The cost of school trips in independent schools

[UkraineQueen]

I have just moved DS to an independent school, due to problems he was having at his old state secondary.

One of the things I am genuinely shocked at is how much cheaper the school trips are in the independent school. For example, a 3-day trip to Germany at his old school was going to cost £800. The trip to Paris at the new independent school will be £600 for 6 days. Both trips involved flights and a stay at 2 star hotel accommodation.

I am wondering now why school trips in state schools are so expensive, or is it just that our experiences aren't typical of the norm?

Maybe, at the schools you have experience of. Ds' primary do lots of trips and the teachers are highly trained in how to look after them outside the classroom, as are the course leaders at the destinations. Not to mention forest school leadership qualifications most of them have now. (Forest school once a week here) I volunteer on them a lot so am privy to the work that goes in to them and the weighty tomes that are the risk assessments. It's a hell of a lot safer than all the trips I did in primary in the 80's, which was very much shove us down a pot hole and hope for the best! No injuries beyond a few bruises so far for DS' school.

These outward bound places always see someone injured or in a few cases dead.

@RomanyQueen1— If I was under the impression that school trips or outward bound “always” or even frequently led to serious injuries or death I would be nervous too. May I ask where you got your mis information from?

I strongly suspect that the stats would show that the drive to the outward bound place was the most statistically dangerous part of the trip.
And that getting to school each day is more dangerous than any activity trip.
My dc and their friends always feel sorry for the one dc in their year who is never allowed to go on the trips.

I still want to know what’s so alarming about hostels.....

I think it's that poor people might be in them. Heavens.

@BertrandRussell lack of room service and a pool?

Ds’s trip is almost 2k- state school

oh pinkyy real or not you are pretty hilarious

I asked my 15 year old what he thought of Pinkyy's requirement
He said no, teenagers can be wasteful fuckers and how is it an essential it's a fucking luxury.
I don't think he was impressed.

A bit outing here but DS is going on a government sponsored trip this summer along with kids from quite a few other schools, mostly private and grammars (DS goes to bog standard comp).

The kids have met with others from different schools at various day events and set up group chats etc. It has now emerged that the price parents are being charged for this identical school trip is ranging from £400 to a couple of thousand. Fortunately for us, we are at the bottom end.

Apparently there have been ructions.

I think Bertrand thinks her experience of her dcs state secondary is the same for everyone. Clearly she has never met a teen that refused to go to a museum (mines wouldn’t go to one on anything arty btw. So not a preconceived idea...)

“Clearly she has never met a teen that refused to go to a museum “

I’ve met lots.i just don’t think they are limited to one educational sector.

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but trip organisers in state schools often have to pay cover costs out of the trip fund, whereas independent schools often don't buy in cover or pay cover supervisors as there is often an expectation and no limit on in-school cover.

@FunnysInLaJardin at least I've given you a laugh

My info from all the kids who come back with injuries, from sprains and strains to broken limbs, and the few cases that are on the news.
Nobody I know had anything to do with outside the classroom in their PgCE training, I must have been asleep during that bit. watched her killed, being swept away on an activity that shouldn't have happened on that day.
I don't trust the risk assessments either, accidents happen when a wrong decision to go ahead with an activity is wrongly taken.
The poor teacher who took the child on one, not from the same school,

Ha, jumped a bit there it does make sense if you move it around a bit

No our teachers aren't trained during pgce, it's additional training they undertake. Sounds like you have a pretty rum school tbf, which is a shame.

Primary school charged £80 to go to a museum.

I refused to pay so Dd stayed behind.

25 kids being charged £80 for essentially a train ride into London which would have been £5 return and entrance to a museum. Complete rip off. £2000 for something that would cost £125.

This school was also charging £400 for PGL. Friends Dd was going to the same place. The following week.

Friend was being charged £160.

If anything friends school probably had much more children from families who wouldn’t have the money to pay

“Primary school charged £80 to go to a museum.“

And when you asked the school for a breakdown of the costs-what did they say?

In view of the interest this thread appears to have inspired, I also wanted to add another instance of where we paid a lot more for trips when DS attended a State school.

All the way through state primary school, we always paid for Outward Bound trips. The last one was £150 for five days, which is obviously very good value for money. However, In Ds new independent school, the weekend outward bound trip (3 days) was provided with no additional charge to parents.

“However, In Ds new independent school, the weekend outward bound trip (3 days) was provided with no additional charge to parents“
You are aware that you are paying fees, aren’t you? And you weren’t when your child was at state school?

Bertrand I was told it was for the museum entry (which was free) and for insurance.

I was new to the school and used to live in Central London. The other parents used to the costs and had never sat down to work out what the trips actually cost.

There seemed to be a trip every month.

I had a group of the HTs mum friends ambush me in the playground demanding why I wasn’t going to send Dd on the PGL trip and how she was going to miss out.

1. Dd and ds were at the school for 2 years in total and this was the first time and I think only time anyone had actually spoken to me.

1. I knew Dd wasn’t going to be there the following year (had to pay the £400 in full 1 year in advance) but I wasn’t going to tell them.

In the end I think telling them I thought it was a rip off made some start to question the trips costs because a while later I overheard some dissent when another trip was announced.

@TinklyLittleLaugh : if you're talking about the MEP trip to China, then the cost of the flight is covered by the programme. However, that does not apply to independent schools, so parents of children in independent schools will have to pay for flights too.

The remaining costs have to come from schools/parents. Some schools will subsidise the trip more than others, either using some of the money they get from the government for the programme, or by using normal school funds, or by using PTA type funds. It's hardly surprising that different schools make different decisions on this.

That's interesting Fifth. Very glad our school has seen fit to keep the cost down.