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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:
shivawn · 25/05/2023 15:27

Oh wow! I agree it's an expensive trip for parents to fund. It sounds amazing though, such a great experience to have with school friends! I'd actually love this for my son so I'd pay it but I can see how it puts those who can't pay in a difficult position having to say no to their kids

spiderlight · 25/05/2023 15:28

It's about par for the course, rightly or wrongly. We paid £1200 for DS to go to Japan for ten days in Y7, four years ago, and it had risen to £1500 by the time the trip was offered again last year, although it ended up being cancelled because of Covid-related uncertainty. This was from a very mixed-demographic state comprehensive. It was a fabulous experience and I'm glad we were able to stretch to it. It's beyond a lot of people's reach in the current climate, though.

LaVitesse2022 · 25/05/2023 15:30

I think it's an outrageous amount of money for a school trip. Not sure about the educational value of a skiing trip either. Tone deaf in the current cost-of-living crisis with some many families seriously struggling. Why can't they do an interesting trip in the UK that would cost a fraction of that? There's so many great cultural and historical places to visit without having to spend nearly two grand.

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Needmorelego · 25/05/2023 15:33

Absolutely nuts !
I remember when looking around secondary schools for my daughter and one (state school - mix of incomes etc) was all "We do amazing trips to France, Spain, South Africa, USA etc etc". I asked "do you also do trips all over the UK?"....you should have seen the awkward tumbleweed.
This is a school in South London that is so mixed some pupils probably go skiing every year with their families but others will have never even been on a day trip to Brighton.

OhhhhhhhhBiscuits · 25/05/2023 15:33

Most of the skiing trips I have found in schools happen during school holidays as it is not deemed an educational trip but rather an extracurricular activity.

I wouldn't be paying for my child to go as it would be unaffordable. I would rather go on holiday as a family together personally. The majority of kids won't go in my experience.

Original poster
Patchw0rk · 25/05/2023 15:33

Thanks for those who've pointed out it's actually fairly good value for a skiing trip- having never skied (or barely traveled) myself I didn't know.

It's in Feb, so not long to save really, but definitely guaranteed snow!

OP posts:
Needmorelego · 25/05/2023 15:36

@Patchw0rk if I had enough money to spend on a trip to Canada the last thing I would want to do is go skiing - there's so much more in Canada I would want to see. Not only is a lot of money - it seems a waste of a Canadian trip !

shivawn · 25/05/2023 15:37

I'm amazed reading about some of these incredible school trips...Japan, South Africa, California. Lucky kids! When I was in school we had a few days in France and that was it. My son hasn't started school yet but I genuinely hope he gets these opportunities in the future. We go on family holidays but I think going away with your school mates is a whole different experience!

DuckbilledSplatterPuff · 25/05/2023 15:41

the cost is due to ski pass, ski lessons, enough teachers - the pupils pay for the teacher's trips, insurance etc.

I'd check that they are getting a full day of lessons or skiing. If not I would think twice. Often schools only offer morning ski lessons and then the kids have to go swimming, play monopoly etc. which they didn't much enjoy and its a waste of ski pass.
A family ski trip to France would be much cheaper pp.

If they do go, buy the ski clothes in Autumn and get sales or ebay.

Canthave2manycats · 25/05/2023 15:43

I wouldn't pay that personally. With 3 kids, they would all have had to have been offered the same opportunity in fairness. TBH in the event, the elder two went on 3 trips each, and the youngest didn't want to go on any, resisting all persuasion!

kethuphouse · 25/05/2023 15:45

Children can have brilliant life experiences with their family, and experience school life at school . Teachers can have brilliant life experiences with their own families , not school children that they did not birth. It’s such an odd concept to me, long haul holidays with teachers.

Anotherchangeofnameagain · 25/05/2023 15:46

Skiing trips have been a thing since at least the early 90s. If you can't afford it they don't go.

KnickerlessParsons · 25/05/2023 15:48

Mischance · 25/05/2023 15:00

It is a lot of money indeed.

My DD went with the school on a netball team trip to Australia and it cost an arm and a leg, but we had the option of paying for it bit by bit, which is what we did.

I am CofG at a school and the PSA and fundraising help to subsidise trips.

