to think that this is too much money for a school trip

[aquariel]

Hi all,

Eldest son (13yrs) brough a letter home from school for a trip they are planning to Iceland in October 2015. Cost of trip is £790 and will take place during October half term.

I run a very tight budget (currently clearing off all credit cards etc aiming to be debt free by 2018 - just in time to help him with fees for university no doubt!) and while we could stretch to it if pushed this seems like an obscene amount for one child (although I guess at his age he's probably charged as an adult on international travel). School has said they'd like a £50 non-refundable deposit to secure a place to be paid immediately (I couldn't pay till payday anyway - mid month for us) so probably wouldn't be able to commit to the trip.

I really don't want to disappoint my son as he rarely asks for much and he seems really excited about the (possibility of) this trip. We have in the past paid up for trips to London and Belgium for him so I'm not worried about him missing out on that side of "the experience" (although I appreciate Iceland is a totally different kettle of fish) but the most either of those trips cost me was £350 including his spending money.

So .. what do others think? Reasonable price or unreasonable?

Also hire of bus in Iceland, all meals, guiding, insurance.

Hiring a bus in Iceland will be a huge cost. Assuming it is much the same as
Norway, it would be at least 400 pounds a day.

The thing is Spare a 13 year old is not going to go on an Expedia trip on their own.

For what it is, it's not expensive. However, if you havent got the money, you haven't got the money. Don't feel pressured to come up with the money if you haven't got it either. At the risk of sounding like one of Monty Python's "Four Yorkshiremen ("Well we had it tough. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed..."), my foks couldn't afford some school trips for me when I was a kid (one was a 7day cruise visiting places like Italy and Yugoslavia) and they were able to explain to me why and I was fine with that.

Madness that some people think these kinds of trips are "free holidays" for teachers by the way!

Spinderella There is nothing in the OP (or in any of the OP's subsequent posts) which suggests this is being 'sold' as an educational trip. It is in the school holidays. Even if it is, Iceland is an incredible place to visit.

ChickenFajitaAndNachos Chipping Day and evening activities, normally non stop activities. Transport to all these possibly once in a life time activities

I didn't include those as the poster had already said 'activities' and given the nature of the trip she looking at, I didn't mention transport to the activities/sights because her trip would have probably included that too :) I was looking at 'other' things that a 'Package holiday to Iceland' wouldn't have needed to cover.

sparechange - being 'sure' and 'knowing' aren't the same thing. Why not go and see what accommodation you can find for 30 children and 4 adults. Do you have any idea how much it costs to hire a coach for that many? I'm guessing not.

I'm not questioning that school trips have overheads, but it is nonsense to try and claim this trip is the cheapest way to get to see Iceland

So how could the OP's DS and his friends go any cheaper than that?

Seriously & Sonja I really think some people have NO idea what's involved and how stressful it is. Holiday - pah!

But is it divisive or not?
ds's school has very expensive trips going all over the world.

I think it is divisive and I wonder that the cost of divisiveness within the school isn't weighed in balance with the benefit to the few.

"£500 for the Leavers Experience."

DD's Leavers Experience was a mass outing to Pizza Hut and I think we paid £10 (might have been £20). She chose not to go to the ball, but the tickets were £50.

Well-known private school.

In all the time she was there we were only offered one trip costing over four figures. It was three weeks in Nepal. (She didn't go). The Iceland trip, which cost about the same as the OP's, was far and away the most expensive trip she went on. Other geography field trips were to Devon and Dorset, and she also went on a German exchange and a week long trip to France for language immersion. Oh, and Hadrian's Wall.

DS, at a different well-known private school, has yet to be offered a trip costing over four figures (he's in year 11 and has been there since year 3). He's in the choir and they go on tour every other year, always within the nearer bits of Europe since they travel by coach to keep the costs down. He's also done a German exchange.

Schools offering vastly expensive jollies every few months are either missing the point or taking the piss. It's certainly not necessary to go on trips costing thousands to not be deprived!

I know Chipping I was adding them to your list because I don't think an Expedia trip would include them. Im still curious who would be looking after the 13 year old on the 4 * Expedia Trip. a parent perhaps for another 500 pounds? Plus meal, transport, activities etc.

Seems cheap to me,

these trips are nothing new, I don't see why people don't start saving when they have babies for stuff the kids need when they are older. I mean the kid could not go but then the child is losing a great experience just because the parents didn't bother to plan ahead.

*Today 09:37 Spindarella

I don't have a problem with the "free trips" in principle - as there's no way on earth I would do it. But I think if teachers HAD to pay for their own trips they would be a lot more realistic in terms of the cost V value.*

Hahahahaha! No, they just wouldn't happen. Teachers already try to find the best value trips. Then they give up their home lives and their holidays to look after other people's children 24/7. Why would anyone pay to do that?

