Cubs/school trips etc

[twotoedsloth]

DS recently joined Cubs and just got a letter about a trip they are planning next year. It costs ~£400 and they will be going to numerous attractions (think zoo, castle etc).

It sounds like great fun, but on the other hand (and perhaps I'm being a bit naive here) I'm a little surprised at the cost and the purpose of the trip, especially for primary aged kids. I thought cubs would be all about outdoor activities or community oriented stuff.

Is this typical for these types of groups?

How long is the trip for?
I got back from Cub camp yesterday and we had 2 nights camping. With food, camping fees, insurance, a full day of Saturday activities which included bushcraft, climbing wall and muddy assault course plus any sundries we charged £70.
Remember that the costs for leaders accommodation/ food/entrance to activities also have to be spilt among the young people going.
as we went local, transport wasn’t an issue with our camp, but you also have to factor in the transport costs, which are often the bulk of the cost.
Hope that might help give some context for you 🙂

£400 is a lot to charge, but I guess it depends on what's included in that, and how long it's for.

I'm a cub leader, and we were camping this weekend, and the cost worked out at £35 for two nights. However, we ran all our own activities, so the price just covered camp fees, food, and a bit towards equipment.

It's not unusual for cubs to go on trips to places such as castles, zoos etc. But most packs will do these in addition to other trips such as activity centres, climbing, watersports etc.

If the trip is a week long, indoor accommodation, with a large range of activities and trips, then I can see why it might cost £400. But, personally, I wouldn't run this kind of trip, I think it's too much money to ask for a cub trip.

Gosh, that sounds super intense and unnecessary. Oldest dc is in cubs and did the camp last year. It was 2 nights in tents in a scouts camp. I think it cost £40 plus they asked for some biscuits to share around.

I have one in scouts and one in guides (been through the ranks) a weekend away for scouts is usually about £35, guides tends to work out about £20 a day.
I'd say £400 is on the expensive side. Guides do a big camp every summer and during that time they'll do one big day out. Scouts tend to do lots of activities where they trade skills from other groups if required so last camp they went abseiling taught by another scout group leader but our leaders taught the other scout group a different skill. Never had to pay anywhere near £400.

The nights away are completely optional and are not connected to the weekly meetings program. Scouts is all about expanding horizons and experience in many different ways.
If you don’t like it OP you need to volunteer in the group and help plan the nights away yourself.

Blimey that’s steep! Don’t think any of Ds’s cost that much until a Switzerland trip with Explorers. Are there opportunities to fundraise? That’s what our group did - bag packs in supermarkets etc?

That sounds rather a big trip. We usually offer camps under canvas with activities like archery, crate stacking, outdoor cooking etc. Max cost probably around £70 for two nights (often much less). But as other posters have said, nights away aren't compulsory. Hopefully this trip won't be a replacement for a cheaper, more traditional camp.

It's a lot but they are giving you tons of notice. Can you pay instalments or save up for it.

Whether it's worth it depends on duration and what's involved. Remember this is accommodation, all meals, activities, transport etc.

My cub went on a summer camp that was 5 nights and cost £250. My scout went on one that was 7 nights and £380.

They also go on weekend 2 night camps that are only £50.

If I ran a trip costing £400 none of my Cubs would be able to attend, including my own DD. We were worried about putting subs up to £35 a term....

To put it into context... DH was staff for a week long jamboree this summer. The camping and activities fee for Saturday-saturday was £210 for a Scout or guide (groups needed to sort their own food separate to that).

£400 is ridiculous. I've always found cubs trips to be really good value, they fit all sorts in for £30-40 and the kids love it. £400 may be good value for what they're offering but it's massively excessive too for the age group. They could do several fun activities spread out over the year for much much cheaper.

Don’t be ridiculous. I have several friends who are cubs/scouts/explorers guides and parent volunteers. None of them would be able to afford this themselves for their own dc. Per person, that’s twice as much as our weeklong summer holiday every year in a very nice UK holiday cottage.

Unless this this very posh area, I can’t imagine most parents would want/be able to pay that for their under 12s. Dh and I could certainly afford £400 for a camp, but we sure as heck wouldn’t pay it. Scouting should be about simple and inclusive experiences, and I can’t think of any of our dc’s friends whose families could easily afford that in primary school.

Ours has asked for more for Disneyland 😂
I cannot begin to think of the families that can’t afford this and the kids that feel excluded. It seems to shy away from the whole inclusive ethos they bang on about.

