To think that £350 is an excessive amount to pay for yr6 school trip ?

[Lousylo66]

Ds1 is in yr 6. Going through his school bag I have just found details of their school trip at the end of summer term next year. Apparently they will stay in a chateau in northern France for 3 nights. Sounds great, lots of activities, visits etc but just don' t think we can afford it. They are asking for a deposit by 11 October and then
5 x £60 monthly payments after that, but then you have to factor in spending money and everything else so it's probably considerably more expensive. I do know that several kids didn't go on it last year and felt thoroughly left out before and after the event - seemingly lots of class time devoted to it in preparation. Nothing else is laid on for the unfortunate ones who can't go, just same old school routine.
Ok ,maybe it's our fault that we sent our kids to a school in a nice affluent area but what's wrong with a good old PGL holiday where they can try activities they've never done before. Just wondered if anyone had any advice, am in two minds to take kids out of school camping on the days the trips in progress. Sorry for the rant.

Schools are not allowed to make a profit on trips so it will be the true cost. Insurance, travel, accomodation, food and activities quickly mount up.

They have no legal obligation to take children who dont pay as this doesnt apply to residentials. As to whether they have a hardship fund only the school will know, they are not given money for this purpose so it depends on if their budget can stretch to it. Its more likely they will give you longer to pay than fund it as any hardship funds usually pick up the day trips for the parents that cant or wont pay.

£350 for 5 days / 4 nights at my school.

£350 for the same at my son's school. Fairly standard, I'm afraid. Last year I applied for the hardship fund and got it, this year I'm in better circumstances.

It's expected at our school though. If we didn't run the trip we'd have major grumbles from the parents.

About what I would expect.

At the school I work in, £500 for Y6 trip to France, 5 days / 4 nights.

About £375 for Y5 residential in Norfolk, again 5 days / 4 nights.

DD1 trip to York in Year 4 was around £300. 4 days / 3 nights.

Has op been back?
DD's London trip in y7 will cost about that (ouch). I'm struggling with it, too. DD will have to pay part.
DD's 4 nights/5 day residential in Derbyshire was under £200 last yr, including spending money.

moldingsunbeams - have you enquired about the hardship fund at your dc's school?

I agree with English Rose - it's unfair to penalise children for something they have NO control over. And if you're one of the ones left behind, you certainly can't feel great, regardless of any bravado. And when everyone comes back talking about it, I'm sure the feeling just gets better, as does having to sit in lessons about what you can't participate in.

I don't work in a school, but I cannot imagine organising a trip and not making certain that every child could go. Life's not fair, for sure, but we don't need to ram it down the throats of the very children who already know that!

Children in tears when the bus left with the others? That's unnecessary.

Some wont go though as parents dont like them being away overnight without them or they dont like the place or activities. You will never please every parent. Teachers cant also be expected to know the personal budget of every family, lots prioritise other items over school expenses and some point blank refuse to pay for any school activity just to make a point.

It doesnt matter what the school do, somebody will always moan.

We paid £310 for 3 days outdoor education trip for P7 (year6)

It sounds about right sadly.

However, I completely disagree with school trips of this nature. State education should be inclusive, not exclusive, and asking for this amount of money can put a huge amount of strain of family finances. I completely agree with cantreachmytoes and others - school trips should be costed to a minimal level to ensure that everyone can attend. The 'bigger' trips should take place in the holidays, so that no child has to stay behind and sit in lessons with other classes.

What's "spending money and everything else"? If they are doing three days of prearranged activities in a dedicated centre then there isn't likely to be much opportunity for spending huge sums, is there? (OK, maybe the occasional gift shop but it won't kill him not to bring back tacky souvenirs).
If you can't afford the £360 then you can't afford it, but I wouldn't let the thought of unspecified extras put you off.

If he wants to go, could you make a contribution towards the cost of the trip part or all of his Christmas present and/or birthday present?

