Is £30 excessive for this school trip?

[Moaningturtle1]

My DD (year 9) has come home from school with a letter about an upcoming school trip. The price has concerned me and I’m trying to work out if it’s reasonable.

It’s to the Black Country Museum, which is 50 miles from us. It includes tickets and coach transport from the school. No food or activities included, pack lunches to be taken from home and spending money for the Victorian sweet shop.

£30 is half my weekly food shop or 100% of my weekly petrol. It just seems too much at the moment. Does it seem a lot? I’ve been on the website and an under 16 ticket is £9.95, is coach hire that expensive now due to rising diesel costs?

I think that is expensive, but agree it's probably because the coach is eye wateringly expensive.
Tell the school you would like your DD to go but can't afford it and see what they say.

I don't think they're overcharging people, but if you can't afford the cost then I'm sure the school will be able to help out - the fact you've asked for a breakdown will probably trigger an offer of assistance.

But LegoLand is more than triple the price of the Black Country museum

To complicate things my DD has find out that at least 3 of hers friends parents have said no, I’m not surprised they are single parent families struggling enough at the moment. It costs one of the mums (a friend of mine) £40 a week on her electric metre at the moment. So £30 is literally out of the question.

Now my DD is begging not to go because it will be unfair to her friends and embarrassing for her. I hate these times. My DH and I both work and will have to sacrifice something or defer a payment to pay for this, and we are better off than probably 60/70% of the school
families. It’s so so sad that times have come to my DD feeling ashamed if we manage to pay for a simple museum trip.

It's coach hire and cover for the staff going. That's £150 a day per member of staff.

You have to think about safeguarding children as well. Public transport is a no no, walking by foot is only for very short journeys.

Our school offer a payment plan if you are struggling to afford trips. If you are FSM you don't have to pay at all.

Why does that complicate things? You don't want her to go so I'd have thought this was a result for you

@girlmom21 I've just checked it's £9.25 for primary for Legoland trips

I used to organise school trips before I retired 6 years ago.

The cost was eye watering then. Its not just the diesel but the cost of the driver for the day. Sometimes the cost can be less if the coach can fit the trip in between its usual school runs.

It’s not legal for a school to profit. One head I worked under included the cost of supply staff to cover teachers on the trip - but she was mean.

Trips are an expensive business - but a quiet request can help reduce the cost for you.

Public transport is not a no no at all @LondonQueen - right from primary age, my children have been on school trips by train if the end location is accessible by train. Coaches are a last resort (because they're expensive).

I work in a school finance office. You are not allowed to make a profit on school trips, all trips are properly costed, we get several quotes for coaches and yes they are very expensive, many of our companies went under during Covid and the ones left have definitely put their prices up.

Ultimately if you don't get enough contributions on the trip it can't run however on all our trip letters we state that if you have any financial concerns you should write to the Head in confidence.

So if DD wants to go speak to the school.

You’re getting funny about £30? That’s a bloody bargain

You book a coach with as many seats on as you need for children, staff, helpers. That cost is fixed , even if you don’t fill all the seats.

You then pay entry prices in advance to wherever you are going, sometimes you will get a free adult ticket for every (say 15) children. If this is enough to cover all the adults going , fine, if not the school pays for extra adult tickets, or as you say, will sometimes add 50p on to the cost for each child to help pay for responsible, known adults to supervise that child in an unfamiliar setting for a number of hours, ensure that the child enjoys the trip, washes its hands before lunch, goes to the toilet, doesn’t get lost , gets something positive from it, doesn’t kick off and ruin the day for others, to supervise that child on a coach even if it throws up all over you, or has lost its packed lunch, or wet its pants,or lost its spending money down a drain, or the coach breaks down and you are stuck at the side of the road for three hours knowing that your own children are waiting for you. Because yes, school staff and parent helpers are so keen to enrich your child’s experience that of course they will be happy to pay for the privilege of caring for your child and its belongings on an exhausting day out.

A class at a time, or hundreds of pupils in one go?

It's half of the OPs weekly grocery budget; how is that a bargain?

Oh that's good!

I've just checked BCLM and they allow 1 adult per 10 students in for free and only charge £7.25 per child plus vat

Oh sorry £7.75, I thought she was 9, not year 9

It’s a bargain objectively

Most don’t live in poverty so £30 on a day trip is a bargain compared to the cost of most school trips and general family days out.

Schools cannot make a profit on school trips. The cost of admission (plus admission for adults, most get free places but you can't have children wandering about unsupervised) and transport is totted up and divided by the number of children. That's it.

Sometimes schools will supply funds to reduce the overall cost to parents, often not saying that they have done so which skews people's perspectives on how much these things cost.

I used to give a breakdown of the costs on the trip letter so parents could see.

Having said all that, money is tight for many people and £30 is a lot. The trip might not go ahead without enough people paying but I think that's something the school should have thought about first. It isn't the fault of the children or parents.

I might be tempted in your shoes to email the school with your concerns and just point out that some of your dd's friends are already saying they aren't going and that cost might be a big issue for many.

When my children were in primary school 8years ago buses were extortionate. Anything between £300and £500 for a day trip.

@VeryTrying22 I don't know where you live but when I was at school it was less than £20 for trips to theme parks including travel when I was at secondary school, not a million years ago

@Londonqueen You have never been on the District Line in London and got off at South Kensington on a school day then! London kids go on tubes,buses, the DLR, they go up and down stairs, up and down escalators, they cross busy roads, go down underpasses, walk across bridges, under rivers, alongside rivers…….

If you've got 50 kids that's a tenner each. Less than a tenner for entry. Where's the extra tenner going?

It’s the coaches, they’re astronomically expensive.

If your daughter changes her mind about going, could you drive her there and supervise her yourself?