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Original poster

To Be P***** Off at yet another expensive school trip

852 replies

meah · 28/09/2012 12:58

Hi, my ds has is now starting yr 9 & dd yr 8, in yr 7 a school trip was offered but cost was in the £300s (i forget exactly how much) being so expensive i couldn't afford it and it left both kids gutted when well over half of the kids in their yr got to go. ive just recieved another school trip email (not sure which yr not that it matters) offering a ski holiday trip, abroad for 6 nights for £680. which would be fantastic if i where loaded!! Why cant schools offer school trips that are affordable to all like they're supposed to instead of making those whos parents cant afford it feel left out!!! Angry

OP posts:
Paradisefound · 01/10/2012 20:18

Isn't it an important lesson to teach your kids. Some people can afford things that we can't. That you can't always have what you want, or what others have.
That sometimes 'no' is the final answer. That life can seem unfair. That things that come without a price tag are more important in life.

I sometimes went on school trips but usually didn't, I was 1 of 4 kids. If your kids can't afford to go, that's your reality. If other kids parents can afford to go, that's their reality.

exoticfruits · 01/10/2012 21:15

He didn't go to Sri Lanka. I made the point that DCs on a full bursary couldn't afford it and this seemed to be perfectly OK. Whereupon someone told me this wasn't true, her DS at private school was going to Sri Lanka and the DC on a bursary was being paid for by the PTA.
Her reasoning was that an elite at private school could level up and be offered what the richest could afford but in state education it had to be levelled down to what the poorest could afford. But I was told that I misunderstood - I am still waiting for the clear explanation.

GnomeDePlume · 01/10/2012 21:20

I agree with Porto and Prairie

Paradise - isnt this a lesson that they probably learn every day anyway? I'm not sure that it is a lesson that a school should so obviously be teaching.

GoldShip · 01/10/2012 21:22

paradise

No it isn't. I don't think it's wise at all to show kids that its all money money money. I want it to be about working hard.
If kids all work hard in school it shouldn't be about how much their parents can afford. It should be about them.
I think that's a horrible attitude to have. That the rich get everything and us poor people have to know our place almost Hmm

Portofino · 01/10/2012 21:52

State schools should be inclusive. It should be about education and chances for all. Kids have the whole of their bloody lives to realise the difference between the haves and have nots. School should be the ONE place where every one is treated equally.

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 01/10/2012 21:55

it should be about education and chances for all

Yes, that's why schools offer a range of trips.

exoticfruits · 01/10/2012 22:12

So what is different about private schools- why are they a rule to themselves and not treated equally?

GnomeDePlume · 01/10/2012 22:52

The schools I have experience of dont offer a range of trips. In each year there have been one and sometimes two big (and expensive) holiday type trips and one (I dont think more) clearly educational day trip.

And there's the rub I think.

There is no balance. If there is an essential good to be had from taking students away from their ordinary lives why isnt there a cheaper long trip? In my area there are education centres which offer this type of facility but only the primary schools use them.

whois · 01/10/2012 23:08

"If there is an essential good to be had from taking students away from their ordinary lives why isnt there a cheaper long trip?"

That would be nice. I'd have loved a local outward bounds holiday with School.

Potentially teachers don't want to give up their holiday to go to a YH in Wales with 200 13 year olds, but don't mid going with 20 to the Alps?

Potentially Kids aren't that bothered about a week locally with school when they are older? I can't imagine many of the kids at my school being keen to go on an outward bounds trip. Hardly anyone took up the free DofE opportunity, basically only the very middle class kids fancied a weekend hiking in the peaks.

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 01/10/2012 23:36

Gnome, then the problem is with the way the schools you know are handling the subject of trips, not the idea of school trips itself.

There may be room for improvement in the way trips are chosen, organised, offered, etc, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't exist.

noblegiraffe · 02/10/2012 07:15

why isnt there a cheaper long trip?

Like I said up thread, my department used to offer a cheap local residential. A decade ago we took away 60 kids (2 coaches). Then it went down to 30. Finally a couple of years back we had to cancel the whole thing as we simply couldn't fill the places.