If you're going to the usual outward bound centre then you are presented with a kit list - waterproofs, boots, fleeces etc all cost money that can add up. Not everyone has these already, not everyone can borrow from other families, and even buying them from ebay can add up (providing you actually manage to win the action)

My DC haven't been on any big trips yet as the eldest is only in year 2 but I am interested to see how much these things cost, so thank you. I remember going on them as a child and how the cost was restrictive. I went on some, not on others. My grandparents paid for one, as I recall.

It made me think if I will want to send the DC when they get bigger, and how I will afford it. Then I realised that the DCs have savings accounts which I pay £20 into every month - they have these already - so if they do want to go on these things in the future they can pay out of those. Then they will have some choices, which will be nice. They will be lucky. I just thought I'd say that in case it helped anyone. I know in my family it is fairly traditional to have some kind of savings account for the kids, even if it's grandparents etc. and I think this is a fair use of something like that.

I'm going to be facing this dilemma later this year. Similar price at our school and although I realise this seems to be the going rate, its just too much for us. We go away once a year self catering in this country for about the same cost. We didn't go away this year as we couldn't afford it, and if child goes on trip it means we won't be going next year either. I hadn't thought about taking him out and going on a camping trip, but its a good idea so they won't feel so left out.

I've just done a rough calculation that I've spent around £4000 on residential trips in total for my 2 (one in Y13, one in Y11) so far, during their time in secondary.
That's for a "normal" comprehensive, and for trips that are curriculum-based, apart from DofE (2 bronzes, 1 silver and 1 gold - £570, not counting buying kit)

For three days that's a lot, but not for fixed days.

And the school a friend works at has just run a trip for sixth-formers to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands at around £3000 per pupil. It was full.

At our school about 25% of pupils are not going on our school trip next April. We always suggest that parents contact the school if the reason for not going is financial and we can (and do) subsidise pupils if necessary. Five days PGL holiday is around £350, with £5 spending money. All pupils are told to bring oldest clothes (and something for the disco), waterproofs and other equipment is provided.

My son had minimal xmas and birthday presents from us, and all money from relatives went towards his residential. He didn't mind and it was the highlight of his primary school.

Any children not going on the trip had days out to the local zoo/ pizza making and other fun things. They certainly didn't have a week of schoolwork.

Our Year 6s go on their residential tomorrow. It is too the LA residential centre (we are just managing to keep it going) and our school subsides heavily. For the week we charge £120. Or £60 if the family are FSM. That's right £60 for a five day residential. But as a school we are really struggling to subsidise this year. We do it so that every child can go. There are no excuses, no one being excluded. I really hope we can continue to subsidise.

There are schools out there spending all year trying to find
the money so that all children can go. I think £360 is a lot of money but that is what these types of trips cost. Most schools simply can't not pass all or most of the cost onto the parents. It is worth talking to the Head or one of your Parent Governirs regarding financial support for low income families.

I agree about talking to the school and also sitting DS down and asking him if he'd rather go on the trip or get his usual Christmas and birthday presents from you and the rest of the family that would buy him presents.

If he decides he wants to go on the trip then ask your family to give him something small and cash towards the trip. At his age I completely understood that my family weren't well off and that expensive presents/trips were the exception rather than the rule. He's also the sort of age where family members start having trouble figuring out what to buy since he's getting a bit old for toys and so any individual thing he might want would be rather expensive (e.g. iPod etc). I imagine that uncles, aunts etc would be starting to buy him iTunes vouchers or giving cash at this sort of age anyway so they'd probably be glad to have a specific thing that cash would go towards.

I think that's pretty good value.

FWIW my kids' school does PGL and that costs about £300 + tbh.

Seems reasonable and at least they are allowing you to stagger the payments. I know it is a big expense but I do think it's worth it. I don't know how it could be a whole lot cheaper really.

Agree you should ask the school if there is any help available. Some schools have funds they can use for just this situation.