How much was your child’s residential?

[SisterAgatha]

Just interested to know as it’s our first time and it seems cheap.

3 nights/4 days
UK
State primary school
Activity centre with some external activities like high ropes
Food and travel included

@MrsPear The cost of adventure activities isnt cheap I agree. That's why I can understand activity holidays rather than city / London holidays.
London is going to be seeing museums and stuff which kids can do with family. But £550 for 5 days is still pricey

@gogohmm wow, is this in a very well off area?

@FlatWhiteLover What can they do if that's the cost of running them? They make no money off them. If they don't run them Ofsted will comment on it. They can't win.
I'm talking your bang average year 6 residential of course, not the Borneo trips.

The Ski and Dive trips aren't cheap, those aren't cheap activities and probably not something many families do.

But that Borneo trip is wild. How can they justify running a trip like that?

Maybe I have more care for sports trips because they can introduce kids to something that otherwise wouldn't be possible.

What amazes me is the variation in cost of the Yr6 / P7, last year of primary residential weeks.

There are prices on here from £200 to £500, OK the £200 poster commented they do some PTA fundraising to keep the cost down

Yes some parts of the country are pricerier than others but still that's a massive difference in cost.

£95 for one night at Boggle Hole near Whitby.Year 3.

This year's Year 6 I've paid £175 for 3 days/2 nights.

Next year's Year 6 going back to the usual full week and have paid £332 for 5 days/4 nights.

year 5 -4 night activity residential £380
year 8- ski trip £1000.

Year 8 £391 for 5 days/4 nights full board in hotel overlooking beach in Cornwall in July. Two full days of surfing, kayaking, coasteering, SUPing + one day at a theme park. Plus beach games, karaoke and disco in the evenings. A lot of money to find but they packed so much in it was good value for what they got.

Apparently around 75-80 out of 240 didn't go.

@Dinoteeth That amazes me too. I guess it's like anything, some people are more savvy than others and they happen to work in school finance and can find better deals. Lots of London local authorities own adventure centres. Hackney has Kench Hill, Haringey has Pendarren etc, which keep the costs down. Its really not fair and I agree some of these prices for y6 residential seem insane.

My daughter (Yr 6) just did a 4 night residential which included all food and drinks and loads of activities including leap of faith, climbing, orienteering, etc etc.

Total cost was £330

@Meadowbreeze If councils own their own facilities that in theory should be cheaper than booking a private company.

But with councils they can be a nightmare for not properly maintaining places until they end up becoming beyond economical repair. A council near me decided to sell their facility. And instead do an outdoor week of day trips to a country park. Keeps the cost down but I think kids will miss out on the experience of being away from home.

My DCs school are doing their P7 trip at start of the new school year. The school are expecting a bit more homesickness than usual due to kids having missed out on sleepovers with friends / family due to covid.

@Dinoteeth It is cheaper. I only know of those two but the year 6 residential in Haringey is nothing like the prices quoted here. The biggest expense is getting to Pendarren in Wales.
We paid £120 for 5 days in Pendarren in 2019. FSM was £50. I imagine with the prices of food and coaches it'll be much more now sadly.
I believe they all give access to their facilities to other boroughs as well as private rentals. As with all things, it really depends how it's utilised.
Kench Hill was turned into a charitable trust in 2014 when Hackney scrapped the school journey grant so they run as their own entity, giving Hackney schools a discount.

I feel like this is quite reasonable. Surfing lessons are expensive. And cornwall in July?!

I am in north London, it’s not at the haringey places, they’ve gone to Essex. Maybe they have subsidised it from PTFA and if so, well done them. I’m realising now that actually it was cheap for what we got!

@SisterAgatha Yeap, there's some schools that do their own thing, but very few. Coldfall for example take them to fellowship afloat, they've done so for years. When I worked there they nearly stopped this tradition as Pendarren was £150 vs £350 for fellowship afloat.