£1800 for a school trip

[Patchw0rk]

Is it just me, or what are the school thinking?!

DC desperately wants to go of course- all their friends are, of course 🙄and we could possibly afford it with a lot of hard work (on my part, overtime!) but we could take the whole family away for that.

DC is 13 so old enough to understand about money really but so wants to go. It's a week skiing in Canada. I want them to have brilliant life experiences but it's just so much money.

I just think school have lost the plot. Could they really not have come up with something more reasonable for a y9 trip?

I hadn't even considered the cost of clothes/equipment etc!

Oh and it is in term time!

A child will really struggle to raise money for a holiday.
They can't really appeal to the general public unless it's a car boot sale. Which really means asking family and friends.

Family and friends might give generously the first event they do. But be loathed when it comes to the next event - I've already donated to that cause!

Personally I hate sponsors, and only ever put a donation myself into the school sponsor form.
Then my brother asked me to sponsor his kid for a school event - eh no I've never asked you, don't come asking me.

And in a few years nowhere will have enough snow so why learn how to ski....sailing might be more appropriate

Why? What will it give them that a scout camp won't they can travel the globe as adults.

It's unlikely all her friends will be going, as even those who can afford it miss out in the first come first served race to get a place.

It is good value for a ski trip and cheaper than a family ski trip would be.
But it is quite a lot of money.

Trips are expensive. I never went as a kid. I understood that my lovely parents couldn't afford. Poor DS didn't go on any - or even do D of E as I couldn't afford the £300 for just one of the weekends.

Yes it's expensive and there are cheaper alternatives BUT there are kids that have parents who can afford it.

There is no answer but DS understood I couldn't afford and access accepted it.

Honestly few children go on these trips, i don't know why people are acting like its standard/most do. A typical school will offer maybe 60 places across 2 year groups with 200 kids per year.

Op. Find out how many places there actually are. I guarantee you, its less than half your child's year group.

My DC went to the USA skiing and it was £1300 5 years ago. He was there 11 days. The skiing was amazing quieter and more relaxed than Europe. They had a few days in a major city on the way back.

We couldn't have afforded a family ski holiday so we decided it was his interest and he went.

My other DCs have had other experiences to make up for one. One went on a riding holiday the following year.

Agreed. I'm just looking at the letter for ours. Price is based on 40 students with prices increasing if not enough, or if very undersubscribed rolling over to 2025. This is year 8 upwards. So assume 200 per year, it is a very small proportion

Start saving and start your daughter saving too.
She will love the trip.

My parents were reasonably comfortably off and we never went on the school ski trip.... because hardly anyone did. About 5 kids from each form, the other 25 weren't going. It was 100% no big deal. Schools often organise these because staff involved get to go free and like going - my BiL always ran the school ski trip, he couldn't afford to go himself in feb half term but go to go with the kids paying. Its got nothing to do with the curriculum etc.

People are more saying the price of the trip is about standard, not that most of the kids go on these trips.

School trips are never cheap, but you have to calculate is it good value for an all-inclusive holiday, include travel, equipment hire, tuition and the required supervision.
Most of the time if you priced the same holiday, for a family you won't get it much cheaper.

I'm 65 in a couple of weeks. They were running ski trips when I was at secondary school. Those who could afford it (and were interested - many of us were not bothered) went.

I couldn't go on the French exchange (in which I was interested, as I went on to do French at A level) simply because we had nowhere to put an exchange student in our tiny house, which didn't even have a bathroom or inside toilet.

They were able to pay for me to go on the school camping trip to Wales when I was in Y9 and I absolutely loved that experience.

I grew up very well aware that we were poor and that I couldn't have things that some of my peers could have. My parents had instilled in me that some things were just not affordable. I have to say that I knew it was just how life was.

Wow that was fab! Term time maybe a little cheaper but still a lot better…

Whilst I get that I am luckier than those using food banks with £0 left in their bank account every end of month, we are definitely at the very poor end of the scale. I am able to save a tiny bit every month and have for a little while precisely with such a school trip in mind, as otherwise my kids won't get such a holiday in their childhoods - I simply don't have the money for a family ski trip, but with hard scrimping and saving 9vervacfew years, I think I can send one child when it's his turn, and hopefully four years later, his sister.
So for us, though we are far from rich, we are certainly not the haves in the haves Vs the have nots, but this actually could benefit my children

💖💖 I'm really glad to hear this.
I also know ds knows all too well how hard it is for me to save this, and how grateful he will be if I can make it happen for him. All I need is for the school to offer it. They have previously, so fingers crossed they do when he reaches the right age. So far it looks like his school pick Italy for skiing, so hopefully cheaper than Canada.

This discussion makes me furious.

Skiing isn’t an essential life skill and there are many other specialist fun activities that schools could help children to access that could lead to future careers, increase motivation, etc - and that would not necessitate an expensive, exclusive trip abroad. Examples might include golf, horse riding, circus skills, diving, sea fishing, sailing. All of these could be done at activity centres in UK thus allowing a lower cost and more children able to participate.

The race to the bottom argument is unfair. Some families can’t afford £10 - but these are a small number who could be fully funded and supported for low cost trips. Most families cannot find a few thousand pounds spare at the moment but could (with notice) find a few hundred pounds. And it’s a lot fairer and more inclusive for the school to subsidise 10 pupils at £200 each than 1 at £2000.

Teachers (rightly) don’t pay their own costs but it is disingenuous to suggest they get nothing out of it. Not least the organiser will visit the resort in advance for a few days to check out the facilities and do a risk assessment. Of course a ski trip will include trying out the slopes. Teachers don’t volunteer for these trips unless they are skiers. This will be paid for by the school and will usually be in school time, meaning supply staff covering their lessons at extra cost to the school.

Unless there is a specific educational element to a trip that can only be satisfied abroad - eg language exchange or trip to Germany for GCSE history - all school trips should be in the uk. This would reduce costs making trips more accessible and inclusive, reduce the schools’ carbon footprints, and indeed support the British tourism industry which may highlight future career paths for the children.

"Teachers (rightly) don’t pay their own costs but it is disingenuous to suggest they get nothing out of it. Not least the organiser will visit the resort in advance for a few days to check out the facilities and do a risk assessment. Of course a ski trip will include trying out the slopes. Teachers don’t volunteer for these trips unless they are skiers. This will be paid for by the school and will usually be in school time, meaning supply staff covering their lessons at extra cost to the school."

Not the case for most trips - part and parcel of using the specialist school trip companies is that they do the risk assessments for the schools.

Yes when ours went it was just 40/50 spaces for a large school year so not everyone got to go.

Agreed.

All of this cost and hassle in case a few kids want to be ski instructors?

Really?

Nobody has been able to justify it yet.

I was very happy that my dc's school ran skiing trips. I was far too poor growing up to go skiing and so was DH.

So we didn't have a clue how to manage a skiing trip and didn't do it because we couldn't ski and didn't understand the situation.

My dc both loved skiing when the school did it with them and now are regular skiers ( we live somewhere with cold winters now). Their enthusiasm pushed us into trying it ( we were pretty bad!) More importantly they have a life skill.

I don't disagree that sailing, kayaking etc are also good things to teach kids as well. But the school gave my dc a lifelong winter sport and was probably one of the more useful things they learned in primary school.

I also think that traveling abroad is really positive and being more isolationist is the last thing that the UK needs for a successful future.

What do you mean by nobody has been able to justify it?

I don't think this thread has changed anybody's mind on ski trips, some people will send their kids, some won't.