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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that expensive school trips should be banned

654 replies

Nicola10 · 06/06/2013 20:03

Year 8 pupils have, today, left for a school trip to France. Very exciting for them, yes, considering that they will be going to a theme park, as well as educational stuff. But, for the rest of the kids, whose parents could not afford it, including my twins, they have to do normal lessons.

The cost for each child is £400 each!

OP posts:
mydadsdaughter · 06/06/2013 20:28

YANBU

IndiansInTheLobby · 06/06/2013 20:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FarBetterNow · 06/06/2013 20:29

Some of these comments are ridiculous too.
It wouldn't matter how much notice the school gives, parents who live on a tight budget with no spare money, will never be able to save £1k.

CouthyMow · 06/06/2013 20:31

Yabu. If your DC's would have benefitted, and really wanted to go, all schools hold funds with which to cover part of the costs of a trip.

Obviously not the £3500 ski trip that my DD's school runs, but for exchanges, yes. Especially when you have twins - often they will pay for one, so you aren't in a worse position than other parents.

You do have to go cap in hand to the finance manager though.

However - I'm on benefits and managed to pay for my DD and my DS1's Y6 trips at a cost of £120 for DD (4 years ago), and £160 for DS1 (this year).

I started saving a year beforehand. You just budget to save up for these trips over a longer period.

I will do the same next year while DS2 is in Y5, so that when he is in Y6 I can afford to pay for it. By starting to save now, I can have the full amount by December of Y6, just by putting away £2 a week...

HollyBerryBush · 06/06/2013 20:31

Two weeks in China.

DS did that one last year - its totally funded by the Chinese government - schools bid for places, it was only the cost of the air fare, and he had a marvellous time, totally opened his eyes to so much, they travelled all over China and spent a week at the Olympic Academy for Mathematical Excellence being taught in Chinese.... mind you he does speak Mandarin

TheFallenNinja · 06/06/2013 20:33

They're just a piss take, where in the world do you need to go to learn about stuff you can't learn about in the UK.

Triumphoveradversity · 06/06/2013 20:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CouthyMow · 06/06/2013 20:33

Our school sends ten Y10 pupils to China each year. But they have to properly fundraise, not get their DP's to bankroll it.

youmeatsix · 06/06/2013 20:34

all 3 of ours have left school and at uni now, anyone reading regularly here or any other parenting forum knows when their little ones get further into education, they will be offered places on these trips, having 3 so close in age, we felt we were always paying for trips but we KNEW this ahead of time and planned for it, we didnt have piles of money coming in, we just planned. I'm another who feels its incredibly unfair to stop everyone going because some cannot, or their parents wont sacrifice in order for them to do so. school trips like these are no different to any other expense you expect to incur when you have children

Ragwort · 06/06/2013 20:34

It is hard but it is a fact of life that life is 'not fair'. There are lots of inequalities in life and children (and adults) have to learn this. My DS's school had a recent trip which seemed very expensive for what it was, to be honest, we could have afforded it but looking at the detail decided it was clearly not 'value for money'. In the event a lot of parents thought that and for the first time in years the trip didn't go ahead Grin.

You are not rubbish parents because you cannot afford a trip, this is an opportunity to explain to your child how economics works etc etc etc. That is a far more valuable lesson in life than forking out for a school trip.

However because some parents cannot afford the trip (either genuinely or because they chose to spend their money differently) surely shouldn't mean all children have to miss out? My DS is taught to save his birthday/Christmas money towards trips - other children seem to have expensive X-box type Christmas presents etc etc. I could say 'it's not fair that I don't have an ipad or iphone' when I see plenty of mumsnetters commenting that they have one Grin. My DB is constantly moaning about the cost of school trips, but happily eats out 2-3 times a week, has every known techo-gadget and clothes his children top-toe in designer gear Grin. Another friend moaned about trips but had seven (yes, seven) horses !

TantrumsAndBalloons · 06/06/2013 20:34

Mine have been to Berlin for geography and Spain for sport so far this year. Both of them. At a cost of over £400 each per trip. Plus spending money.

Which took a fair bit of saving for. £3200 in 7 months may be possible I don't even know yet. But it is very expensive

CouthyMow · 06/06/2013 20:34

Feminine. I would say that those that can't afford it ARE spending it elsewhere - either that or not budgeting appropriately. Even I can manage to put away £2 a week...

