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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be cross about paying for school trips....

108 replies

fulltimeworkingmum · 19/11/2010 18:58

..for DC's when other children can still go whether their parents stump up or not?

We received a letter from school about an upcoming trip to the theatre for DD. It stated the cost (£7) and then stated that " no child will be disadvantaged because of a parent's inability or unwillingness to pay"

I have no issue at all with people who really cannot afford it (though £7 is only a little more than a packet of ciggies) the bit about "unwillingness to pay" has really cheesed me off. The school does not clarify this any further and I am left with the impression that we who are prepared to pay are subsidising those who are not.

When I was at school in the eighties - a while ago , I admit but still within recent memory, if your parents did not pay for the trip, you did not go, end of story.

DD is in her first year at school so this is all new to me.

OP posts:

waterlooroadisadocumentary · 19/11/2010 19:55

What a vile OP, we always pay double for dd's trips so it funds another place. Why should you want to deprive a child?

rubyrubyruby · 19/11/2010 19:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Hassled · 19/11/2010 19:58

"They already get reduced entry for being on benefits." FFS. Reduced entry still isn't going to make a trip to a zoo a realistic weekend outing for most skint families, is it?

I know there have been some absolutely tragic deaths and some monumental cock-ups on the part of staff, but trips are, on the whole, very very safe. There are realms of guidance, H&S stuff, risk assessments etc to be followed/done - a good school which follows policy will provide safe trips.

rubyrubyruby · 19/11/2010 19:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

waterlooroadisadocumentary · 19/11/2010 19:59

There are many children who never go on trips. I live somewhere beautiful and yet many of the children I teach only explore our area on trips with us. I feel quite proud that I can pay for a child to have such a special experience.

SoChangingMyNameForThis · 19/11/2010 20:00

At my DD2 school, we are asked to contribute £30 to the school fund and get a letter explaining that this voluntary fund is for events, trips, special spectacular days and so on... but then, when the actual day/event/trip happens, we are asked to contribute, or told the trip will cost such and such... It is a bit annoying.

spongecakelover · 19/11/2010 20:04

Too right mama. And most of the school trips we went on as kids and those I took my students on as a teacher supported and enriched the curriculum. If we'd all been and all shared it the learning was so much easier and more meaningful, as opposed to half the class getting it and half not.

Also, from what I remember of the eighties, they weren't exactly comfy times to be either working in or a recipient of state education...

Maybe I'm just being naive but I think most people who can pay do pay.

TankFlyBossWalk · 19/11/2010 20:04

soggy, who's on benefits?

You're happy for other people to pay for your children's places even though you could afford it. Well, thank god that not everyone's as selfish.

DinahRod · 19/11/2010 20:05

It's not just school trips parents are asked to fund at dcs' school, don't know if it's similar in yours, but activities such as swimming lessons (the school pays for the cost of transport & subsidizes part of the lesson cost), cookery projects, visiting theatre groups, fruit & in the afternoon if in reception etc.

waterlooroadisadocumentary · 19/11/2010 20:07

We pay for quite a lot in dd's school, I bought materials for a display last weekend. There is no pressure to do so but money is tight.

mamatomany · 19/11/2010 20:08

Benefits piss me off more than as much as the next person, mainly because they are usually for the children but often never actually get spent productively on the children.
This is the one time they do.

huddspur · 19/11/2010 20:09

When I was at school, my parents couldn't afford to pay for school trips so I didn't go. It really upset me being left in school whilst everyone else went on trips.

Tori27 · 19/11/2010 20:10

I work in a school (secondary) and we are aware of those with financial difficulties and do help out if necessary. I find parents and kids often feel embarrassed so we have to call and offer to pay. This doesn't come from other parents' paying, it comes from part of the school's overall funding.

