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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think £320 for a 4 night year 6 residential is crazy?

76 replies

Thankyouforthemusic · 21/10/2015 21:41

My children's primary school has a residential at the start of year 6 which is 4 nights at an activity centre 50'ish miles away. Today I received a letter from the school asking parents to start paying towards it (it's 11 months away) and telling us it will be £320 per child. I have twins so it's £640 for me. I'm shocked at how much it is and don't want to spend this kind of money on a school trip. AIBU? What would you do?

OP posts:
TokenGinger · 21/10/2015 23:02

Are your kids on free school meals by any chance? If so, the school is entitled to pupil premium. Ask for help towards the cost from the pupil premium fund.

Thefuckinggrinch · 21/10/2015 23:04

I've never paid for a residential trip yet it is just totally beyond my means. This seems a similar cost to most Ive seen letters for.

NeuNewNouveau · 21/10/2015 23:05

I'm with you lexigrey. Whilst it is no doubt hard for you to pay twice at once, you're not paying any more in the long run than another family with two kids. Maybe more generous payment schedule but to be honest j don't see why you should pay less.

You said you didn't want to spend that money not that you couldn't afford to, which I think is telling.

Out yr6 was about the same price and very good value for money in terms of the experience and the confidence.

Permanentlyexhausted · 21/10/2015 23:06

Well, it's very slightly cheaper than ours. We too have had a letter this week about the 4-night residential at the beginning of year 6 next September. DS went on the same trip last year and it was £50+ cheaper then!

(Actually, I wondered for a moment whether it's the same school!)

Onedayinthesun · 21/10/2015 23:06

My year 6 DD is away on her 4 night residential this week, £290 inclusive which I thought good value considering travel, meals and all activities

QOD · 21/10/2015 23:10

Dd didn't go on her Yr 6 trip 6 yrs ago. Was £280

She's going on a 6th one in Feb for £380 oooop North, no activities

grumpysquash · 21/10/2015 23:10

My DS is going to Naples for a 2 night stay in February. It costs £530. Admittedly they are flying, but only on EasyJet or RyanAir and we are only 20 mins from Stansted.
Lunch is not included on any of the days.

4 nights residential in primary is always £300-350 for us. Better value IMO

CakeNinja · 21/10/2015 23:13

I don't think it's extortionate for what they get when you break it down, but I do think it's a lot of money!
Dd1 just went away for a team building weekend with her senior school to somewhere an hour away.
Total cost was £220 for the 2 nights.
Your choices are to either not send them, send one (!!), or send both, but do speak to the school as pps have mentioned some offer discounts for multiples.

When people with babies wonder how children can be so expensive, I think they fail to think beyond them being happy playing with wooden spoons and pots and pans from the kitchen - yes it's optional but there's often the feeling that you don't want your child/ren to be the only one/s left behind! Of course in reality there's normally a whole group that don't go, and in the case of our school, they have a fun activity week in place for those who don't go on trips.

overthemill · 21/10/2015 23:20

Sadly that's normal. Can you ask for financial assistance? Or pay in instalments? My kids have got a lot out of residentials and even though we've struggled to pay, it's been worth managing it

namechangedtoday15 · 21/10/2015 23:29

I'm all for paying my way as a twin parent and there are certainly no discounts for twins at our school. But disagree with a pp - it's not the same as paying for 2 children a couple of years apart - families can perhaps stretch to maybe £400 for one child for a memorable experience for them in their last year of primary school ( and then find it again in another 2 or 3 years for a younger child). Finding £860 in the same school year is quite a big ask for some people.

donajimena · 21/10/2015 23:31

My yr 6 boy is on his 4 night residential in Wales this week. Its 180. Its a fantastic camp with horse riding, quad biking it has a swimming pool. I think 320 is an awful lot.
However they will be going again in year 8 and I have an older child who is 2 years ahead of him so over a 4 year period its 720 on mini breaks for the 2 kids! Shock

TheFairyCaravan · 21/10/2015 23:32

We paid similar to that for DS2 when he was in Yr6 8 years ago.

DS1's was dirt cheap because the LA we lived in at the time owned a facility they went to. They had a much better time too.

kitsnicket · 21/10/2015 23:57

Tbh, OP, I didn't really enjoy school residentials all that much when I was younger. They really don't have to go. You are not a bad mother and I highly doubt you will scar them for life. That might be a reasonable price, but YANBU in thinking that's A LOT of money for two of them.

BrandNewAndImproved · 22/10/2015 00:01

I'm not sure why they're not as cheap as cub camp.

Dc went to cub camp for 3 nights for £30. Activities included air rifle stuff, cannoing, abseiling and hikes. They had to take some cakes or biscuits to share and that was that. Why would their insurance be any less then a schools?

Grilledaubergines · 22/10/2015 00:25

DS's 4 night PGL earlier this year was £395 for 4 nights. It wasn't easy to find the money but when they have such an amazing time (which still gets talked about months down the road) it makes it worth the expense as far as I'm concerned. They do so much, eat really well and are really taken care of.

Fatmomma99 · 22/10/2015 00:33

I work in 3 primary schools (not a teacher). 2 of my schools offer residentials to a year group for a week, but one school offers it at less than £100 and the other at closer to what you're being asked to pay.

My BF at the school said to me "WTF is our school only asking xx when your other school is asking yy?") and when we talked about it, we realised that all the extra money is the activities booked. The cheaper trip has maybe one activity a day (if that). The other school has a minimum of 2 and going up to 4 each day.
You pay for what you get, they've given you lots of time to pay in installments. You don't have to send them, but would be great for them if you did.

alleypalley · 22/10/2015 00:45

I think it sounds expensive. My yr 6 dd is on her residential at the moment and it's costing £190, and they're doing loads of activities.

The school really emphasised that they didn't want any kids missing out because they couldn't afford it and said parents should go and speak to the head if they needed financial assistance.

saltlakecity · 22/10/2015 05:58

Ours is £100 for 3 days / 2 nights. It's supposed to be £150 but it's brought down by school chipping in.

hesterton · 22/10/2015 06:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Iggly · 22/10/2015 06:14

Youve got 11 months to pay for it? So plenty of notice.

Grazia1984 · 22/10/2015 06:50

My sons' last school always did a free trip once a year so no one was excluded. However that's expensive for schools.
My twins just had a 2 night trip (field trip) and that was over £200 each. (No twin discount).

Leavingsosoon · 22/10/2015 06:53

It seems unfair to me. It's a lot of money, but people feel they have to pay it.

GhoulWithADragonTattoo · 22/10/2015 06:54

If you would struggle to pay full amount I'd make an appointment with head to discuss it. They may be able to agree a reduced rate for you especially as you have to pay at same time.

chutneypig · 22/10/2015 06:55

I think namechangedtoday15 has put it very well. For many things having twins means many expenses are lumped together.

My twins have a three day residential this year (Y4) at around 130. I think it will be an amazing experience for them. The Y6 is nearer 400. We'll have to think about that carefully when the time comes.

I can certainly see how the various components add up and how much the children get out of these trips, but it doesn't stop it being a large amount, even in instalments.

WhyCantIuseTheNameIWant · 22/10/2015 07:03

End of last school year, ds went on his final junior residential.

£110 for the week.

100ish miles away (Anglesey, from England)

This was in June, so recent!

With an extra tenner to pay, if he wanted the leavers hoodie.

Sounds a bit steep to us.