£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?

People say "Yes, the schools do offer the trips like that. It is common, and it is a good value", as if it is ok. NO, it is not ok. Parents are forced to pay that amount of money by greedy holiday companies, because nobody wants to miss the opportunities for their children. This is crazy, and schools are complicit in this madness.

To be fair they would probably pay a similar amount to go ski in Italy or France.
£1800 for a skiing trip to Canada is really not that bad

Why are schools going on foreign skiing holidays?

I’m also not sure whether encouraging children to ‘fundraise’ for these kind of trips is ethical. It’s like fundraising for a pair of Louboutins or a trip to the Maldives? I was asked to contribute to a fundraising effort for a teen to go to Morocco to build walls for 9 days. £2500 was the cost of the trip. I’d recently returned from Morocco , where a) the locals are perfectly competent at wall building , and b) two weeks for a family inc flight, accom and food had barely cost that. Insanity.

That’s absurd. You could almost go skiing as a family for that! I think you could give her as meaningful a life experience, if not more, for £500 and put £1300 into saving for her future.

I've no idea, but for us, it would be an opportunity my son won't otherwise get. We are far far from wealthy, quite the opposite. It could potentially change his life for the better. A kind of education I can't provide. But as I've said upthread, all being well, I'm on track to afford something like this in two years time. I'm already saving hard, hoping they'll offer it.

No way would our school propose such an expensive trip. Surely skiing in Europe is going to be more realistically priced.

I doubt “all” their friends are going at that price.

Gosh, teacher here and no way in hell would I pay for the privilege of having that level of responsibility for other people’s children. Almost every time I’ve ever been skiing, someone’s injured themselves so you’d be paying to spend the time in a Canadian A&E while communicating with frantic parents thousands of miles away.

Totally crazy. Puts parents in a very difficult position. Kids can have a brilliant time without going all the way to Canada, doing an activity cheaper than skiing.

You could. And hopefully the families who can facilitate that, will, and will let those of us who can't, attempt to secure this opportunity for our kids. I have zero interest in going skiing myself, can't afford it even if I wanted to, would have to manage two kids with an age gap on my own, am a bit unfit, buy all the gear at once, just can't do it. But I can hopefully just about stretch to one child doing it one year, then four years later, the other.

My DS had a trip of four nights in Rome in v basic accommodation which was £850 [and dreadful food]. He had a fab time and I'm really pleased he went, but it was expensive. I think foreign trips just are really expensive now.

I'd definitely prefer his school picked Europe though, Canada seems too far for such a trip.

DS2 went to India, but he was 6th form and had a holiday job. He saved for it himself working every holiday. DS1 wasn't interested he just did the normal French exchange. DD went skiing with her friends family. They knew we couldn't afford it, so I paid flights for her, and they covered the rest. Lovely people.

It's a huge amount of money but ski trips have always been the "de luxe" school trip, haven't they? I was at a state school too but was never allowed by my parents to go on the ski trips because they were just too spenny. I think by teen years kids should be able to accept that something is unfeasible for their parents & suck it up. But I agree with you basically that the school shouldn't be putting families in that position in the first place.

TBH I think all school trips should be banned unless all children can access them.

camping trips in the school grounds, visits from theatre groups in the school hall, visits to local museums are all doable for minimal cost. And are all enriching experiences.

My dd did school skiing trips, they were never over subscribed, no drawing names out of a hat here. It covered all years and generally 25-30 went

When my DS was in Year 6 he put his name down for a skiing trip to Austria. It was expensive but Grandparents offered to pay half so we said he could go. It eventually got cancelled as not enough children were going. It's a lot of money but it sounds like it is heavily subsidised. My Foster son is going to Dubai with his cricket club in October to play in a cricket festival against other countries. It's costing £2500 plus money for dinner each day and spending money but it does include several excursions he will enjoy. I thought about it but am letting him go as a wonderful experience for him.

Please find me a family ski trip for that sort of money and I'll have it booked.

I'm not saying it's a cheap trip, it's far from it, and I'm surprised that they aren't doing it in Europe to keep costs down.

How do I feel about school ski trips, absolutely amazing experience.
School introduced me to skiing and I still love it. I have a cousin who did a ski trip a few years before me, still rates it as best holiday ever. But he's never skiing since.

For many it's a once in a lifetime experience. I'd hate to see them stopped.

I think its great that schools can provide the opportunity but it is always going to be excluding children. I said no to DS for the ski trip Feb next year - Austria in Y9 - not just because we can't afford £1200 (on top of the trip to France this year at beginning of Y9 for £470 and activities week for end of y8 at £165) but because he isn't allowed to go as a total beginner, so we'd have to get him lessons prior to it, as well as all the kit needed. However his school do offer the ski-trip to years 9, 10 and 11 so if he desperately wants to go then there's time to save up a bit. I feel bad for him but he has to learn he can't have everything right now. I would never take him skiing so its great that there is an opportunity for him to try it.

Sponsored event - walk, run, marathon etc.
Car wash (teachers would pay certainly if they knew what it was going towards).
Bake sale at events - school plays etc.
Car boots
Jobs for neighbours - mowing their lawns, gardening, cleaning, washing cars.
Dog walking service
Duck race
Hold a stall at the summer fair etc.

They don't, why would they halp finance a ski trip?

Not strictly snow sure if it's Whistler. Assume it's not whistler though

Our school had a European skiing trip booked for over £1k; more takers than places. It got cancelled due to covid, everyone got their money back.

They don't want to risk another trip right now; they were quoted similar prices to the above.

The parents though are up in arms because "all the other schools" are having trips.

I thought that the ferry chaos at Easter pretty much vindicated the school's stance.

Also, it is apparently very hard to get cancellation insurance now.

We didn't suggest dd helped raise the funds, because that would be pointless. If she didn't meet her target we'd not cancel the whole thing because we'd lose money, she knows that. She is responsible for raising any additional spending money over the basic.

At my kids primary, back in the 80s, the first two "trips" were camping in the school hall, first was a Friday night the second was Friday and Saturday night. You could watch them all walking down to the local chippie to get their meal for the evening. It was very popular and it cost us the price of the chippie tea and a small contribution for breakfast stuff.

I live in the south west, my kids senior school is about half a mile from the beach, they have lovely playing fields. I often think kids who never get a holiday, whose parents can't afford a fancy school holiday, would love camping there. They could have access to the toilets/showers in the PE block so the rest of the school would just be locked up. Maybe I should suggest it.