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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to object to £50 school trip

285 replies

puffyisgood · 13/01/2019 16:20

Outer London state primary [lots of affluent parents but also plenty who aren't], yr 3 kids. Matinee of a [fairly popular, fairly new, child friendly] West End muscal. The trip costs parents £50 per child. The school coffers may even be topping up these contributions a little bit [e.g. to pay for transport & for helpers]. As I understand it the tickets were block booked in advance [of the trip being announced] for the entire class. As with all these things parents can announce that they're not paying, but with prebought tickets the money will have to come from somewhere. All the kids want to go of course. As it happens we can afford it easily enough but I know that plenty of other families can't.

I'm mulling over a stern letter to the head. Reasonable or not?

OP posts:
Dotty1970 · 14/01/2019 16:31

Ringdonna

Surely most people can afford £50?

CompleteBiscuit

Aeroflotgirl · 14/01/2019 16:34

How do you know Craft that most families can, by your own demographic, and we are not talking about affording £50 we are talking about affording £50 for a child's theatre trip.

Dotty1970 · 14/01/2019 16:34

I’m sorry but if you can’t afford a one off £15 school trip for your child who desperately wants to go- maybe parents should reevaluate their ability to provide

Another completeBiscuit

Aeroflotgirl · 14/01/2019 16:35

In in these times of Austrity, people are prioritising, so £50 for a child's theatre trip, or a family day out, hmmmm let me see.

Craft1905 · 14/01/2019 16:40

In in these times of Austrity, people are prioritising, so £50 for a child's theatre trip, or a family day out, hmmmm let me see.

If you prioritise and decide not to spend £50 on a school trip, that's fine. You can afford the £50, but choose to spend it on something you deem to be worthier/better value/more important.

Craft1905 · 14/01/2019 16:41

How do you know Craft that most families can, by your own demographic

And you know most families can't by what measure?

MinorRSole · 14/01/2019 16:56

Alarming statistics on child poverty

www.cpag.org.uk/content/child-poverty-facts-and-figures

9 in a class of 30

Aeroflotgirl · 14/01/2019 16:57

Here craft, the reality for many people in the UK!

www.trusselltrust.org/news-and-blog/latest-stats/mid-year-stats/

I suggest you and Ringdonna read the sad and worrying information of the crisis affecting many families across the UK, as I don't think you can quite understand.

Aeroflotgirl · 14/01/2019 17:01

Apart from the North wEst of England, London has 72,329 familes, the second highest area in the UK relying on Emergency Food Supplies, that is where op is from. A lot of families in one concentrated area needing Emergency food supplies, i.e. they cannot afford to feed themselves so how are they going to afford a £50 theatre trip. If they had that at their disposal, it would probably go on food or paying bills.

steppemum · 14/01/2019 17:01

£50 for a theatre trip is nuts.

I love the theatre, but haven't been for ages because it is too expensive.

I'd love my kids to go, but no, not at £50.

My kids would not be going, and I would be pissed off that they would be feelig bad at not going when the school should not have organised such and expensive trip.

Added to which, I have 3 kids, so if they each do it that is £150....

SimplySteve · 14/01/2019 17:01

So what if the child's Mother/Father are on benefits and clearly cannot afford £50? Should this child be excluded because the family couldn't afford it?

I know what this feels like too. I hope things have changed.

Aeroflotgirl · 14/01/2019 17:03

It is not to say that these trip should not go ahead, as they should, but to say that most families can afford £50 when the stats are stating the opposite is absolutely crazy.

SleepingStandingUp · 14/01/2019 17:12

There's a world of difference Craft between affording money and finding money. That's how debt exists. People people find money for stuff thry can't afford

Aeroflotgirl · 14/01/2019 17:14

Exactly sleeping, through payday loans, credit cards, loan sharks, overdraft etc.

steppemum · 14/01/2019 17:18

finding money - child's school shoes break. You empty every pocket and purse, and decide to postpone something till next month to get together the money for new shoes.

Or even - you postpone your usual payment into your savings account

Or, that is the end of the family lunch at the pub

Or, ue overdraft, and then next month have a veggie week to save money and pay it off.

All of those are non serious 'finding money' scenarios.

The more serious ones are - borrow it from one of the pay day loan companies.

