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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:
RoseRobot · 25/05/2023 15:59

Tell her it's her birthday and Christmas present combined, so to only expect a token present (maybe related to the trip) on both those occasions. Ask the school if there are any travel grants available. And double check if all her friends really are going, or if they are all saying they're going but their parents too are gasping at the costs.

lanthanum · 25/05/2023 16:01

Ski trips usually take a very small proportion of pupils. They cater for the families who couldn't possibly afford for five of them to go on a skiing holiday, but could run to each child going once. (They probably also end up taking some of the kids who go skiing with family and whose parents have lots of money or don't like saying no.)
It's better to see them as an "offer exclusively for children of this school" rather than a "school trip". They tend to be run by teachers who are happy to give up some of their time for the relatively small payback of a bit of free skiing, and are usually "as well as" rather than "instead of" other trips.

Those with schools that don't run overseas trips because of the expense, point them at the Turing Scheme. Schools can bid for funding to run trips abroad, and I don't think the take-up is as high as it might be - a couple of local schools have applied and got funding to run multiple trips.

Sugarfree23 · 25/05/2023 16:02

That's a wild amount of money. But ski trips are expensive and always have been.

Around 1988 I went on a school ski trip to Austria- on the bus - the cost was £400. Bank of England tells me that would be £1038 today.

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SavvyWavvy · 25/05/2023 16:03

That’s an insane amount of money. Why on earth couldn’t they do a ski trip in Europe? They will also lose a huge amount of time flying there and back that could have been spent on the slopes. I think I would complain to the school.

milveycrohn · 25/05/2023 16:03

Why Skiing in Canada; why not in Europe (at the appropriate time of year)?

OhhhhhhhhBiscuits · 25/05/2023 16:03

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🤷🏻‍♀️

In schools I have worked in (2 secondaries) for an educational trip then yes it would cover the cost of teachers/helpers.

For a non educational (this is what skiing would fall under) trip then any staff would pay a reduced rate but would still pay. So one ski trip was about £400 for staff and about £1000 for students.

Other schools may do it differently but this is what I have found.

shivawn · 25/05/2023 16:05

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🤷🏻‍♀️

Well yeah, I'd take it for granted that the teachers costs have to be covered. It's hardly a holiday for them.

BestestBrownies · 25/05/2023 16:05

Fucking hell! That's an utterly ridiculous amount to spend on 1 trip for 1 kid. Then they'll need all the gear and spends on top.

Feeling guilted into shelling out stupid money like this when you can ill afford it just raises a generation of entitled, spoilt brats that run to their parents instead of grafting.

Every day I read something on here that makes me glad I chose not to have any kids.

FrenchandSaunders · 25/05/2023 16:06

Most schools do this. My DDs school did a South Africa trip in year 10 which cost £2,000 each. A lot of money when you have twins!

The school have over 200 kids in a year so the vast majority don't go as there are only about 40 places. So it's not as if a few are left out.

Names were allegedly pulled out of a hat ..... but when I saw who was going there were definite friendship groups .... which obv makes it easier for teachers and for sleeping arrangements etc.

CoffeeYes · 25/05/2023 16:07

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 !

I thought the same! I wouldn’t want to go t Canada just to ski. If OP can’t easily afford this skiing trip then she should just say no. It sounds like she will have to do a lot of overtime and scrimp and save on other things to afford this trip. @Patchw0rk organise a family holiday instead.

nearlyemptynes · 25/05/2023 16:07

My childrens school does reward trips at the end of term only to theme parks but why do they need two consecutive days of trips surely one is enough. Costs £100 - crazy and the school is classes as being in a deprived area

Stropalotopus83 · 25/05/2023 16:07

We paid £1000 for a week of skiing in Italy in Jan of this year but we were notified about a year before the trip and could pay in instalments over the year. DD was also offered a trip to Washington DC for next year (history GCSE trip) but that estimated at £2800 and so we have told her no. She was fine with that but we received an email from the school last week saying the trip had been cancelled due to low takeup. Looks like a lot of parents are also feeling the pinch. It's just too much for a school trip in a state school I think.

FrenchandSaunders · 25/05/2023 16:07

Also the chances of both twins being picked was small .... I did say if only one of them got a place then neither would be going.

