School is bleeding us dry with trips

[Brewstersmillions]

My son and daughter have been at this school almost a year now and I'm all for them having trips but am shocked at how much these trips cost how frequent they are ,that you have to pay for things u wouldn't expect to and how they give you hardly any time to pay.
Every time I seem to get a letter it's demanding money for something.

Even after my sons assembly the teacher stood up and announced they was having a collection for a cause and could we donate on the way out.
I didn't take my purse to his assembly as that's not the place you expect to have to dish out money .on the way out when a child was stood there with a dish and I had to explain with all the parents queuing behind me that I couldn't give them anything was so embarrassing .

First letter since Easter term was for a trip to a reservoir close to where we live the school wants £18 for this trip for my daughter £18 ! For her to look at a pond !
I know that petrol is expensive for coaches but £18 per child for like a 2 mile trip thats free to enter is very excessive .

Next up was a letter for my son to go to a activity trip in Norfolk for 5days when he starts year 6 .thats great as I never got to do it when I was at school I was a big girl and the thought if going pot holeing scared me in case I got stuck lol .
so he can defiantly go but when I see it cost £240! It made me think twice it has to be paid ASAP plus spending money too
I had to pay £10 depost already then another £50 by june then the rest ASAP .

Next up a letter from the school saying my son is going to be having swimming lesson with the class at the seniors directly across the road . Now at there previous school they also has swimming lessons which were free and I remember they were free when I was at school but oh no the school wants £19 for each child to have swimming lessons . Which has to be paid for by next Friday :/

We only have one income coming ATM money is tight but we have managed to get this money together as I don't want my children missing out and being left behind but I'm just so pissed off at how expensive trips are these are all since Easter !

There are no after school clubs that are free for the juniors either

The school obviously thinks everyone is made of money

I wish I had millions ;) lol xx

Our school is a bit like this but they word it as a voluntary contribution as I don't think they can ask you outright to pay (but I could be wrong on this). I do always try to pay my way but once I couldn't and only gave £5 towards something costing £15. The teacher then asked my ds to tell me I needed to pay the rest. I was not happy!

It is worth checking with the school what their policy is.

Ok well the donation was presumably not compulsory so no problem there.

Re Norfolk - Treetops? Our school used to do the year 6 residential there but then got complaints it was too expensive so DS ended up going to Stubbers in Upminster - cost the same as your trip though and was only 2 nights! He had a brilliant time though, worth every penny and they don't need much spending money so don't worry too much about that

Swiming lessons are so worth it, how many sessions do you get for £19.

The after school clubs won't be free if they are run by companies outside the school, they are businesses and have over heads to meet.

These things always tend to be at the same time, hopefully you will get a few months without having to pay out.

The £18 trip is a rip off!! The residential trip.sounds good value tbh. Five days worth of activities, coach transport, three meals a day. YABU in thay regard.

These residential activity camps are a massive massive experience for kids.

However, if you cannot afford trips, dont book them

I suppose it depends on how much the coach costs, but it's usually about £8 per child here. £18 is a bit of a shocker.

Something has to give, doesn't it?

I live in Australia & I have to pay for schooling (which is not private, btw, you pay for 'services & materials' which is around $250 per child.)

Last year my youngest started school, and at the time we could not afford swimming lessons for the both. IMO, a short burst of lessons (they do 45minutes, each day for 5 days, and in that time they take turns, so probably spend about 5 minutes a day actually learning how to swim) is not worth the cost at all, my girls do much better in the pool with dh or myself, lessons have helped very little. So they didn't do it.

They went to other classes in that time & didn't feel left out at all. I would rather save the money for a residential.

Other than that, we don't have too many day trips here, but there are still lost of other stuff that costs & with 2 at school, we will be putting our foot down more & more now.