It's still £1800, whether you pay bit by bit or all at once. Ridiculous amount of money for a school trip, and discriminatory at best - stigmatising the less well off at worst.

redbrow · 25/05/2023 15:48

I don't think it's unreasonable a cost, for a school trip because there will always be families you can't afford trips, even the ones that cost £200, and that doesn't mean that everyone has to miss out, but I do personally think that a ski holiday in February could have been found much cheaper.
Skiing is expensive, but if you ask me in Europe they could have halved the price for a group trip. So in that sense a bit annoying.

FedUpWithTheNHS · 25/05/2023 15:49

My dcs went to private school.
The only trips as expensive as that were 3 weeks long (summer hols).
And very few people went on them.

A skiing trip fir a week? Nope. And even less so fir pupils at state school. It’s a rip offM

Bluevelvetsofa · 25/05/2023 15:50

I couldn’t go on any school trip because my parents couldn’t afford it . I would have been prepared to get a Saturday job to pay, but the Head forbade it.

My children didn’t want to go on any school trips, which is just as well, because we couldn’t afford them either. As a teacher I went on a skiing trip to America. Parents could pay in stages over about 18 months. The reasons for going so far were that it was late in the season, so cheaper, but guaranteed snow.

It was the most stressful eight days, on duty permanently. We slept with one eye and one ear open. All of the students loved it though and we even managed a visit to Harvard.

AlienSupaStar · 25/05/2023 15:51

SummerHouse · 25/05/2023 15:00

I agree. It's not fair. But we have just paid nearly this for DSs school trip. Perhaps that's hypocritical of me. I want him to have the opportunities I didn't.

Same . We paid the same amount for skiing earlier in the year. I did not have that kind of opportunity in my own childhood so I wanted my DD to go. She loved it but I can’t lie - it’s a lot of money.

Canada sounds amazing.

Needmorelego · 25/05/2023 15:51

@shivawn they are only "amazing" trips to the few who can afford it.
I don't think they should be done through schools unless it's something like a sports team and there can be sponsorship and money raising events.
For a child who has barely left the town/city they live in a day trip to the nearest beach/big city/cute country village could be much more amazing.

FedUpWithTheNHS · 25/05/2023 15:52

I have been amazed moving from state school to private at the price if school trips.

How is it possible that said private school can organise trips fir half the price the state school did (I have a trip to Paris fir a week in mind there - private school was half if the price of tte same one from state)

£1800 for a week is unreasonnable.

blueshoes · 25/05/2023 15:53

We paid the same amount for a week long ski trip in February to ... France! Ridiculous.

Mistymornin · 25/05/2023 15:54

I was told many years ago that the reason why these trips are so expensive is because it covered the teachers/helpers costs. I don't know how true this is🤷🏻‍♀️

reluctantbrit · 25/05/2023 15:55

DD's secondary did this. One year Canada, one year Europe. To be honest, there are 30 places for 4 year groups, so it's not that it's an educational trip where 10% of the pupils can go.

Thanks to Covid, Canada was cancelled and so far it hasn't come up again. Maybe the new head realised that it was ridiculous.

They do trips aborad for subjects like Geography, History, Politics and the usual language exchange ones. Some have a similar price tag.

speakout · 25/05/2023 15:55

Trips at my kids' school were mostly astronomical- there was a trip to China to see the great wall ( £3000), Amazonian rainforest - (£4500) and a trip to Alaska ( £6000), there were no trips costing hundreds of pounds- all super expensive.
It was an ordinary state comprehensive school, the trips were always over subscribed.
My kids never went any of them.

It made me sad because the students who went on these trips were all from rich families, and had several holidays abroad with their own families during the year.
Kids from poorer backgrounds had little chance of a holiday abroad with their families or the school.

Canthave2manycats · 25/05/2023 15:56

Mistymornin · 25/05/2023 15:54

I was told many years ago that the reason why these trips are so expensive is because it covered the teachers/helpers costs. I don't know how true this is🤷🏻‍♀️

It obviously has to - you couldn't expect the teachers to have to essentially pay to work!!!

MargaretThursday · 25/05/2023 15:57

I don't see anything wrong.

We couldn't have afforded it, but nor could a lot, so there would only be a few going so the dc wouldn't have felt left out.

I very much doubt it's for the benefit of the teachers. How much actual skiing for themselves do you think they'll get? And no relaxing in the evenings either.

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