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

[meah]

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!!!

I never went on any school trips either. Most of my friends went skiing at least once, maybe twice but I didn't. My parents couldn't afford it. The only trip I did was an exchange one where all you had to pay was your share of the ferry crossing and a coach - £30 - because board and lodging were with a French family. I got to go on that as it was educational. Admittedly that was 1980 but that would only be about £90 now.

I don't think children have the right to these sorts of trips and I do think their expectations need to be managed. I didn't feel left out, it was just the way it had to be. I also think that you should use it as a motivational thing as my parents did - get a decent education and then you can afford your own trips!

Mostly the secondary school ones I have seen in DS1's school have been for fun rather than educational which is fine, they are very easy to ignore. I have no qualms about refusing them and no worries about DS missing out. Probably we could afford them - we have already paid for the junior school ones which amount to £800 over 3 years, so we are kind of used to forking out - but I don't really see what benefit it would be and I would rather have a family holiday.
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I never went on any school trips either. Most of my friends went skiing at least once, maybe twice but I didn't. My parents couldn't afford it. The only trip I did was an exchange one where all you had to pay was your share of the ferry crossing and a coach - £30 - because board and lodging were with a French family. I got to go on that as it was educational. Admittedly that was 1980 but that would only be about £90 now.

I don't think children have the right to these sorts of trips and I do think their expectations need to be managed. I didn't feel left out, it was just the way it had to be. I also think that you should use it as a motivational thing as my parents did - get a decent education and then you can afford your own trips!

Mostly the secondary school ones I have seen in DS1's school have been for fun rather than educational which is fine, they are very easy to ignore. I have no qualms about refusing them and no worries about DS missing out. Probably we could afford them - we have already paid for the junior school ones which amount to £800 over 3 years, so we are kind of used to forking out - but I don't really see what benefit it would be and I would rather have a family holiday.

I have no problem with the school offering to take the children. Why would I? There are and will always be people better off and worse off than me. I would like a brand new car and swanky new house but I can't have one. I am not at all bothered by people who can afford them though.

Sorry double posted.

No idea how that happened.

Exactly noble. There are often more children who can go than there places available on the trip anyway.

All these people going on about fundraising - great idea! There is nothing stopping parents from fundraising to send their dc on school trips. So let those parents who want their children to do school trips but are unable to save do just that.

Those saying that children should be treated equally at school - children are treated equally at school. They are all offered the same opportunity. It's up to parents how they support that opportunity. Some parents help with revision timetables and homework and by providing the right equipment etc. Some don't. If they don't, then that's their responsibility and its only their own children that miss out. Should every child be unsupported at home when it comes to school work just because some parents cant or wont provide the same support as others? No, of course not. School trips are no different.

Parents need to take responsibility for their own children. They either save up for school trips, find the money elsewhere, or manage their child's expectations and dissapointment properly. No one else can be parents for them.

Yes life is unfair and some children will miss out. That's absolutely a fact. But an unpleasant and unpalatable one, isn't it?

Seems really, really tasteless for some posters to be ramming this point home from their position of monetary privilege.

Lots of people work extremely hard and could still never afford the things others routinely have.

I am probably one of the ones who could afford the trips but it still wouldn't sit right with me that children's opportunities within the school environment were determined by their parents' affluence.

I don't think schools should just be like the outside world and accept this inequality.

I worry about paying for the trip then DS1 deciding he doesn't want to go after all........

Kids whose parents don't have enough money, dpn't get to go skiing.

I think the issue is that we recognise that not all children have the same talents/commitment and therefore it is accepted that, for example, my DD will not sing in the choir. But she was given a chance to audition. She was not good enough. She accepted that.

I think that is a bit different to one group of children going skiing because their parents can afford it ( and the ski suits, spending money) and another group not.

I just think that there is just as much to be gained on a cheap school trip as there is a visit to China etc

I used to go on an activities holiday every year, set up by a charity which was dedicated to providing a 'wilderness' experience for inner city children. It was in Scotland. I remember how I fell in love with the place on my first trip there aged 11 -and now I live there.

I doubt that skiing could have provided more of a learning experience of experience of a different way if life than that experienced on the Mull of Kintyre.

"I don't think schools should just be like the outside world and accept this inequality"
Yy to that.

But schools are supposed to prepare children for life in the real world.

I don't want my children educated in a little pink fluffy bubble that will burst spectacularly when they get let loose on the real world and have to learn what real life is really all about.

I'd rather they grew up knowing that education and hard work provide you with more chance of having enjoyable opportunities than thinking that it doesn't matter what they do or don't do because they and any children they decide to create will be given the same as everyone else anyway.

I don't want my children educated in a little pink fluffy bubble that will burst spectacularly when they get let loose on the real world and have to learn what real life is really all about

Amen to that!

What's interesting is no more people attended the term time outward bound trip that was heavily subsidised (£50 for a week or free if on a low income) than people went on the ski trips or activity holidays (£400 ish). Suggests that it wasn't money that was putting people off. I wonder if like LtEveDallas said, some children just don't care about attending.

I'd rather they grew up knowing that education and hard work provide you with more chance of having enjoyable opportunities than thinking that it doesn't matter what they do or don't do because they and any children they decide to create will be given the same as everyone else anyway

They haven't got opportunites through education and hard work. They have got them because their parents have money.

I'm a bit concerned about the people on this thread whose self-worth seems to be so inextricably linked with what they can afford.

Their parents have money because somewhere along the line, they have worked for it! The children can recognise that, whether their parents do or don't send them on the school trip.

LaQueen - that is true. My DS wasnt massively fussed about the activity break he went on but I put him through for it as I knew he would love it and it sounded fun!

I think a lot of the time us parents fret far more than our kids do.

I don't think we are talking about the same thing.

I am not talking about bubbles, some bizarre scenario where each child is given exactly the same irrespective of ability or need. A school trip is the precise and only situation I am talking about.

It's about children missing out on an opportunity at school not because of ability and natural talent or lack thereof. But solely because of how much money their parents have.

Within school that will always seem wrong to me.

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddosFri 28-Sep-12 14:52:01

Meah, no matter how 'affordable' schools tried to make trips, there would always be parents that couldn't afford it and would complain. There woudo always be children left out because some parents are bad at budgeting, don't prioritise school trips or would prefer to spend the money on something else.

Yes those pesky parents frittering their money away on council tax food and the gas bill really should learn to manage their money better!!

yy ovenchips

"Their parents have money because somewhere along the line, they have worked for it! "

Ah! Of course I'll explain to DDs that they cannot go on skiing trip because mummy and daddy don't work hard enough blocks out the soul crushing series of nightshifts she is doing this weekend

I just think schools could choose cheaper holidays which have the same educational and social value as more expensive ones - as someone said up thread, all kids want to do is have fun.

So what Darkeyes? I take it you are another that thinks every child should go without because of the life choices of some parents?

Why is it ok for a child to miss out because of a lack of natural ability or talent but not because of their parents income?

Surely the dissapointment (if any) will be the same regardless of the reason?

No, just explain to your DD that she cant go because you can't afford it. That is what I say to my DS when he wants something we cant afford - he totally understands that we cant afford to do everything and sometimes he just has to go without.

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos - Their parents have money because somewhere along the line, they have worked for it!

That's right being poor people don't work hard enough. FFS. We have non paying schools because it's right to educate all children. We have free healthcare for children for the same reason.
So poor children don't get a holiday because of their parents? And that helps them how exactly? I assume they don't need a lesson in the world isn't fair because they live and breathe that.