to think that expensive school trips should be banned

[Nicola10]

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!

A trip to the Hebrides would be brilliant, MrsDe :)

YY, there must be a middle ground.

When I talk about me not being able to go, I'm not trying to play the world's smallest violin - it seriously didn't bother me. I really, really need to rein in the vicarious living thing

The lad who didn't go on the £12 day trip - this was a couple of weeks ago and it was the first trip in Y7 - not a big ask, basically . His parents absolutely could have found that £12 but they have form for refusing to pay for anything school-related, on principle. Apparently the only reason he went on any trips or did anything 'optional' in primary (I've known him since he and ds were in reception) was that school brought him along regardless, after he was found alone in the park when the rest of the class were at a zoo.

Shit of the school, clearly. Lame arsed of the parents. Poor bloody kid.

Deep breaths ladies. There are people I like and have connections with on this thread. And calm. And hope I haven't upset anyone xx

married
I am my Grandmother!

That was to Mrs DV too. Anyway, you aren't that bad a driver are you?

Oh, let's bring some light heartedness to it!!

YANBU.
As for " life's not fair" well, no, it's not.
My 7 yr old knows that already. He knows that his friends from his very nice school have playhouses and I pads and nintendos, and their parents have cars, and own their houses, and they go to disneyland and Centreparcs.
I like his friends. I like their parents. I am not envious, or bitter about the fact that ds knows that his full time working lone parent mum just doesn't have the money for these things.
I will get bitter, though, if, in high school, his friends are going on 1600 quid trips to New York and he has no chance of doing that.
It's NOT necessary for their education, and it is very divisive imo.
I travelled extensively as an adult. I got more out of that than I would have at 12 or 14.
State schools should be about all the kids having a fair shot at life, at education, at opportunity.
To rub children's noses in the fact that they do NOT all have the same advantages, that the dice are loaded against them from day one, and fuck you very much, is to give them the message that they might as well not bother. After all, life's not fair.
I hope ds (who is insanely clever, and damn right I am boasting, because as a child who already has a statistical disadvantage he needs all the props I can give him) can rise above this attitude and take on the world, but dividing the world he lives in into Can Have's and Can't Afford's at such an impressionable age is just shit.

Thanks Married I just spilt tea on the keyboard! It's lovely to laugh about her though, and nobody, just nobody is that bad a driver.
Do you know, she'd get to Tibbet's Corner from the Heath side, cross herself, shut her eyes and go!

Children's success isn't about trips and other stuff. It is about love; who is loved and who isn't loved - for who and what they are. The millionaire's child who lives without love lives in poverty.

Bollocks to school trips. They should all be learning Latin instead.

And do you know, the child I have felt sorriest for in my life is DS's classmate whose dad pulls down 500k a year and goes on all the trips. His father's quotes:

At a concert in the audience "God he's crap; can't you make him try harder"

"You got 78% - that means you got 22%
Wrong"m

"I bought him a £300 bat; you'd think he would make an effort to hit the ball."

That boy has privilege in spades but he's still a very poor bastard.

His father sounds emotionally abusive, married.

She wd have been disgusted at you spitting tea dawndonna

My son is not going on the expensive trip this year.

We tried, we paid the deposit and first installment (£150).

he changed his mind and cancelled.

We scraped to pay that £150; cutting back our food budget (Dh and my lunches).

We've lost every penny.

Will we try again with a trip? Unlikely, certainly not for a good while. I understand his reasons- it's over my 40th and he wanted to be with me- but it's too much to lose. A week's rent, for goodness sake.

He knew he wouldn't be going on the annual ski trip, and anything exchange is a no-no as our eldest is designated as needing 2:1 care at home.

But we said pick your one trip, he did and blew it.

DS1's SNU doesn't do foreign trips or residentials at this stage (he's year 8), I have no idea what happens in ds3's (different) SNU primary school. DS4 is only 5 and in mainstream but has the same broken gene as two of his siblings so not placing any bets there either way.

However we have managed to find a way for us all to camp near Paris in the summer for under £500 so they will get their chance, I wouldn't dream of criticising people who can't manage that though, we're a working family so if we struggle goodness only knows how those without work in this climate manage. School did hope they could use the £150 lost deposit to help another, poorer child attend but was too late sadly. I'd have been far happier if that could have been managed. Mine come first but there's a lot to be said for the rush of helping another.

Mine are learning latin. It just costs 20k pa each!

Oh and the trip cancelled was three days in a Normandy castle learning to cook from a well regarded chef as well as the language stuff.

Now, I love to cook and get the value of that but I bet they could have found somewhere, even if less salubrious, for under the £100 ppn level.

Peachy, I'm sorry, that's hard when you can't get the money back.

Out of season, with fares, you cd prob do a nice mobile for 6 for about 200 or less for 3 nights in that neck of the woods

And life's not fair- true.

Kids know that: some have no parent, a disability, live in homeless housing, are in care.

But kids are kids: they are not responsible for their situations and we as adults should strive to make their experiences as equal as we can. Yes we should all put our kids first but little Sam can go on a trip somewhere slightly less posh (see my post above about our school's residential in a castle). Heck I'd be happy to bake for a cake sale for a reserve fund a few times a year, or whatever.

The reason I am so radical is simple- when I was on the PTA a lady tried to bar the kids whose parents had not paid from seeing father Christmas (£3 a shot). Amongst those was a child whose mother had passed weeks before, and where dad was unsurprisingly still struggling to remember things like school payments. Another was a single mother working a 0 hour contract and struggling on those weeks with low hours when her benefits were frequently messed up.

We managed to sort that one (Chair and I threatened to walk, I was Secretary) but it stayed with me.

I have Latin '0' level, Married it really is worth it, I have found a million uses for it. Having said that, I did it as school, many moons ago when it was standard.
(SW London Comprehensive)!

Married we're doing Paris, summer hols for 6 for £440 all in including Eurostar.

I think that's pretty good going. Campsite but heck, it's what you make it, will bbe fun.

and no to the rollercoaster trip to Holland

Booo, you are a meanie! Every school should have a rollercoaster trip to Holland!

Dawndonna you clever so and so. I was too thick at my speshul school to make the latin set .

Peachy I hope u have a lovely holiday.

I still think it's about love and not money in general or money for trips and treats.