It's also actually cheaper to pay for teaches to accompany your children on holiday (cost of adult spread across ten pupils) rather than accompanying them yourselves (cost of parent spread across maybe 1-3 children)

Iceland is bloody expensive. But that's a lot of wonga to find. Mine wouldn't be going .

I must be on a different planet! £790?! My dcs school has a policy of keeping the costs of school trips to no more than £25 for the year and the Y6 leavers 5- day residential trip costs £50!!

"Then they give up their home lives and their holidays to look after other people's children 24/7. Why would anyone pay to do that?"

I'm the daughter of two teachers and the sister of another, so I very much get what you're saying. And heck no, they shouldn't be expected to pay.

But I do wonder whether, having made the decision to give up their home lives and their holidays to look after other people's children 24/7, they wouldn't rather do so in Iceland than Bognor Regis. I know I would.

queenceleste - I don't see it as divisive. It's offering opportunities - life's like that, some will be able to take them up, others wont. I don't see why some of the children shouldn't get to do things because not all of them can afford to do it. If that was the case, none of them would ever go anywhere because some parents just couldn't afford it no matter where it was to or how much of a bargain it was. In this case £790 isn't a huge amount and they have over a year to save for it. Some people still wont be able to afford it, but I would think that the vast majority could.

It would be good if the schools that offer £5000 trips to places also offered £500 trips.

Chicken - Yes, I have asked sparechange how that's going to work

"I must be on a different planet!"

You're on the primary school planet. Secondary school trips are something else entirely in cost terms. When my DCs first started secondary, I assumed it was a private/state split, but it isn't, it's an age split.

metal where do they go for that sort of money? How is it funded?

Maybe I am but I doubt very much that the schools around here will be charging anywhere near that much even in secondary. Not everyone can save easily to be able to afford to pay out that sort of money particularly if they have more than 1 dc.

These trips are optional extras though. They are not compulsory.

Chipping I agree with you 100 %, but we are in the minority on this thread[ smile]
I fully appreciate that many families are genuinely not able to afford something like this. Fwiw, I would happily pay over and above the amount required, if it meant that another child could be subsidised to go.

My real beef though are with the parents who are utterly begrudging of their own children having a good time. I know one particular women like this. [ can't say she's a friend)
She has a larger household income than we do ( is a single parent) owns her own house outright so no morguage, goes on three holidays a year, and yet will not let her child go on a school trip to France because, a, she has been before, and b, in her opinion, it is not educational enough. I really cannot stand people like this!

the cost of the trip is fine and reasonable IMO

however the issue is you cant afford it op! not many people have 790 floating around, this is the kind of thing many of us would need to save up for

you need to make a financially responsible decision, and if this will create debt and longer term problems well simple- he cant go!

But I think if teachers HAD to pay for their own trips they would be a lot more realistic in terms of the cost V value.

This is hilarious. Can't believe the poster hasn't twigged that if teachers had to pay there would BE no trips!

And I have to say that is an excellent price for a trip to Iceland.

Yes it is. If one of mine were to bring home a letter wanting that amount for a school trip then they wouldn't be going. We simply have got that kind of cash lying around and certainly don't have the financial means to even begin saving for it. As it is we already save all year round for a multitude of things.

Yes, it might be reasonable in terms of how much the flights, accommodation etc are but it's still a lump sum of money that you are suddenly being asked to fork out for and if you don't have it or can't budget for it, it isn't going to happen.

I would not feel bad about saying no to it.

celtic

My real beef though are with the parents who are utterly begrudging of their own children having a good time. I know one particular women like this. [ can't say she's a friend). She has a larger household income than we do ( is a single parent) owns her own house outright so no morguage, goes on three holidays a year, and yet will not let her child go on a school trip to France because, a, she has been before, and b, in her opinion, it is not educational enough. I really cannot stand people like this!

Yes, it's utterly selfish & miserable thinking!

There's another 'group' of people that annoy me too though, those that think people shouldn't do anything fun, at any time, because it's simply unnecessary and excessive. Nothing to do with affordability, just Too Much Fun. Still, I'm just glad I don't share their views :)

Fromparis do you not think that 13+ months is long enough to save up for a trip costing £790? I do agree though, people definitely shouldn't get into debt to do it or go without the basics, it's not compulsory!

I think a school would need to do a variety of cheap/expensive trips. 20yrs ago we went to paris with school all class i think went so must have been reasonable we saw all the sights.

There were also skiing trips that i didnt go on. Nor did most of the others as it was probably a whole school option or above certain yrs.

Private school but no trips to Norway for 1000s.
I think if it were about the enjoyment them they would or could go to uk or europe for as much education and experience.

It may not be expensive for Iceland but it is an expensive trip.

I would rather send them when their friends are going and somewhere less specialised in geography.

Who decides the trips?

I best get saving now for my 2yo.

Though id rather pay for private school for a yr than a 6k school trip.

Around half my friends went travelling after uni for a few 1000 and i think thats more cost effective than paying lots of small trips.

And even if you have a set amount of time to pay it in its still a lot.