£400 for year 6 residential

[greenbluedays]

Two nights at a sports centre, two hours away

£400 just seems a lot to ask of families. Am I completely out of the loop or is this normal

That seems like a lot, our year 6 residential was £350 for 4 nights away (mon am - fri eve). The residential was in Devon, so about 4 hours from us.

It's £300 each for my twins except it's 45 minutes away lol! It was the same for their older brother 2 years ago so I think it's about standard 🙈

Wow that’s pricey. Our year 6 residential this year is £180 for 2 nights at an activity centre 1 hour away.

DDs was £450 for 4 nights at a beachside residential centre on the Isle of Wight. under 2 hrs drive and a ferry ride away from us.

DS off to his year 6 residential next week. £300 for Monday am to Friday pm. About 2 hours away from me.

The price in itself is not ridiculous compared to others I've seen but for what your school is offering it seems astronomically high!

Our year 6 residential was about £450 for 4 nights in Isle of Wight including an hour and a half coach ride to and from ferry.

I think how long ago,for the prices being mentioned by others, is important context. Everything is more expensive (as we know!) and so even 2 years back isn't comparable really.

Our 2 nights for £180 is this academic year (taking place in March).

That's what I think. If it where 3/4 nights it would seem more reasonable.

That is a lot for 2 days, I assume it's the transport, transport costs seem to have rocketed since Covid. Ours is £250 for 4 nights but they have their own mini bus.

Ours was £50 and free if you applied for financial support.

Everything has got much more costly in the last few years.
we paid £400 for 3 nights residential at a PGL type place about 90 mins away last year (year 4)
2021 it was about £500 for 4 nights in peak District (3hrs away) for a year 6 trip
2022 £550 for 5 nights on Isle of Wight (2hrs plus ferry) for yr 7 trip

That's wild for 2 nights.
Ours was £350 for 4 nights in 2022.

Ours was just over an hour away. I don't think the distance matters because it's about the activities and facilities where they are going that matter and reflect in the cost.

We are Scotland so but I can imagine the South East will be more expensive than here.

It was 4 nights M-F
They chose a cheap place and subbed it by having a Christmas fair.

That's very expensive, ours is £100 for 2 nights at an outdoor pursuits place. Includes all food except packed lunch on the first day, and all activities (climbing, aerial ropes, archery and other stuff like that) and the 3 hr coach trip. The school do recognise the need to mitigate the costs though so have booked it for a Fri-Sun which is cheaper and for a weekend in November which again is cheaper, they also applied for funding from a local charity which was put against the cost of the coach.

These amounts are high - what happens to pupils where the parents can’t afford it? Are they left out and embarrassed as they can’t go?

Expensive for what it offers. Tell the school no thank you now, don't wait.

That’s expensive, 2 night residential was under £200 and it was just under 2 hours away. This was a couple of years ago, we where able to pay instalments.

It’s that price to subsidise those who can’t / won’t pay.

That's crazy, that's £200pn! You could have a really nice midweek spa break for that!!
I know insurance is stupidly high for these companies now, and I know staffing costs (at the centres) are obviously high, but even so...

Ours is 750, France for 3 nights...! A lot

My sons was nearly £100 more than his sisters 2 years earlier. I paid £380 for 2 nights, 2 hours away. It was initially £350 but the stuck another £30 on for the ccoach.

We laid £550 for a 4 night watersports trip to Cornwall (from Yorkshire).

Accommodation isn't the issue... what activities are they doing?

I agree with pp that any costs from more than a year ago are not comparable.
Everything has got much my expensive in the past couple of years. Particularly coaches and staffing of centres.