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Original poster

£1800 for a school trip

468 replies

Patchw0rk · 25/05/2023 14:55

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?

OP posts:
stayathomer · 26/05/2023 23:38

Ds brought home a letter about a a skiing trip just the other day- 1500euro. I told him we didn’t have it and in the next few years that 1500 would teach him to drive, or help him out in college and most of his friends probably wouldn’t be able to go anyway. I felt bad but more irritated that they didn’t choose a cheaper and more inclusive trip

WheresSpring · 26/05/2023 23:42

Inflation has hit school trips too?….not rocket science🤷🏼‍♀️. Agreed, it’s very expensive - but so are most things now! We’ve just had to tell kids ‘no’. It’s not a disaster - a good lesson really in learning to live within your means?🤞🤞!!)

Sugarfree23 · 27/05/2023 01:15

Before covid I briefly considered inviting my neice on our annual ski trip since we had a spare bed in our accommodation
I added it up to about £1100 on just flights, transfers, ski hire, lift pass and ski school.
So add in accommodation, food and evening entertainment I can easily see how a ski trip would be £1500.

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eldersis · 27/05/2023 01:35

THIS is VERY late on the thread and may have been covered before. My school announced a ski trip. Gave us notes to take home. price about £100 aprox THIS IS in the 1980s, I never gave my mum and dad the leaflet. I was aware enough to know that it was OTT and ridiculous. The only thing I can say is that I understood that my DAD worked hard to provide for us (mum didnt work)
I DO remember that the trip never happened. Just quietly forgotten,

MissTrip82 · 27/05/2023 03:35

I don’t understand the people calling it an amazing opportunity?

School trips should have some educational element and there’s not much point going overseas and not engaging with the culture at all. A week in a ski resort is neither educational nor cultural. What opportunity is it providing?

MissTrip82 · 27/05/2023 03:39

Ahahhahahahahhahaha just saw the ‘skiing is a life skill post’.

get a grip good grief.

MermaidMummy06 · 27/05/2023 03:42

Looking for a high school for my DC has included screening camp costs. I strongly believe overseas trips are unnecessary for school kids. Families go without holidays so one kid can have an 'opportunity'. Frankly, I think it sends the wrong message about entitlement & they get too much & need to work for these things themselves.

Some camps I've seen cost thousands. My cousin's DC go to a fancy school wher it's almost annual, including Europe (from Aus). It's more of a rub it in to poorer family members thing, tbh.

I can book a whole family holiday for not much more. Probably because we're not paying full fare inflated by a cut to pay the teacher's cost & profit for organising company. A colleague's DD is a teacher & manages to go overseas most school holiday for free (not paid) through these companies. My cousin's are married teachers & wanted to go to the US so just had to 'sell' enough places so they went for free.

Blossomed · 27/05/2023 03:47

Sorry if I missed this, but how many children do you have? Just wondering if you’ll need to pay for this trip again in future if you pay for this one.
Surely there are many who won’t be going. It’s such a large outlay.

willowstar · 27/05/2023 04:32

My daughter's school have just advertised a trip to Austria next April. Overnight coach there and back, five night there, five days skiing with lessons every day, all food included, equipment hire and three trips to fake ski place in England for lessons beforehand. It is £1350. I think that is pretty good value.

I am not a skier and we are never likely to go on a family ski trip so I am keen for her to go. It is a lot of money for us but we have a year to pay for it. She is happy for it to be a big chunk of her birthday and Christmas present.

LiquoriceAllsorts2 · 27/05/2023 04:48

lots of schools offer trips that cost this much. Only a small proportion go on them but they do sell out normally so there are clearly enough people who want it and can make it work.
It is a lot cheaper than taking the whole family to Canada and some children have parents who are unable to travel so this is the only opportunity they have to get away. Stopping it would be a shame.

does the school also offer cheaper trips. I think that is the key, offering a range of different trips and different prices.

julieh1968 · 27/05/2023 05:09

My DD had school trips to Japan and South Africa within the same year. Japan was around £1800 from memory and SA £2000+.
japan was an educational SA extra curricular.
It was a bit unfortunate they well so close together as they would usually have run the SA trip a year earlier but didn’t have the right staffing.
she was at a state school but in an affluent area, when she chose Japanese as a 2nd language we knew the trip would be on the cards. We were given about 18 months to pay for them though.
The trips were expensive but she gained such valuable life experiences by going. The Japanese trip was a partial exchange visit so we also had a young Japanese girl stay with us. I was fortunate enough to be able to find both for her.
my biggest regret is that as my elder daughter didn’t go to the same school she didn’t get the same opportunities

BCBird · 27/05/2023 05:21

Poor dig at teachers dictating the destination. When you are on a school trip you are on duty all the time. Even if the participants are good it is still exhausting. You are leaving ur home,/ responsibilities,being paid your usual wage for tbis- no extra fir the overtime. You also have to set work for the classes you leave behind. It is a big ask staffing these trips. Lived in a low income,sometimes benefit income household as a child,there were trips I wanted to go on but couldn't. We can't always have what we want.