I'm pretty sure it's the same as what you have just said they word it exactly like that but add if we don't get enough contributions ie ALL THE MONEY it will be cancelled

They do say if you can't afford to pay full amount u can pay in installments they even have a pay card that u can add money onto why the effing hell would I want to do that and be in debt with the school lol then another trip will come up and I haven't finished paying for the first one . Ridiculous

I can guarantee if I just (contributed) say £8 they would be on my case for the full amount and say pay up or no trip

At my DDs school they had to start cancelling trips because not enough people were willing/able to pay for them. Schools can only ask for voluntary contributions for trips that form part of the curriculum (this would not include the Y6 residential, as that is optional), but have limited funding to cover the cost of those not paying. It was very upsetting as the kids would be told all about the trip, and then a couple of weeks later, they would be told it wasn't happening after all.
After discussions with the school, they agreed to re-think some of the most expensive trips to see if alternatives could be found. to some extent this has worked, mainly by having more local trips which can be done on public transport/walking - the cost of coaches is huge.
They still don't seem to be able to give much notice though which I find silly as they do the same things every year!
After school clubs run by teachers/TAs we have a basic cost for materials etc (usually £12-£15 for 5-6 weeks). Clubs involving an outsider eg dance, often cost more.

the £18 trip is horrendouse! i would question why that is so high?

the resdental... its good value..

i find it helps to think how much it woudl cost you as a family to take them there your self .. where you would have to pay for yourself, the two children and poss other half? plus travell etc
do that always makes me see the value in the trips.

our school seems to have trips every other months, the most so far being £15 and that was to a muesuem miles and miles and mile away!
it covers entry, travel and insurance, which isnt bad at all and its something they woud enjoy but would cost me prob tripple if i was to do it.

My reception age ds had a trip just before Easter, it was roughly a 20 mile round trip and was £3.50 for the coach and school paid the national trust entrance. £18 is a ridiculous amount when its only for the coach.

we also have the option to pay half if your on a low income/benifits.
which is great, iv had to do it once. but always pay the full amount if i can.

and a trip has never been canclled, so i imagin alot of people do pay up, prob becasue the cost is never out ragouse.

Yes ur right about the residential one im sure would be good value as all the things they will be doing and my son will love it so I'm happy for him to go it's just wen I see the cost It was just a bit of a shock :o but he's defo going now

Problem is I'm comparing things to their previous school which trips were a lot cheaper even tho they were constant to but moved to a different area now still getting used to the school and the ways they do things but it's turned out to be expensive I think if anything else comes up now be four the 6weeks I'll have to say no

Just to add one thing that really pissed me off over Easter as this was our first here I wasn't made aware the infants have a raffle and pay £1 each and all get an egg . I knew nothing about it no letter eft .
My daughter came out in tears on the last day of term because everyone got Easter egg and she didn't . Now why couldn't the teachers of realised before buying the eggs wen they counted the money and wrote who had paid that she didn't have a ticket asked me for the £1 I would of given them the money or got one then asked me for it . I could imagine her little face wen everyone was handed one but her :(

The £200+ residential trip in yr 6 is about the same as ours, our school have also this year just started a 2 night residential locally for year 4, that has cost us £120. We are lucky that the school has it's own little pool so no charge for swimming lessons. i think a lot of the trips that require coach travel are made a lot more expensive because of the insurance costs. I'm not too worried about school trips at the moment as even though I have 4 kids they all seem to have given up on football/ Scouts etc and all those clubs that cost money. My two eldest at senior school don't even ask about school trips at £600+ for a few days in Paris, as they know that is unfortunately unaffordable for us despite us both working as many hours a as we can.

DD want on a 5 day residential in Y6 that cost a similar amount. However, at her school the trip wasn't until July when the SATs were over and they told us about it the previous September and arranged for people to pay in installments so it didn't seem quite so painful

Yous DCs school does sound a bit thoughtless in that respect and the 18 reservoir trip sounds a rip off definitely.

Can you query how they arrived at that sum?

We are in London, and boys (7 and 9) are at State primary school. They have loads of trips, but most are free because they use public transport. They spend time at the South Bank, the BFI, various museums and theatres. I think that the most expensive one recently has been 6.

I think we are lucky - it is one advantage of being in London.

