young Students etc. Nothing to do wth any local schools - although the Leadership weekend was at a private school (DD declined to go having been chosen).
I'm happy for schools to make extra money - DC's school made a lot training teachers, building joint facilities, training other staff etc. etc. And yes the old Head gets a wage in retirement as the Academy chain head. But most of the money supports filling in for government cuts.

And NCS is so cheap compared to anything else comparable .
I don't know how anyone could get rich from it.

Clavinova
The accounts of Camps international Group Ltd are there for all to read on Companies House.
The accounts of the multiple overseas companies are not transparent.

Looking at the accounts, there are max 4 exec directors each paying themselves over £150k and the rest are on nominal fees and dividends
but I've not checked how much is extracted from each group company --as I CBA__

Bekabeech
DCs old school is a "hub" for NCS and it is most certainly a massive cash cow.
The head has become the director of the NCS company and made herself the "executive" head (with a £30k pay rise) and made one of the deputy heads the "school head" (with a £20k pay rise)
NCS provides "community facilities" which are magically available to the school.
Staff are seconded between the company and the school willy-nilly
but as its a stand alone academy, the accountants just nod it all through.

Many other NCS hubs are stand alone academies.
It stinks.

The girl I mentioned doing vso was actually 20

NCS - I have no idea how someone could describe it as “a cash cow” for schools? In my experience schools have nothing to do with it except a bit of publicity. Now it could make money for “activity” places and Unis, but it also does a good job of raising awareness of smaller charities.

MNy people do not read the big, never mind the small, print.

CappuccinoCake
I'd have assumed they're a charity from that info without digging into the accounts You wouldn't bother reading the company website first then?

I cannot see that Camps International are being sneaky - they are quite transparent in what they offer:

Their Instagram page (4428 followers) quite clearly says 'Travel Agency' as does Facebook (28,000 likes).

You don't have to look very far on their website to see phrases such as;
As a social enterprise we are a business; a business however with a conscience
unlike other travel companies
Camps International are global leaders in ethical and sustainable school expeditions

Their projects seem worthwhile:
We don’t paint the same classroom over and over again

They also run a healthcare outreach programme:
campsinternational.com/blog/2016/02/23/healthcare-outreach-2015/
campsinternational.com/product/healthcare-volunteering/

The fundraising blog makes it clear what they are and why people might like to go on the trips:
campsinternational.com/blog/2016/06/21/why-is-fundraising-so-important/

Do some further research into Camps and make sure you are comfortable talking about what you will be getting involved in
Understand why Camps are NOT a charity

But remember, when you travel with Camps International on expedition, approximately 40% of your money is spent investing in local economies, communities, wildlife and environmental conservation

The charitable Foundation which runs alongside the business was set up to raise the additional funds needed to support the huge range of project commitments by Camps International The associated costs can not always be sustained by the business There is a link on the website to the 2015 Foundation accounts (much less raised in 2015 than 2016) - why would they link to the Foundation accounts if they wanted to be 'sneaky'?

The nine directors pay themselves over half a million pounds a year
Is that annual salaries of £55,000 each? Director of operations/ finance director etc.?
Turnover in 2016 £10,592,236
Does it say how much of this is spent on air fares and project costs?

I cannot see that they are conning anyone.

C8

I agree - thank you - I think it was just the name ( Camp ) Talkin referred to which I was checking. I agree with you I think Camp America is a very different thing .

Basilisk

IME Camp America never made any pretence to be a charity - it was more about educational exchange and a chance to see the US. Certainly my contemporaries who did it were quite clear they were effectively assistants/coaches to support the professionals, make a bit of money and some friends and travel.

Talkin

I have always assumed something like Camp America is a different kettle of fish to some of the overtly trying to get young people to do voluntary work in e.g. Africa, where the "headline" is - it is charitable. ( re your comment about Camps Foundation ) Am I wrong?

that's really sneaky.

It isn't unique to Camps, it isn't even unique to voluntourism. There are a number of areas where companies have fig leaf charities in front of big commercial organisations. Its definitely worth doing some digging before choosing your charities.

Wow Talkin that's really sneaky. I'd have assumed they're a charity from that info without digging into the accounts. Thats awful!

The Camps Foundation - Charity number 1125858 : Turnover in 2016 £126,710

Camps International Group Limited - Company number 04449971 : Turnover in 2016 £10,592,236

The Charity is just window dressing.
It earns less than the MD pays himself.

The Camps Foundation is a registered UK charity no: 1125858

I think they they talk in such a way that people believe they are charities, and doing something good, when they are not, they are very unethical large companies making millions from very poor people, who are right at the bottom.

Ta1kinPeece
A lot of these voluntourism companies aren't charities.
They make huge amounts if money selling poverty to westerners who can go and volunteer despite lack of practical skills and feel good about themselves.

And even if you look at some charities (cough Oxfam) the % of money that gets to people in need is not thay large. They do a lot of fly the rich kids to do some life changing challenge. They set minimum sponsorship amounts bit I still can't help but think if they spent less time running life changinh trips for wealthy undergrads they cpuld probably do a lot more.

simultaneous
Camps are not a charity.
They are a Tour operator - like all the others.
They are a profit making business.

I don’t understand why charities can get away with persuading parents that their unqualified teenagers with little or no experience of manual labour or construction, can make a useful contribution to a construction project overseas in a few weeks.

I don’t understand how charities can persuade people in this country that it’s much better for the people living in poor African countries, when unskilled and unpaid British teenagers build things for them, rather than using skilled locals, or even unskilled local teenagers and thereby building the local economy.

Cambridge won’t give two hoots about Camps International. All it shows is that you have parents who are wealthy enough to send you on a lovely holiday, or that you have been able to do sufficient fundraising to pay for yourself. Neither of these are useful attributes during an Oxbridge degree.

Finally, my best friend from school took a gap year volunteering in Uganda. She smoked a lot of weed (for the first time) when she was over there, and wasn’t the same when she came back. Less mentally sharp, and has suffered from mental health problems ever since which are exacerbated by her weed habit.

Camps International pay their MD £183,000 a year
The nine directors pay themselves over half a million pounds a year.
And £150k of dividends to the directors and their families
Multiple companies in the group
They describe themselves as a tour operator
and they have a pretty impressive profit margin ....

(all details from public records at Companies House)

The same amount of money can go really far for kids just to have a jolly in the summer between the end of school and starting Uni, nothing wrong with having a jolly, I did it for over two years but I didn't exploit anyone, and though my parents paid for my flights, I paid for the rest, as in supported myself for two years.

VSO only send people with solid professional experience in the relevant field[...]

Also typically VSO volunteers commit to a couple of years, not a couple of weeks. 2 yrs was the commonest unit of time IME.

5k to send a 6th former on a couple of weeks trip with selfies or 5k to send an engineer for two years to build a water supply and train local people to maintain and continue the work.

"I was told by a friend’s dad who took part that VSO costs the Uk around £5000 to send someone. It comes out of the Foreign Aid budget. Not sure that is much better than the volunteer tourism being discussed here."

VSO only send people with solid professional experience in the relevant fields - which are often very specialist. Sending a consultant radiographer or public sector financial director to do a specific job setting up new processes and upskilling locals is totally different from sending unskilled teenagers to do manual labour.

Basically it's floppy haired Ugg wearing posh kids having "a life changing experience". Frankly, I am not happy with people in the developed world being teaching aids for kids like mine.