Otherland · 25/05/2023 16:07

I'm a single parent and currently not earning well, but I am putting £20-40 a month away now for DS who is in Y7 in the hope that a trip like this comes up for him in Y9, potentially with some assistance from the school (should qualify, but I guess it depends how many others they need to help subsidise, so I'm not counting on it).
DS is absolutely desperate to go skiing, and there's no way I can afford to take him and his little sister for a family holiday, and as a non-skiier myself, and a bit unfit, I don't think I really want to. So for the school to offer it would be incredible. Will save for DD when she's Y6 too, and hope I've managed to save enough for them both.
There's no guarantee that the school will offer a ski trip, but I know they have done them before, so fingers crossed.
If it's not skiing, I'd love to have him go on a foreign school trip of some sort, as we've had a really tough time and it will do him the world of good.

IhearyouClemFandango · 25/05/2023 16:08

Dd is going on her school ski trip next yr, it's about £1200 for 8 days in Austria.

Not sure it'll make her a spoilt, entitled little brat however. Any more than it will do for her younger siblings when it is their turn.

CalistoNoSolo · 25/05/2023 16:09

I think that's pretty poor value tbh, presumably they will be flying into vancouver (11hrs) or Calgary (9hrs). Canadian skiing is awesome, but the travel time for just a week would put me right off. Its not exactly educational either. I paid around that for DD to go to India for 12 days and the trip was very experience based - travel by train, visiting schools, lots of cultural day trips etc, so it was a really valuable experience for her.

EarthlyNightshade · 25/05/2023 16:11

Otherland · 25/05/2023 16:07

I'm a single parent and currently not earning well, but I am putting £20-40 a month away now for DS who is in Y7 in the hope that a trip like this comes up for him in Y9, potentially with some assistance from the school (should qualify, but I guess it depends how many others they need to help subsidise, so I'm not counting on it).
DS is absolutely desperate to go skiing, and there's no way I can afford to take him and his little sister for a family holiday, and as a non-skiier myself, and a bit unfit, I don't think I really want to. So for the school to offer it would be incredible. Will save for DD when she's Y6 too, and hope I've managed to save enough for them both.
There's no guarantee that the school will offer a ski trip, but I know they have done them before, so fingers crossed.
If it's not skiing, I'd love to have him go on a foreign school trip of some sort, as we've had a really tough time and it will do him the world of good.

This is lovely and I really hope your DC gets to go on a nice trip.

Handsnotwands · 25/05/2023 16:12

blueshoes · 25/05/2023 15:53

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

SAME! and they went on a bloody bus

my kids did not go

OrangeFlorange · 25/05/2023 16:12

Blimey that is a lot! Unless you could easily afford it then I would say no.

Iwasafool · 25/05/2023 16:12

When my kids wanted to do expensive school trips we said we'd pay half, the other half came from things like Christmas money from relatives rather than presents, earning money, saving pocket money. We usually had over a year to budget.

TripleDaisySummer · 25/05/2023 16:13

I've said no to skying holiday in Europe because it's just too much.

I've paid just over 1000 for Iceland trip though had refunded from canceled covid trips to help pay - and similar for activity weekend in France but mostly they come in 700-800 and we get time to pay and I want them to have the opportunities I didn't but across all three kids - I've had to say no a few times.

Hattifattene · 25/05/2023 16:14

Paying money to fly to Canada which will increase greenhouse gas emissions which will cause higher temperatures which will mean less snow to ski in the future. These trips should be banned.

If really desperate to ski can get train or bus to the Alps.

Just stop oil should be campaigning on this rather than making themselves unpopular with gardeners at the Chelsea flower show

Hankunamatata · 25/05/2023 16:14

Ski trips with school are about £1500 then equipment hire etc

Otherland · 25/05/2023 16:16

lanthanum · 25/05/2023 16:01

Ski trips usually take a very small proportion of pupils. They cater for the families who couldn't possibly afford for five of them to go on a skiing holiday, but could run to each child going once. (They probably also end up taking some of the kids who go skiing with family and whose parents have lots of money or don't like saying no.)
It's better to see them as an "offer exclusively for children of this school" rather than a "school trip". They tend to be run by teachers who are happy to give up some of their time for the relatively small payback of a bit of free skiing, and are usually "as well as" rather than "instead of" other trips.

Those with schools that don't run overseas trips because of the expense, point them at the Turing Scheme. Schools can bid for funding to run trips abroad, and I don't think the take-up is as high as it might be - a couple of local schools have applied and got funding to run multiple trips.

Interesting. How do schools know which families are most deserving, for want of a better word? FSM? My son is on FSM but we are otherwise pretty private and I don't think the school knows all my business!
I couldn't afford to do a family skiing holiday, plus I personally don't fancy skiing myself, so I'd dearly love for the school to facilitate this. I'm already putting money aside specifically for this, and then for my younger child.

IhearyouClemFandango · 25/05/2023 16:17

There wouldn't tend to be any provision under the fsm scheme or whatever because it isn't a curriculum trip

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