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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask how many of you pay for your children's school trips.

134 replies

psiloveyou · 11/06/2011 11:25

This week I have paid
£10.50 for ds1 trip
£14.80 for ds2 trip
£5.00 for dd3 trip
Now dd4 has come home from nursery with a request for £17.80 for a trip to a local farm. Shock

All the letters state the money is a contribution but if enough parents don't pay the trip will not go ahead.
We are lucky enough that we can afford it. I have no problem with parents on a low income only paying a small percentage.
I just wonder if there are any parents out there who can afford it but choose not to pay.

OP posts:
TheFeministsWife · 11/06/2011 12:15

OP where the hell do your kids go to school, Beverley Hills? Those amounts are outrageous for school trips. Shock I do pay for my dd's school trips but the most I've ever paid out for 1 trip was about £7! Are they getting to these trips on solid gold buses? I'd like to see how the hell they're working out their figures to come up with those amounts for individual children.

DesolationAngel · 11/06/2011 12:16

As others have said, trips are so expensive because of the coach hire. I was going to take the Foundation stage kids to a free museum, the coaches wanted £850 for a 30 mile round trip, would have worked out about £12 each. I wasn't happy asking parents for £12 to go somewhere that was free!!!
Bloody stupid Angry

GladlyTheCrossEyedBear · 11/06/2011 12:16

My DS's pre-school day trip to a farm activity place is costing £29. I think it's a lot and I can't really afford it but I don't want him to miss out. I looked on the website and it's only £7 admission but everything's doubled because I need to go with him too. Am having to juggle money around to pay for it because I don't have much spare cash.

I want him to go because he won't be going to the attached school even though he'll have been in the nursery for 18 months (not taken into account for admissions to school :( we lost out on about 100 metres distance Shock) so I want him to have as good a time as poss with the friends he'll be leaving.

lockets · 11/06/2011 12:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

notso · 11/06/2011 12:22

I have only not paid for one school event a theatre performance, I got the letter the day before and had no change. It was only £1 though and I did offer it the next week but was told it was fine.

Have forked out at least £300 to school since Christmas though not including Dinner/Snack money.

Raeofsunshine · 11/06/2011 12:24

If I can afford it I pay for the kids to go on the trips. Last year I had dd at Devon for a trip for 5 days - cost £400. And in feb this year my 17 year old ds went on a school trip to Uganda to work in an orphan village for 2 weeks. That cost £1500.

Fr both of these we had plenty of advance notice and we were able to pay them up over the school year. Which was a great help.
Going to Uganda was a trip of a lifetime for my ds and it changed his whole perspective on life and therefore worth every single penny.

manicinsomniac · 11/06/2011 12:24

Journey - perhaps because a triple whammy all on the same day is rather a lot?! Paying for trips in state schools is not compulsory and schools are very happy to help out where help is needed. I think it's a bit judgemental to have a go at people for not paying when it's probably a genuine financial struggle.

My kids' trips go on the school bill so it can be a bit of a shock when I realise how much extra I've spent.

roisin · 11/06/2011 12:28

We always pay. It does mount up - trips, music lessons, etc.

But in secondary not everyone goes on the trips, so it's more of an opt-in basis. So you can choose whether to spend your money on that sort of activity or not.

As a family, we don't spend much money on "stuff" - clothes, gadgets, furniture, etc. But are happy to spend a fortune on theatre tickets, concerts, holidays, trips, etc.

NettoSuperstar · 11/06/2011 12:28

I've just paid £15 for DD to go to Edinburgh Zoo with her Youth Club. Considering it's over an hour away, and the entrance fee is £8.50 (group discount) I think it's a bargain. They've also arranged educational stuff for them during the day-talks and getting up close with the animals to fit in with the John Muir Award they're doing.

I couldn't take DD myself anyway as it's on a massive hill and I have severe asthma, but the entry fee alone for the two of us, even if I could go would be £26.

Collision · 11/06/2011 12:34

Just paid £4 for ds2 to go strawberry picking!

Journey · 11/06/2011 12:36

It can be a triple whammy for parents with three kids who aren't triplets! Look at Lockets expenses which she had to pay for in the last week. Look at the op's expenses for her kids.

I've had to fork out for four kids going on various trips all around the same time. At the end of the day if you have triplets the reality is you have three kids. A lot of people have three kids. A lot of school trips take place at the same time across the school/nursery year.

"A genuine financial struggle" is very different from saying "I'm only paying for two of my three children because their triplets". That's taking the biscuit!