WibblyWobblyLane · 27/05/2023 07:04

If you only planned trips that the poorest kids could afford, we'd get no trips. We planned to run a trip to London for the drama GCSE students to see a musical. We got loads of sponsorships from local businesses so it would have only cost £10pp. Loads of kids said they wanted to go but parents couldn't afford it.

PoussinBoussin · 27/05/2023 07:13

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LlynTegid · 27/05/2023 07:23

If the school makes anything of environmental credentials, then this is effectively a lie as there is no reason to have a long haul trip for skiing. You could have a field day over risk assessments the school could make over jet lag and other things which would not occur with a trip to say Austria or France.

The person who observed what the money could get such as driving lessons is spot on.

orangegato · 27/05/2023 07:42

Why can they ski in Europe? A snowy mountain is a snowy mountain.

WordtoYoMumma · 27/05/2023 07:59

My children didn't / won't be going on the ski trip. DS school most recent one was £1100 and there is no way we can justify it (or even have that sort of money, we'd have to get a loan or put it on credit card)

We don't even spend that on a holiday for the 5 of us cos we can't afford it

Minime88888888 · 27/05/2023 09:18

OMG. That is so much money. I was incredibly fortunate to go on a ski trip in year 9 with my school. I'm working class, it cost my parents £350 + plus some second hand sallopettes and ski lessons at the local dry ski slope..
We went to Austria for 7 nights with a day trip to Salzburg. As a family we never had foreign holidays....a caravan park in Cornwall or Wales. I didn't get on a plane with my parents until I was in my late thirties.

The ski trip was the most incredible experience for me. I was sporty and I became and still am a good skier...all because my mum scratched around to find the money. I later went on to do a ski season in my mid twenties.

In was the most incredible opportunity. My children are tiny but I can't fathom paying so much for a ski trip. But I would love for them to learn how to ski. It's cheaper to do it through the school, they have the skill for life and what's the chances of you taking the whole family on a ski holiday. I'd say this is the best value option of teaching your child how to ski. Plus skiing (unlike snowboarding) had to be professionally taught, it's not something you can just go and have a go at.

If you can and you think it's a good thing, I'd say go for it as it may be your only chance.

But £1800??? Yes mental!

X

TheMoth · 27/05/2023 09:22

Ds is going into yr 9. He never got to have the primary school residential, thanks to covid. No school trips in high school, apart from one scheduled for yr 9 for 30 kids... which costs 900quid. He's not going.

I work in a high school that offers loads of affordable trips abroad, so I'm not entirely sure why Ds' school can't. Similar demographics in both schools. I grew up in the era of exchange visits and being allowed to roam around small French or German towns(how the fuck did that safeguarding nightmare ever happen?!), so it seems a shame there are so few opportunities.

And if you're the French pen friend who spent a bewildered week in our tiny 3 bed semi, with my shit French and my parents' non existant French, back in the early 90s, I apologise for my mum's cooking.

Inanun2 · 27/05/2023 09:24

I think as long as school have a variety of trips the the ‘big’ trips are fine for those who want to do them.
There are normally very restricted numbers so it’s not as if the ones not going are going to be left behind on their own.
Mine did not want to do the ski trip at school but as we will never do this as a family I did offer them the opportunity.

Zanatdy · 27/05/2023 09:26

Our school regularly has trips for that amount and more and it’s ridiculous. Why can’t they ski in France? Keep the costs down. My god-daughter is going on a trip to New York! Very expensive of course. I don’t see why they can’t just keep trips to Europe and make them more accessible

DueyCheatemAndHow · 27/05/2023 09:27

Private school teacher here. We offer skiing every year but Austria, going all the way to Canada to ski seems a bit nuts.

droghedalady · 27/05/2023 09:36

Laughing at some posters suggesting it's to benefit teachers. I would never go away on a school trip as a teacher because it's quite simply too much hassle. It's not a trip, no matter where you're going. It's work. I wouldn't care where I got a free trip to, I still wouldn't go.

nonheme · 27/05/2023 09:43

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SpringNotSprung · 27/05/2023 09:46

Ski-ing in North America comes with guaranteed snow. That isn't the case in Europe. Better to have snow for £1800 than no snow for £900.

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