£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

Yes ours similar

Seems very steep - we paid £600 for 4 nights at an activity centre, including loads of trips out to surrounding local attractions.

Our Y6 trip is 30 miles away and lasts 3 days and 2 nights. Option to pay over seven months. £245. It’s end Sept as that is a cheaper time to go.

Exactly the same for us

No it isn’t. Schools can’t do that.

honestly if a trip works out at £9.99 per head we’re not even allowed to call it a tenner.

Not in my school it isn't

Pupils don't subsidise other pupils. And the teachers are at work on these trips, effectively for 24 hours a day as they are on call over night. Or are you implying that the teachers should pay?

Im sure they do. But this was kingswood activity centre near bembridge.

And for PPs this was only last week so prices are current.

My response to the OP was initially based on my experience as a parent. It seems to have ruffled @Philandbills feathers unfortunately.

@Philandbill
I have worked in a non teaching role in schools for over a decade.
Yes I know the teachers and other members of staff (myself included several times) are working.
No I don’t think the teachers and other members of staff should pay to go.
I am aware the total cost is usually divided by the majority of students attending.
This includes the cost of the teachers and other staff too.
Nevertheless there may be children who receive free school meals due to a low income who will be subsidised or paid for completely.
The OP is entitled to a breakdown of costs.
I’ve always received one in respect of residentials and the school I work for currently provides one.
With due respect you aren’t in a position to claim that ‘pupils don’t subsidise other pupils,’ without being privy to every schools policy on this type of issue.
The school I work for has always worked on this basis as have all the schools my children attend/attended over the last 20 years.

Our 2 day year 5 one is £360 (20 mins down the road). I’d expect longer than 2 days for year 6!

Our school makes sure no one misses out due to financial issues so there’s help for everyone (obviously up to them if they want to say their kid doesn’t want to go but actual reason is they can’t afford it).

Our schools trip was £450 last year and this year. So prices haven’t changed for it since last year. Six nights away 5 hour journey. Loads of activities and some of the clothing provided.

Ours was £185 for 2 nights. About 48 hours in total.
It was half an hour away.
She's just been on it so recent

Charging more to subsidise other students is specifically not allowed. See 'Charging for school activities' at gov.uk.

£150 for a two night stay at an adventure centre, parents drive council minibuses. This is something worth mentioning at the ppg. Our local council will fund training for parents to drive the community minibuses. These are then used for school trips/ swimming lessons etc. It saves £££.

£1160 for a weeks skiing in Italy. State school not fancy

@Avocadono i don’t agree with subsidising in this way or work in any capacity relating to finances.

So 2 nights would mean only one full day of activities? Far too expensive.

£360 for two nights, I thought this was a total rip off the place has dormitories that make it look like a children's home

I think that’s silly money and I’d wonder if the school has done its due diligence here.

we are in the SE and 4 nights’ plus activities at a very not rich school cost us £225 a year ago, it’s not gone up by £175 in a year.

DC1 went on an all inclusive ski trip for 7nights/ 8 days for £900 only a 1.5 years ago as well. Both of their schools have a very mixed intake, combo of refugees, recent economic and political migrants, and moneyed WASPIs.

I just think they are really good at battering down costs and finding better deals.

Just for context our year 6 residential is the same price but it's for 4 nights in France and that includes flights (it is being subsidised though).

Oh, I didn't know there was one there too. Little Canada has legendary status among my local schools as it's where everyone goes for their yr6 residential.

Many schools only do one residential trip, in Yr6, for 2 nights to make it affordable. Not all parents can afford multiple school trips like that!

(Our Secondary school does 2 nights for £30... but they own the campsite! One plus of rural schools!)

Our P6 one was £250 for 3 nights. They went less than a month ago. However, each year the kids do grow a fiver to raise money to pay for the coach hire.

The transport is so expensive. It costs £500 for our school for a coach for a one day trip so I can imagine a chunk of it goes on transport. Plus insurance etc.

Everything is so much more expensive these days. I don't think it is cheap but I wouldn't say it is super expensive, given the price of things these days.

That does sound really expensive for two nights. Is it after SATs? PGL? When we got our letter for the Y6 residential last year, it was really high and parents went back to the school to see if anything could be done about it. It turned out if the dates were switched to before SATs it was much cheaper (schools being reluctant to send kids away on a trip when they could be cramming meaning less demand). Might be worth asking the school if they could consider other dates.

Got to pay for the teachers beer money!!! 😂