Affording it, is deciding if you want to spend the money on that thing and then writing the cheque. There may be an element of - ok dd you need to chose this trip or x this month, which one do you want to do? But the money is there.

Dotty1970 · 14/01/2019 17:54

Aeroflotgirl

Herecraft, the reality for many people in the UK!

www.trusselltrust.org/news-and-blog/latest-stats/mid-year-stats/

I suggest you andRingdonnaread the sad and worrying information of the crisis affecting many families across the UK, as I don't think you can quite understand.

well said

BackForFood · 14/01/2019 17:59

What @steppemum said.

Dd (8) ‘lost’ her coat at school (it was missing from her peg at home time ) on the second day back this term.

To find the money to buy her a new one I’m having to walk the 2.5 miles to and from work every day just so I could free up the £25 i would normally spend on a bus pass

Not a huge deal in the scheme of things but if I got a letter asking for £50 for a trip it’d take me weeks to find it by cutting back.

Aeroflotgirl · 14/01/2019 18:10

Thanks Dotty, London where op is from having such a high number of emergency foodparcels collected, in such a small area, shod tell you something. Hearing people's accounts on here of their reality.

TheBigBangRocks · 14/01/2019 18:19

But schools shouldn’t stop offering opportunities just because not everyone could afford it

Of corse they shouldn't. We don't ask shops or services to stop offering things in case somebody doesn't want to pay for them. Trips etc are optional just like other purchases.

I do think people should consider how expensive kids can be, more than simple feeding and clothing, think about the ability to provide for opportunities too when thinking about the size of family

The reality is many don't, not even the food or clothe part sadly. Whether they don't think of the costs, believe others should fund them etc who knows. They just put their own wants first,

GnomeDePlume · 14/01/2019 18:34

All these 'fun' trips should not be part of what the school does. A theatre trip which is closely tied to curriculum is a completely different thing from what is essentially a leisure activity.

Schools should not be wasting a single nano second of time and effort on these trips. If parents think these activities are fun and what they want to spend family money on then great, crack on but it should not be organised through or by the school.

When DCs finish school and start work they will be able to make their own choices about what they want to spend their hard earned cash on. The world outside of school will still exist, theatres will still be there, shows will still be put on. School isnt the only opportunity they will ever have to experience these things. If anything I think that people appreciate things more when they have had to plan and pay for them themselves.

CookingGood · 14/01/2019 18:37

The reality is many don't, not even the food or clothe part sadly. Whether they don't think of the costs, believe others should fund them etc who knows. They just put their own wants first

That’s ridiculous.

Circumstances can change. I for one didn’t envisage becoming a widow and single parent at 32 when planning how i wanted my life to go.

What a stupid thing to say.

HelenaDove · 14/01/2019 18:38

I dont have DC so didnt know about these cuts coming in April.

So how are they going to square that circle when they claim that the whole point of school uniform is a leveller so that poorer pupils dont get singled out Its already obvious that this is an excuse but from April they wont be able to keep trotting out this old trope at all.

ScienceIsTruth · 14/01/2019 18:48

Our latest school trip for GCSE Spanish class is 3 days in Barcelona, which costs almost £600. My dc won't be going as that's a ridiculous amount of money, although it's meant to be beneficial and help improve their Spanish.

Aeroflotgirl · 14/01/2019 18:51

Wow £600 is most of my monthly income, not to mention extras, like spending money, and clothing for the trip.

steppemum · 14/01/2019 19:02

Our school is in a low income area.

The school takes very seriously the idea of cost v. benefit when chosing school trips. It is very conscious of the fact that they are expensive, a strain on family'e purse and that if you have several children it might be too much. So they:

  1. do everything thay can to make the trips educational, and get the most out of them
  2. Where possible subsidise them if they can. PTA have sometimes given some money towards cost of coach for example
  3. Make sure they are the sort of thing that most of the kids may not get a chance ot do other wise
  4. All trips that are deemed educational are compulsory, ie everyone goes, but the money is a voluntary contribution, ie, you go even if you don't pay.

Obviously that relies on the goodwill of most parents paying, but it levels the playing field.

We do a theatre trip, it is to the local panto at £10 per ticket, special bulk offer to schools. But it is an evening performance, out of school time, tickets available to families, in other words families can benefit from cheap panto seats if they chose. It is not a curriculum trip.