School trips costing £1,000 (state school)

We all choose to spend our money in the way that we choose. Some parents choose to spend it on a school trip.

littlebella, it is still a choice. unfortunatly it is one made for you, through circumstances.
certainly the school should look at the general income level of their families before offering thosand pound plus trips. but if we cant afford it in any way or form possible, even with borrowing. then tough shit. it means the dc dont get to go.
the only right offered is a right to a broad and balanced education, as now laid down in the national curriculum, till the age of sixteen. all the extra's are just that. extras

And these parents can't afford a nice house, fancy car, fancy clothes.

Life is like that. You don't have to penalise families who have worked hard to achieve what they have.

At one level, most of us do have a choice. We made the choice to make the most of our own education, that provided the opportunities for good earnings in the future.

Yes of course they could - and usually do via PSA activities. But say 30 kids are asked to pay out £1k. How much do you propose they raise? £30k? £15k? And when? Certainly not during school time. Weekends are family time, or sports, and when there are school extensions/leaky roofs/new equipment to be paid for then I'm afraid fundraising for a jolly takes second place.

Not sure your reading analogy makes sense.

OK, I'll check tomorrow but I'm sure in principal that, if a trip is being promoted as part of the syllabus, that we aren't allowed to exclude anyone whose parents can't pay.

I'd agree that, as a parent, I'd be totally outraged if it were implied that 'This is part of X's GCSE course, £500 please' - but a skiing trip etc I'd just yea or nay depending on whether I was happy/able to pay for it, without losing too much sleep.

well exactly piffle. family can get together and help out. rather than spending a tenner or so on plastic tat for christmas birthdays etc, it can go towards this sort of thing.
dont be disheartened dv. if youhonestly cant afford it, say no. it wont scar your chidl not to go, just as it wont scar ds because he isnt getting a wii for christmas, even though he says he will and thinks he is a poor deprived child for not having as much paraphernalia as some of the other children in his class

pukkapatch, i wish you'd stop using the language of choice here.

some of the parents who haven't sent their children on the trip, haven't done so out of choice, but because they didn't have any choice. Not because they couldn't be bothered ot budget, but because they didn't have enough money and time to budget with. Some of them might work out a budget and find it would take them twenty years to get the money together.

I've no doubt that some people will borrow for it as well.

Well one thing we can perhaps teach them is if you want to have opportunities in life, you have to work to achieve them.

no dv, the schools are offering children options. it is upto the parents to partake of those options or not.
the school will lay on different activities for those children whose parents have chosen not to send them on the trip. and often, they have just as much fun as the ones who went on the trip.
it is a choice. not a penalty

Let me see
ds1 is at state grammar
he went on a ski trip cost £800
he was offered a trip to China for intensive language training for 3 weeks (£950) in summer hols, good value but holy shit
he was offered history trip to Belgium for £300 - we said no as he is dropping history for gcse

£350 trip to Barcelona for G+T art students (shit out of luck if you cannot afford this ) but family have had a whip round and stumped up for this for him.

Honestly...

It's not the role of the state education system. It's an optional extra which happens because the goodwill is there on the part of the organisers & the demand is there (from maybe 40 students in our school of 900).

Teaching extra lessons, unpaid, after school to stretch gifted students by giving them an extra text to write about on their English Literature GCSE exam isn't part of the state education system either. I still do it!

Honestly, if you don't want your children to be involved, that's absolutely fine & a perfectly reasonable parental choice. But are you really arguing that teachers should be prohibited from offering these trips to those who do see them as valuable & value for money?

The kids can fundraise, PG.

Even in independent schools, children would be expected to do their bit, eg wash umpteen car etc.

By that logic, DV, we would never teach children to read because some parents are non readers.

Take your point about trips held during the holidays to cater for specific interests, but I don't think this is what the OP meant (although I could be wrong). What I find so depressing is that schools think it's appropriate to ask all parents to stump up £1k for a trip to America or wherever during term time - and then tough luck to those who can't afford it.

The more expensive trips are during the school holidays so less if a chance of feeling left out. I can understand how a parent would feel if they simply dont have the money but is that a reason to scrap school trips altogether? These trips are often the first chance a child has to be away from their parents and can help them grow up, esp in secondary.

I'm pretty bemused by the number of threads here in the past few days that are actively dumbing down their children's education for ideological reasons.

in a secondary school, i once organised a day trip that cost four pounds. i remember being shockedand incredibly saddened that some of the childrens parents couldnt afford it. i had visions of oliver twist like poverty. and felt bad for judging when i met their mothers later on and found out they were smokers. (surely giving up one packet would have been possilble?) but everyone has different priorities, and just because i choose to budget for something, doesnt meant that it has the same importance in other peoples lives

We had a letter home from (state) school last year for a cruise costing over £800

Needless to say DS did not go.