FrecklesAreOut · 11/06/2011 12:38

always pay

EvilTwins · 11/06/2011 12:38

Transport is definitely the biggest cost. I teach in a rural secondary school and gave been Angry at the cost of hiring coaches. I took a group of yr 10 & 12 students to a free industry day at a localish theatre recently and it would have been cheaper to hire a fleet of taxis than a coach. In the end, we took the public service bus as it was during the day. Couldn't have done that for an evening theatre trip though, or with a bigger group, or with younger children.

DialsMavis · 11/06/2011 12:39

DS's trip got cancelled recently as not enough parents paid. Lots whinged about the cost even though we had 2 months to pay and could do so in installments if needs be. It as £8 to get a ferry to a national trust island and do survival and orienteering exercises, which I thought was fab value really.

We don't live a particularly deprived area but I think lots just thought the school would cover the cost rather than cancel and rather too many thought it so no-one got to go. It was the last school trip for the years 3s who are about to all move to middle school (funny system in our area) Sad Angry

TheOriginalNutcracker · 11/06/2011 12:40

I always pay, although sometimes I have to borrow it from family if it is short notice.

cory · 11/06/2011 12:40

We pay for everything, but as they move up not all trips are taken up by everybody; in secondary, we just do the trips that are felt to be extra valuable for the child, so the Flanders trip for a child specially interested in history but no skiing for a non-sporty child.

ApocalypseCheeseToastie · 11/06/2011 12:44

Dcs are in a SN school and all trips are free, think i've been asked for a fiver on the odd occasion, usually for christmas dinner or something.

They go out at least twice a week, dd was at a pony trekking day thing on wednesday (she also goes on horses with school for an hour once a week) and at steam trains on Friday, didn't pay for either.

Seona1973 · 11/06/2011 12:44

I have never had to pay more than £7 for a trip for school or nursery. There is a lot of fundraising through the year which normally covers a lot of the cost of buses, etc so we dont have to pay as much. DS had a recent trip where all I had to pay was £5 which was my entry to the park as the cost of the kids/buses had already been covered.

Original poster
psiloveyou · 11/06/2011 12:45

tigermummy35 DS2 starts secondary school in September. They run a trip to Las Vegas in year 8 cost this year was £1,400 for a friends dd. I'm dreading stumping up for that one and also wondering exactly how educational Vegas can be.
The pre school trip to the farm is on a coach and about 20 miles away. We go to that farm alot and it costs 3.50 for 4 year olds. I do think nearly £18 is a huge amount. The £14.80 trip was to a zoo which is close to the farm but charges £8.00 entrance.
I am going to ask them to justify the cost of farm trip. I know I'm not brave enough to not pay it though.

OP posts:
thefirstMrsDeVere · 11/06/2011 12:54

IME its not always (or often) those that cant afford to pay who dont.

They pay or keep the kids off sick.

But I still see threads moaning that those on benefits get everything free whilst the hard workers have to pay. (not this one - seen it loads of times on this and other forums)

I dont like the trips that have no educational value AND are incredibly expensive. Its hard for families to say no if a child is presented with a fun day out at alton towers and everyone else is going. Even the strongest willed would find it hard for their child to be stuck in a different class all day whilst their mates have a fab time.

Original poster
psiloveyou · 11/06/2011 12:59

raeofsunshine what a fabulous oppertunity for your ds. I would happily pay for for my ds to do that rather than Vegas.

OP posts:
magicmummy1 · 11/06/2011 13:00

Sorry, haven't read the whole thread, but we always pay. I want them to do the trips and we can afford it, so no reason not to. I can see it would be tough on those with lower incomes and/or several school-age kids though.

squeakytoy · 11/06/2011 13:03

Apart from the Hoover Dam, what else is there in Vegas???

Obviously a lot for the teachers to enjoy once the kids are in bed no doubt.

Are you in the UK?

Original poster
psiloveyou · 11/06/2011 13:14

Yes I am in the UK sqeaky .

I bet there is no shortage of teachers wanting to go on the Vegas trips

OP posts:
TidyDancer · 11/06/2011 13:21

I always pay, and we are lucky that the trips DS has been on so far have been on the cheap side. He is only 5, so I imagine that will change as he gets older. We're quite lucky that we have very involved GPs on both sides that would help out with trips if we needed the assistance. DP and I do earn well, but we'd struggle to find hundreds of pounds at the drop of a hat (!), so it's nice to know that we'd get help if we needed it.

There is a lovely little girl in DS's class whose parents never pay (even though they are loaded) because they are (and I quote) "sick of the scroungers getting everything for free, so why shouldn't we?".

Pay if you can, don't pay if you can't, but don't take the piss for any reason.