SybilRamkin · 06/06/2013 20:35

YAB a bit U, but I think that the trips shouldn't be organised in term-time, that's just not fair.

SirChenjin · 06/06/2013 20:36

I love the "just budget" comments that always appear on these threads Grin

honeytea · 06/06/2013 20:37

Yanbu, here in Sweden the schools are not allowed to ask parents to pay for school trips.

marriedinwhiteagain · 06/06/2013 20:37

Surely school trips are a known to be factored into the budget. They don't have to go on them all. 500 doesn't sound unreasonable to me. recalls the letter about the trip to the Galapagos islands: £3,900 Shock

changeling1234 · 06/06/2013 20:37

Our school runs "activities week" and includes a foreign trip as part of this. But it also runs much cheaper things like sailing, or football camp, survival etc as well as totally free sessions at our local uni in street dance, fasion design etc.

I think it's a bit unfair that they should be going on a trip in school time, I have to say.

Startail · 06/06/2013 20:37

I think you have a point, DD1 has stung me for a £700 trip next year. It's to Rome, I want to go.

I can't really claim we can't afford it, but it adds to the amount DD2 is owed.

I wish there was a £3-400 cap on trips.

grumpyinthemorning · 06/06/2013 20:38

Nobody would miss out if the trips weren't offered. I'm already dreading the secondary school years because of it.

Saying that we should save and go without so our kids can go on these pointless trips is horrible. Many families are in a position where they simply cannot cut back any further. Must be nice to have the money to put aside.

whiteandyellowiris · 06/06/2013 20:38

don't think much to the Life isn't fair comments

yes life isn't fair

but at school things should be fair for all children

they should do something a lot cheaper

CouthyMow · 06/06/2013 20:38

And DD understood that I couldn't afford to pay for the ski trip.

At the same time as saving for DS2's Y6 trip, I will also be putting away another £2 a week for DS1's Y7 camping trip - which the whole year DO go on.

Then as soon as I have saved the £100 for that, and DS2's Y6 trip is paid, that £4 a week will be put away so that DS1 can do an exchange trip in Y9. That will take me two years to save for, hence Y9.

It's just forward planning!

curiousgeorgie · 06/06/2013 20:39

I don't think they should be banned, as it's not fair to those who could go, and school trips are part of the experience.

Having said that, my parents scrimped and saved to send me on an adventure week in year 9 and I absolutely loathed it!

If my DD is anything like me, she won't want to go anyway Wink

TeenAndTween · 06/06/2013 20:40

YABU.

My DD's school organises a trip to Paris ~£250 for Y7s. There are spaces for fewer than half the children to go. Some don't want to go, some parents can't afford it, some can afford it but choose to spend the money elsewhere. So those that don't go are not the few left out.

Within the group that go, there will be a significant number for whom this is the only way their parents could afford for them to go to France. They only need to pay for 1 child, not the whole family. This can be a massive experience for that child.
In the school they also have a subsidy fund or something to assist those who cannot afford the whole amount. They also do their best to reduce cost of trip, eg overnight crossing to save on hotel rooms etc.

I do think however that schools should enure there is a range of trips on offer throughout the time at school so that even if you can't afford drama in New York (why???) you maybe can afford drama to local theatre.

pollyblue · 06/06/2013 20:40

YANBU

I know that life is unfair and that some children will not have the opportunity to travel due to tight family finances.

But imo school - especially states schools - should be about inclusiveness, treating all the children equally and enabling them to have the same learning opportunites as their peers.

I wish they would leave the foreign travel (and yes i know that can be educational) out of schooling and to the parents to provide during holidays if finances and circs allow - travel that all the family can benefit from.

CouthyMow · 06/06/2013 20:41

SirChenjin - why shouldn't I say 'just budget'? You can ALWAYS make cheaper meals to find £2 a week. I am a disabled Lone Parent, caring for 4 DC's, 3 of whom also have disabilities.

Why should they miss out just because I'm on benefits? So, I buy charity shop clothes, I don't waste money, and I cook as cheaply as I can within the constraints of my DS3's multiple life-threatening food allergies.

And I start saving WELL in advance...

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