There's never been any problem filling the places on the more expensive trips. I expect that that's because the kids actually want to go on them and the parents are more prepared to shell out for an experience that they can't actually provide themselves.

exoticfruits · 02/10/2012 07:22

I think that it is in a nutshell noblegiraffe. Schools don't provide trips that are not wanted. I am very pleased that mine got all sorts of experiences, the near to home adventure type things and the longer trips. That is how I chose to spend my money and I don't see anything wrong with it. Get second hand baby stuff at car boot sales -save money when little and start an account-if you want to. I resent having saved for that sort of thing and then be told that I can't have it. Luckily the schools know that it is wanted and will keep offering it-or lose pupils. I want mine to get more than the basic 9-3.

squidworth · 02/10/2012 09:03

The school trips never put me in the have nots camp the free school meals and the cheap shoes did that. DS1 school is a very strict school with uniform but that does not stop the designer bags and coats, I am looking forward to his chance to go skiing but to be honest the children worry about fitting in daily than big trips.

Prarieflower · 02/10/2012 10:42

"schools don't provide trips that aren't wanted"

Actually schools don't provide trips that aren't wanted by a wealthy few which shouldn't be a school's priority.Schools should be providing trips that all children can go on.

If a minority of parents want high end trips for their dc they should get themselves to the travel agent.

Oblomov · 02/10/2012 10:59

"Schools should be providing trips that all children can go on."
I disagree Prarieflower.
We all make choices. We all chose how to spend the money we have.
Plenty of people at our school go on summer holidays abroad. We don't. I suppose I could work full time, but I chose to work part time.
I don't begrudge people flying off to Florida or Australia. Plenty in ds's year do. Some have no holiday at all.
Why should all kids be allowed to go? You have to learn to 'live according to your means'. I don't begrudge Alan Sugar or the Beckhams the life they have chosen. But I don't stand there and complain, Oh my son can't afford to go too, this isn't fair.
It is fair. It's life.

ISingSoprano · 02/10/2012 11:32

If a minority of parents want high end trips for their dc they should get themselves to the travel agent.

I honestly believe the experiences my dc have had through school trips cannot be replicated on a family holiday.

noblegiraffe · 02/10/2012 11:45

Describe this trip that all children can go on. Must be free. Must be entirely contained within school hours, forget residentials, you can't even have early starts or late pick-ups. Must not exclude or disadvantage any student with medical or religious issues or SEN. Must be something all parents will consent to.
What does that leave us with?

exoticfruits · 02/10/2012 16:37

Nothing!
Even if the trip was funded, and didn't cost a penny, there would be parents who wouldn't send their DCs.

Portofino · 02/10/2012 19:17

No - this is just extrapolating nonsense. The school should not offer trips that all children can not go on because of money. End of.

noblegiraffe · 02/10/2012 19:23

But other trips that not all children can go on are fine? Is that what you're saying?

exoticfruits · 02/10/2012 19:39

But schools do -end of.

I would love to test it out by giving free adventure holidays for the entire class over 200 miles away and saying ' it is free-your DC must go or she will be put down as truanting and you will be prosecuted'. I bet there would still be people up in arms saying that their DC wasn't going!

Portofino · 02/10/2012 21:02

Ha - but the school trips here in Belgium are exactly that - part of the curriculum, and you MUST go. I am sure if there are medical reasons then fair enough. But otherwise, your personal feelings don't come into it. The Belgians seem to cope with this.

exoticfruits · 02/10/2012 21:06

It is simply lack of money. It was like that when I was young-and you all went. I don't think it would work today (if there was the money) -too many 'precious' parents.

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 02/10/2012 21:21

So if all children were offered the trip for free, but some children still didn't go for various reasons, that would be ok Porto?

It only matters if children are left out if the reason is money right? Hmm

exoticfruits · 02/10/2012 21:26

What about if it was free and the DC was desperate to go but had an over protective parent who wouldn't let them-does it not matter if the DCs is left out and upset?