I ain’t sending mine , free or not 😂

That is surprising, isn't cubs the youngest group so similar to rainbows in age? I'm a guide leader and we wouldn't even be able to take that age range away that long and it would be a local "camp" in a local hall.

We had a big trip planned staying in GG owned accomodation with a trip to a zoo, food, accomodation, transport, trainers for an activity with equipment hire and 2 night accommodation and we were only charging the girls £70. We paid the rest through fundraising/grants.

No, that's not normal in my experience!

Ours have recently been on camp for 2 nights and it was £50. The big summer camp was £250 for a full week (and mine didn't go due to cost).

Many people have more than one child involved and those sums on their own are bad but multiplied are eye watering!

I'm surprised that a Guide leader isn't well aware that cubs is roughly equivalent to Brownies. Slightly older in fact - Cubs starts at age 8.

That's a lot.
DD has gone through the GG groups and residential trips in the main are within an hour's drive and cost around £60/70 for 2 nights.
There are some trips to places a bit further away, such as Ireland and the channel Islands that are more expensive.
Is this just one trip and how many nights/where to?

That does sound expensive, most of our trips involve camping. Is this a trip which involves numerous cub groups from across the country

£400 is expense for a cub trip. Our group mentality is to keep costs as low as possible to enable as many kids as possible to attend. And we are in a reasonably well off area. I doubt there will be a big uptake tbh.

For that amount I'd be expecting a foreign trip. And they don't tend to even start in scouting til scouts.

The whole thing with scouting, is doing things basically - given groups have access to low rates on scout group camp sites, I an inclined to say this is bullshit and far too high.

We've never paid more than £40 for a Cub Camp but that has been at Scout campsites so the activities are quite cheap.

DS2 is off on Scout Camp soon and that is £100- the leader has acknowledged that it's more expensive than usual but they have more expensive activities. Just over half the group are going.

Generally Scouting does try to make trips as reasonably priced as possible so lots can attend.

I'm a guide leader. We generally do 3 night camps which we charge about £60 for. We do do an international trip every 4 years which obviously costs a lot more than that. We've also done Disneyland Paris before.

It depends on the area and the demographic of the cub group's members. I run a similar youth group and run various trips across the year:

• 8 day residential at £130
• 3 day residential at £50
• canvas camping weekend at £25

But that's because the area the group is in is one of high deprivation.

I know other groups where if they run a three day, two night weekend for less than £200, the parents don't send the kids because it's seen as "done on the cheap". They have to activity look for ways to spend more money to bring the price up. For a group like that, £400 for 4-5 days would be as expected.

DS is an explorer and we are paying that for a trip to a basic scout campsite in a close EU country from London. (And sounds a similar level to your son's cub one) We also paid that for an all singing all dancing Jamboree this year. Both are good value for money for what we are paying. To balance it out the other trips over the year are very local and cost £10/20/60 depending on where and what it is.

£400 does sound a lot for a basic week camp for a cub. Is it at a PGL type camp and not a scout run camp? Are they hiring a coach, as that will be a lot of money too.

I was a Beaver leader, but obviously I was always aware of the things run by our other sections. I think they used to do a few nights away, in tents costing about £50. Scouts did longer trips- Lake District/ Wales/ Scotland (we are in East Anglia) and the cost would reflect the fuel costs- so maybe £150/ £175 for a week- to be fair that will have gone up and if coach travel is involved it will be a horrendous cost now.
Beavers was usually an overnight in a scout hut (sleeping in pop up tents), costing about £10 for 3 meals, snacks, craft resources and a couple of "big" activities such as going out in a boat with Sea Scouts or archery.
Most Scouts groups will have some very well qualified leaders who can run activities which would be exciting to Cub aged children. They often comment between groups to share skills.

£400 would exclude most of the Cubs I was leader to (retired end of last year), if not all of them. We tended to do local weekend camps at scout association camps with organised activities, or in our own field - we are lucky to have a big field. Some were "fun" camps, some were "skills camp", where the Cubs would work on skills and activity badges - so connected to the weekly meetings. They were priced at cost to enable as many cubs to come as possible.

The high cost camps I am aware of tend to be overseas trips, or week + trips in school holidays.

Cubs isn't the youngest. Cubs is 8-10.5. Beavers is 6-8. Squirrels (recently started) is 4-6.