Wait til you get to the £1,500 skiing trips and the £2000 trips to china

Friend had to fork out for a p7 trip to Venice staying in 5* hotel - £700

I have three children. I seriously dread it.

Swiming is free but we pay for a coach to take them as it would be unfeasible for them to go by public transport. Its £100 for a year and I would guess thats about 30 sessions so about £3.50 per coach trip which takes about 2 hours afternoon.

I would expect a local coach trip to be no more than £10 (we are in London so can;t be cheap here!)

Government funds one year of swimming lessons once a week anything over that is paid for - maybe they're doing more than minimum.

I think you need to gird your loins and go see the finance officer - say you are slightly short of money and being new at the school would like to know how the cost of the coach trip and swimming lessons were calculated and if they are going to crop up every year so you can budget accordingly.

At our previous school we had to pay for the contact book and other unbelievable charges but they did have their own coaches so not sure why we had to pay transport costs as well.

At our lovely new school we have our own mini buses, school trips cost £1-5 so far (apart from an imminent residential which is about £340 for both kids) and the uniform is all sensibly priced.

What I will never understand is why - IME (maybe other schools are different) the vast majority of money requests are made with very little notice. It's not unusual to get letters with just a 7 to 10 day deadline for example, though admittedly the "big" year residential trips do allow more time (and so they should). However, as most people get paid monthly - and as many, and increasing numbers of people are having to tighten their belts perpetually by budgeting down to the last £, it can really throw your plans into disarray when yet another letter is suddenly produced. And very often, these are dated a few days before your child is actually given it to take home - and I do mean given it, as opposed to it languishing at the bottom of a book bag.

I really do wish that schools could give parents a much clearer idea of most if not all of the expenses they'll be asked to "contribute" to over the coming year so we could budget accordingly instead of having to scrabble about at the last moment and/or cut back (if we can) on other things. I really resent the attitude - even if it's unspoken - that just because it's "only" say £15, we can all pull it out of our pockets with a week's notice just like that. It's not that simple if you're having to be very careful.

I assumed (obviously naively) that well-off parents contributed more than the suggested amount so that those who were really struggling could contribute less. In fact, I paid double for my DDs residential trip last year - apparently I was the first parent ever to contribute extra. However, I did get a lovely letter from the head saying thank you, and telling me that they'd used the money to reduce the cost for 3 of the other children.

Your not going to believe this but ive just had a letter drop into my email from the school about a school trip on the 6th june for yr 5 to cressing temple barns in braintree and yep you guessed it i have to pay !!
£17.00 to be exact
im fucking fuming !!
complaint time i think

o and he needs £5 spending money and a TUDOR COSTUME!!! because every family has a tudor costume knocking about so that means ill have to buy one of them too .Im going to speak to the head i think this is beyond ridiculous

£17? I'd expect them to be dropped in by bleedin' helicopter for that.

£17. Pfffft.

I think that's bad. At my daughter's school 11+ entry ([private school) they have a few days away at an adventure camp for every new girl in all forms to bond. They charge nothing to ensure every single girl can go. At my boys' prep school (again fee paying) the annual trip away for a few days in the summer term to places like Devon is not charged for the older boys to ensure everyone can go (there are also paid for sports/skiing trips if you want to go on those but mine never do).

Don't buy a Tudor costume. I just used to let my children make their own costume with a piece of torn sheet and silver paper. Don't get dragged into competitive costumes.

I have just paid for two to go on a Duke of Edinburgh award trip but I think that's worth it. However by no means all their year are doing it and it doesn't look wrong or mean if a child doesn't do it. We all know some can afford more than others.

I've just been pricing up for a coach trip. The cost of the coach is £125, that's for half a day, a 33 seater coach. Less than £4 per person. I think £18 is a lot to charge for what I presume is just a coach ride.

I knew from an early age that my parents would not pay for any school holidays, because we couldn't afford it, and I was one of 3. I was amazed when I was allowed to go on a Battlefields trip at secondary school, and I really appreciated Mum letting me go.

I was allowed on the Church trip to a convent each year though that only cost £40 for 5 nights! Nuns are actually a lot of fun!