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!

I think it's worth pointing out that most residential trips start by Year 5 as well (actually up here they seem to start in Year 3) - no child that age can help contribute by getting a paper round or any other ind of work.

I guess I hadn't realised how lucky we were that it didn't arise until year 6 then

Sorry but there is nothing a child going to New York for ten days cannot learn by going to London for two days.

Language exchanges I can understand as you go and live with a family and are immersed in the language you are learning but they could watch a DVD about New York etc without leaving the classroom! Bonkers and unfair for children who's parents cannot afford such ridiculous prices.

Oh come one though, experiences and all that! I wish I'd had the chance!

Sorry nit I didn't direct that bit at you - it was at the people who were making snide comments about poor people being able to afford Sky tv etc

(also, you know they speak English in new york?)

I've absolutely no clue why everything has to be boiled down to the lowest common denominator.

Should we ban people from buying fancy cars because your child may feel left out because you can't afford one?

Where do you draw the line?

you are being disingenious niceguy

I would never, ever make stupid comments about sky or big TVs or anything like that, honest.

Look, I'm genuinely torn about this. I hate the idea of anyone left behind, and perhaps I hadn't realised that some are aware that they consistently are. On the other hand, I want comprehensives, and the children who go to them, to be able to hold their heads up high. I don't know.

DryCounty - maybe that's where in finding that money? I don't go to the cinema, so that's £10 a month saved - add an extra 3 child tickets, and there's the rest of it.

You can buy whatever car you want but when organising the main school trip for a whole year group, it's reasonable to offer something that the majority can afford.

I do normally say to DC "No we cant afford it when they want something like a new toy"

but how can you say to a child "no we cant afford for you to go on a school trip"

I tell my DC school is fun, School is for learning and school is important. I feel like if DC cant go on these trips it is going to undermind every bit of effort it has taken for DS who is SEN and has austism to go to school.

I have had it sobbing to me not to send him to school because he is supid ( his words) so how can i not get the money for him.

It is tricky. My dc have had some great trips but the £900 ski trip really pissed me off. I really felt it was a status symbol trip.

If your kid had a great time in Kenya and it opens his(her?) mind then fair do's - lucky you :)

But the main residential trip for a year group should be affordable and if kids are being taken off timetable by the school, it should be educational. Some kids don't even get to go on the lower key stuff and it's :(

Yeah, but at secondary there doesn't seem to be so much of this 'main trip' thing, or not that I have noticed. Maybe we're just not sending them on the main trips.... But I do agree, really.

And not lucky me, really: I didnt go to Kenya, and I can't afford to go to Kenya, I don't suppose. She earnt that trip!

Depending on the school, yes. I went to a school where a lot of the students were from low income families (many, many pupils were brought up on benefits and didn't have any memories of their parents working) so expensive school trips (the easter skiing trip, the summer term New York trip etc) were just for the same group of people: nobody else could afford to go. However, I do know that trips can play a vital role in supporting the curriculum. My DD went on a school trip to Germany in February for 7 days and she loved it: she stills talks about it at any opportunity! But it's not fair when these trips become something that only an elite group of pupils can afford. I think trips should be based on the general income of most of the students, so everybody can be included. Schools in more deprived areas should run cheaper trips so pupils aren't left out and everybody can experience the benefit of a good school trip, whereas in more affluent areas it's more appropriate to charge more. I don't think more expensive trips= better. I remember going to Hunstanton for the day on a geography trip when I was 15 years old and it was both educational and hilarious, a million times better than the skiing trip!

I'm not being disingenuous at all. And to Maria's point, it's again...that line.

What if that were true...what about the minority who can't afford it? To me it would seem even less fair to them.

In fact, who is to say the majority can't afford £400? At my kids school we have similar trips. We pay in instalments over the year so it doesn't seem such a big hit. It's certainly stretched us this year since we were already throwing every spare penny we have towards our wedding.

But certainly at our school, there's such a huge over-demand for the holiday. So it seems to me that most can afford it. And i live in a rather poor ex-mining village.

I think the "save £2 a week" argument is irrelevant for the original poster.

The trip she is talking about is £400 and she has twins. It would take 8 years for her to have saved for this trip.

We are comfortably off so will be able to afford trips. But my current feeling (note that she's currently only 3 so I may change my mind!) is that I'd rather there be sensibly priced trips that dd can go on with all her friends than there be a super exotic trip that only a few go on.

There's also the point, that, by the school taking them, it means some people can give all your dc a fantastic experience without having to find the money to take your whole family skiing (or whatever the trip is). I know that's more tricky for twins, and triplets, but for some of us, it means each child gets one opportunity to go skiing, we have a couple of years between each trip, all the equipment is 'pass-down-able' and all my dc will have had an experience, that they would never have had if left to me to give them as a family. Paying for 5 of us to go at once, just wouldn't happen on our budget, but we are fortunate to be able to save for them to go one at a time.

Don't children wear school uniform in order to standardise everyone, so that parents don't have to provide expensive clothing so that their kids can compete with their richer classmates?
But its ok to have expensive trips that not everyone can afford because lifes like that?
So the poor kids are allowed to dress like the richer kids but get their noses rubbed into the fact that their parents cant afford a foreign trip?
Double standards?
YANBU!
Children don't need expensive school trips. If you want your child to spend 2 weeks in China, take them yourself!

I think all designer handbags should be banned - because I can't afford one!

It does depend on the social mix of the school. My dc is in an academy where 2 schools are under one umbrella. She is in the school with the more deprived kids. So she and all her high achieving wealthier friends go on these trips and extension activities which are mainly attended by the majority of kids in the other school and it just seems to widen the gulf between her little group and the rest. It's not good for them or for the other kids. But maybe a week camping and climbing with the whole year group would help them all to feel more comfortable together.

And nice guy does have a point - the recent fairly affordable French Exchange had a lower uptake than the ski trip cos it wasn't perceived as cool

Or maybe they were all slimy after the ski trip

Skint bloody phone

BackforGood makes a good point.

We are never, ever, going to go skiing as a family. Dh has 'been there, done that, was a bit crap at it tbh', & I can barely make it down the stairs without falling over my own feet.

So I'll be quite happy to budget for each dc in turn to have a school skiing trip if they fancy it, thereby benefitting from cheaper dorm accommodation & instruction.

Whereas I'd have no problem at all saying no to a London theatre trip, for example. We have rather good theatres ooop North & visit them regularly as a family.

You do need to evaluate the benefit to your own child a bit - which is why I would support a wide range of trips on offer.

With one 'year group main trip' which is reasonably local, affordable & subsidised as necessary.

I actually agree with Niceguy for once?!

I can't see, having BEEN the poor child that went cap in hand (personally, my mother refused to) to the HoY and asked if there was any funding to go on the French Exchange to further my speaking and listening skills, and now being the poor parent who budgets years in advance to afford a certain amount of these trips, though certainly not all, why others can't budget.

I STILL resent my mother for not doing so.

And when DD went, 4 years ago, I was working in a NMW job, rather than being on benefits, and paying Nursery fees for DS2 as well. Still knew that she would have a trip in Y6, and took the novel step of asking the school for a rough cost estimate so that I could pay bit by bit. I actually wound up OVERPAYING for DD's trip, and finished paying for DS1's long before the deadline, because I had started paying far earlier than other parents.

If I can do this, then I see no reason why others can't.

No, I will never save enough for my DC's to go on the skiing trip. But I can ensure they go on both their Y6 AND Y7 residentials that the whole year goes on, plus a choice of either the French or German exchange in Y9.

Not all the trips, but enough to not feel 'left out'.