Cost of school residentials

[ScroogeyMcScroogeface]

How much are most people paying for school residentials these days? We've just had the year 6 meeting, and 4 nights camping at an activity centre (kayaking, climbing wall, "bushcraft" type place) 2 hours away on a coach is coming in at £450/pupil.

Is this fairly standard these days? Is it actually justified, or are these activity centres taking the piss? (it feels a bit like a "school package" is the new "wedding package"....!)

The coach will be quite a chunk of that I suspect.
Activities, supervision, meals, insurance, travel. Doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

School trips here have gone up somewhat. I think quite a lot is transport costs (£75 for one overnight stay and light breakfast in year 5). The venue is less than an hour from the school.

Seems about right , Dd’s for year 10 was £350 and that was 7 years ago.

5 day y6 residential £520 per child

Paid £500 last summer for year 8 child, 4 nights and around 4 hours away on coach.

I've just paid £390 for a yr 6 PGL. 3 nights/4 days including coach.

It's all the extra clothes, shoes, spending money that cost a bomb.

Bargain! Our Y6 trip last year, which sounds very similar to yours was £600!

Ours was just under that for 3 nights.

Unfortunately coach costs these days are astronomical so it doesn’t surprise me. These types of activities come with a lot of insurance costs, they need trained instructors, but schools still need to send teachers as well. I think this is why a lot of schools just do 2 or 3 nights.

I’m a secondary teacher currently trying to organise a trip abroad and the quotes I’m getting are eye watering!

It’s fairly standard I’d say. DS’ P7 trip was £450 in June 24, it was about £280 when DD did the same trip in 2016.

Year 10 trip here this year abroad is costing £850. Flying there not driving though.

That’s a bargain! Ours is £650 for the same sort of thing. Luckily I’m allowed to pay with childcare vouchers that have been stockpiling up since youngest started school!

Instructors will be pretty much on minimum wage (I know quite a lot) but you need enough for numbers. Kayaking at that age is probably about one adult to six kids for starters. Then theres insurance and training for these centres. Before you work out the cost of heating these large buildings.

That amount sounds about right for four nights. And it's not taking the piss. No one involved will be making a lot of money.

Sounds about right. Coaches cost a fortune.

Kayaking at that age is probably about one adult to six kids for starters. Then theres insurance and training for these centres.

Plus cooking, cleaning, maintenance and admin staff.

Last year it was 5 days about £550

I organise school trips in seniors. I can’t get a coach for under 1k these days. Doesn’t matter where we are going.

Thanks everyone - it sounds like I'm just out of touch. Although even if the coaches are 4k total, that still leaves £20k+ to look after 60 kids for less than 5 days, but apparently that's what it costs these days!

My daughter is going to Paris in march,age 13,4 nights and 5 days inc Disneyland Paris and it's £200. I thought that was a bargain.

We've just had one sounds very similar, 4 nights at an activity centre, £430.

£20k divided by 60 is £333 per person. It’s 3 nights’ accommodation, 3 meals a day (and in my experience meals at this kind of thing are big and hearty), and 3 days of activities with qualified outdoor education instructors. Plus most likely activities in the evening - disco/karaoke/quiz night etc. And overnight childcare. All that for just over £100 a day.

Ours was to France last year. 5 nights plus coach and ferries. We paid £250. I think the full cost would have been £500, but the school received an education grant to support the educational cost.

5 days at a nursery would cost more than that, with no transport, no overnight stays and far less food. And far less exciting activities 😂 £450 for 5 days sounds quite reasonable to me, though I appreciate for many it will be hard to find.

Just paid £130 for a yr6 2 night residential with no extra activities like kayaking. Lots of walking and games involved.

Yr8 2 night residential to France next year which will be 1 night and 1 night sleeping on the coach before arriving back about 11pm on the third night, £360.

I remember my parents paying over £180 in 1990 for my residential to France, I think 2 nights plus 1 overnight travelling.

Break down the costs and it makes sense. You have the additional staff/ instructors for the activities, and then of course the camping place wants to make a profit, not run a charity. And the cheaper you pay, the more disgusting the food.