I guess the idea is that just because a parent can afford it doesn't mean they want to. One year my parents bought a 2nd house (so clearly not poor). I had been on a trip to France and the German Exchange so didn't feel it was fair for my mum and dad to stump up for a trip to London for art when my granny always took me there. Everyone has their reasons. ( Head of year threatened to make my life difficult if I didn't go so in the end my parents' paid but I was really unhappy and felt really selfish - I was 13).

soggy14 · 19/11/2010 20:11

TankFly its not a question of being selfish is it. It is a question of priorities and being able to chose your own. There are childrn dying of starvation/easily curable illnesses all over the world whilst in this country we subsidise days out for people (like me) who do not even want thier kids to go on them so yes I object to paying. I object to the whole culture of focusing so much on trying to make everyone in this country equal rather than looking at a minimum acceptable level (ie basis nutrician, health and education) in this country, saying that we have got that from a financial poin to fview (ie not every child gets a good upbringing but I do not agree that money is usually the solution) and then looking at less fortunate countries.

waterlooroadisadocumentary · 19/11/2010 20:13

Yes that is right mamatomany when I was on benefits I never fed or clothes my child.

What a ridiculous assumption. I was a benefits claimant for a while. My child was my priority. I did voluntary work to try and contribute back for what I was claiming and ever since have tried to repay back the money I have taken. Infact I must have done this as a HRT payer for a number of years as well as other financial contributions.

unfitmother · 19/11/2010 20:14

YABU!

mamatomany · 19/11/2010 20:14

Good for you waterlooroad, you're the one are you

laydeestardust · 19/11/2010 20:15

"We are unwilling to pay for school trips. We are not poor but with several children it adds up and we would rather pay for us all to go as a family to places which we want to go to than for the school to take them individually to places that the either do not want to go to or to where they have already been. The last school trip that ds went on was to a local zoo of which we are members anyway. Why should we pay once for our family membership and again for the school to take him?"

School trips and family trips cannot be compared!!
Nothing beats the fun of going on A TRIP!!!!! with all your friends (even if it is to the same local museum where you spend an awful lot of rainy weekends anyway )

My DC are always ridiculously over exited at the prospect of going to our city farm on school trips -that's what makes school trips priceless.

I don't mind subsidising children whose parents can't or won't pay-it's not the child's fault.

waterlooroadisadocumentary · 19/11/2010 20:15

I know you are trying to wind me up but I am tired and stressed so rising too it. I would imagine my attitude is the norm

TankFlyBossWalk · 19/11/2010 20:16

Soggy, if you don't want your children to go on them, why do you agree to let them go, meaning that other people have to pay?

I genuinely don't understand the rest of your post. The school trips are part of a basic education.

Want2bSupermum · 19/11/2010 20:18

If the trip is part of the curriculum then why isn't the trip budgeted for at the start of the year and paid for by the taxpayer? You don't pay fees to send your child to school so why pay for an educational trip?

How much does it really cost to do an exchange with a school in France, Germany or Spain? It should cost the school less than GBP100 per child as all that needs to be provided for is a bus, a driver, insurance, teachers (whose pay is covered anyway), petrol and the ferry ride.

waterlooroadisadocumentary · 19/11/2010 20:19

Because the school budget will not pay for the trip. School trips rely on a high number of pupils paying. If it is needed payment is not compuslory but I do not see why you would object if you can afford it.

activate · 19/11/2010 20:20

there is no contingency fund for school trips - this is taken out of the school budget in some schools, in others the pta raise funds for it. But there is no earmarked lets take socially, financially or familialy disadvantaged children on trips that they otherwise wouldn't go on.

It seems to me that the OP maybe was never the child left behind to want to go back to that stigmatised situation of the past.

spongecakelover · 19/11/2010 20:21

A subsidised place for a school trip is not just throwing money at a family - it's giving them an experience. And I don't think most people's view of sharing financial wealth is an either/or situation. You can be involved with and concerned about your local community and the fate of children overseas.

OhCobblers · 19/11/2010 20:21

I have no issue at all with people who really cannot afford it (though £7 is only a little more than a packet of ciggies)

sounds to me like the OP is suggesting that "poor" people who can't afford a school trip still manage to find a few quid for fags. next she'll be suggesting that those on benefits shouldn't have a plasma tv or a holiday ................

for right now we can afford for our DC to go on school trips - thank bloody god i say. if by paying for those trips means that those DC who couldn't go, either because they have parents who can't afford it or have parents who are too damn selfish to care, then frankly i'm thrilled. you should be too.

no child should ever be put in a situation like that - if you can do something about it then do it.

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