£30 school trip 2 weeks notice?

[Crispmonster1]

School issues a letter yesterday saying a trip to theatre and day in local city has been planned for 2 weeks time. AIBU to think this is a lot of money and short notice for a school trip?
FWIW I will pay it but they've already had one trip a month ago so I wonder if many people may find it a stretch to pay more.

No. To both questions.

They must have known about it before now. It must have taken longer to arrange tickets, coaches, risk assessment etc.

What arrangements do they have for parents who can't afford to pay?

They should probably give more notice especially given that they recently had one. If you can afford it though might be worth putting certain amount of money aside each month for school bits (to cover clothes, stationary, trips) then you would just have it on hand regardless of when it's sprung on you.
I'm sure secondary school children (if like I was) won't remember till last minute for a lot of things so it's a good habit to get yourself into early

We plan our finances on a monthly basis and things can be very tight. So I would not have the cash for this. However we do put a "kids' pot" of money aside each month so it would come from that I guess but would pretty much wipe the pot out for the month.

Yanbu. I imagine there are a lot of families like Sorrels who budget their money every month and it's most accounted for.
Had this happened when I was in school I wouldn't have been going without at least 2 months notice because there was very little spare money.

No to both. Schools do try and give advanced notice but sometimes a last minute offer, idea etc comes up.

A trip to the theatre and city sounds a bargain for that price.

This can be a nightmare sometimes. My DD just had 3 that came to about £900. Only the most expensive one was given an advance warning (nearly year) the other 2 were plonked on with about 3 weeks notice!

YANBU to think it's expensive and short notice. But if it's a great experience, and you can afford it if given a little more time to pay, I'd speak to school about staggering the payment if that's possible - or paying less (trips are voluntary contribution).