Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Is £30 excessive for this school trip?

119 replies

Moaningturtle1 · 18/05/2022 16:21

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?

OP posts:
Bbq1 · 19/05/2022 07:58

sanityisamyth · 18/05/2022 16:56

Enable the staff? Like it's a reward for them?!

Show quote history

Ha ha, i know. In my school children most definitely do NOT pay for us as staff. We self fund or school pays.

hedgehogger1 · 19/05/2022 08:03

Coaches have always been expensive but the prices have shot up massively. Colleagues of mine are considering axing DofE because of how expensive it has become to get the coaches for the expedition, they don't feel they can ask parents for that much money. It cost the school loads this year as they'd set a price at the start for the DofE experience then the coach costs nearly doubled

Fizbosshoes · 19/05/2022 08:22

I think there are 2 separate issues.

Lots of people are tripping over themselves to justify the cost (which is probably not unreasonable for what's included) but if £30 is half your food budget for the week, potentially more if, as OP says they are in a better financial position than many other parents, then £30 for a day trip for 1 child, is a lot to find.
So not that the school are profiteering or charging over the odds but are they being mindful in the current climate, by offering a trip that is going to be a struggle to afford for many parents. (I'm pretty sure most trips are calculated on a % of children not being able to afford it, but they can't go ahead unless majority of people are willing, and able, to pay)
And like OP says if they go as a family for £50 + fuel it's not going to cost any where near £30 Per person.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

General education Secondary education
Monkeybutt1 · 19/05/2022 08:30

It seems a lot, my son is going to Harry Potter Studios which is 150 miles away from us, it is £50 per child for the ticket, coach, insurance etc. We need to send them with pack up for lunch and tea. The tickets are £18.50 per child at their school rate and 1 teacher goes free for every 5 children.

ImAvingOops · 19/05/2022 08:41

The Harry Potter studio tour is expensive. Be prepared for the tour ending in the gift shop - I spent more in there than I had on the tickets! Really loved it though.

Monkeybutt1 · 19/05/2022 08:46

ImAvingOops · 19/05/2022 08:41

The Harry Potter studio tour is expensive. Be prepared for the tour ending in the gift shop - I spent more in there than I had on the tickets! Really loved it though.

The school is allowing them to take up to £25 each for the gift shop. I don't mind to be fair, he has missed out on 2 years of school trips, it has been a long time coming!

ImAvingOops · 19/05/2022 09:03

It was worth every penny when I took my boys. I loved it as much as they did! I ended up buying them all wands in the gift shop. See if you can go as a parent helper Wink

Monkeybutt1 · 19/05/2022 09:07

Unfortunately they don't need any and I have to work anyway 😫

bettbburg · 19/05/2022 09:10

user1471538283 · 18/05/2022 16:25

I think with school trips you pay a proportion to enable the staff to go as well.

Staff usually don't have to pay, you get x free teacher places.

Fizbosshoes · 19/05/2022 09:12

Although teachers are not in the same salary bracket as MPs, they will likely be in a different income bracket to the families in receipt of FSM who might have a parent who is out of work, on NMW or zero hours contracts.

A good friend of mine is a teacher. She earns significantly more than I do, but hadn't thought about the fact that she won't have the same expenses of covering holiday childcare (her child is not yet of school age) that many working parents do.

Jules912 · 19/05/2022 09:26

My DD has a similar distance trip coming up which is £27.50, I don't mind as it's the only one all year but was double whatI paid for DS to do the same trip. The venue haven't put their prices up so assume it is all the cost of the coach. I suspect the school being 3 classes per year actually helps here because they pretty much exactly fill 2 coaches.
DCs school has committed to using public transport where possible but currently aren't due to Covid, hopefully that'll change soon.

Hallyup89 · 19/05/2022 09:32

We've just been asked for £15 to go on a trip. I believe the actual attraction costs £4, so £11 for the coach. It's about 10 miles away, and apparently the cost has already been heavily subsidised by the PTA.

INeedNewShoes · 19/05/2022 09:44

Affording school trips has been at the back of my mind since DD was a baby. I've been really lucky in that some relatives of ours decided to pay an amount into an account every month with the aim that it'll cover school trips costs as she gets older.

The vast majority of the time there is no way otherwise that I could find £30 for a school trip and I agree with you OP that it particularly stings when you feel like the trip in question isn't getting full value for your £30.

Oddly, DD's only school trip so far was free even though it involved a coach and I know the venue will have charged for the educational activities. I can only think that the school has a benefactor that enables them to offer these things for free.

dottiedodah · 19/05/2022 09:47

Maybe see if School can help .They may be able to work something out .I think expensive trips are a bit tone deaf in this climate TBH. Coach hire and teaching /support staff need to be factored in .£30 doesnt seem too much par se. However it is a lot for you! And no doubt other families too!

moomintrolls · 19/05/2022 12:47

I don't know. Can you obtain an itemised bill from them? One that shows all the costs and where your money is going?

Or is the figure plucked from thin air?

ChiselandBits · 19/05/2022 13:27

Of course it isn't plucked from thin air!! For crying out loud, school trip forms are detailed planning applications that involve budgeting at the first instance. The organiser will have contacted numerous coach companies, negotiated, looked at package costs for the venue, considered alternatives and this is the offering. Or are we back to the idea that no trip should ever run because not everyone can afford it? Some families will struggle to find £2 for dress up day. Should they never happen? The trip is optional and if it weren't, e a Geog Field trip, the school would be budgeting to cover the costs where needed.

Fizbosshoes · 19/05/2022 15:37

ChiselandBits · 19/05/2022 13:27

Of course it isn't plucked from thin air!! For crying out loud, school trip forms are detailed planning applications that involve budgeting at the first instance. The organiser will have contacted numerous coach companies, negotiated, looked at package costs for the venue, considered alternatives and this is the offering. Or are we back to the idea that no trip should ever run because not everyone can afford it? Some families will struggle to find £2 for dress up day. Should they never happen? The trip is optional and if it weren't, e a Geog Field trip, the school would be budgeting to cover the costs where needed.

I think most people would need to find more than £2 to facilitate a dress up day (and this contributes to them being stressful or unpopular with some parents) However I think its different to say some parents won't be able to afford £2, and a majority of parents would feel the pinch for a £30 trip...

ChiselandBits · 19/05/2022 16:50

I meant a donation for children in need mufti day or similar. The point stands that organising staff don't just randomly pick a number and assume all /most will meet it. The trip is costed, advertised and goes ahead if enough people do sign up.

ancientgran · 19/05/2022 16:56

It is a brilliant day out so I don't think £30 is bad but I can understand that £50 for the family is even more of a bargain.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread