To be really disappointed on behalf of my daughter

[vinnipokh]

First post and a bit long but feeling really hacked off with parents at school. My dd is in yr5. At the start of yr 6 they take them on a residential trip for 5 days. The cost if this is about £450. A lot of money for some, but most people in the school are in work and you know it's coming so you can save up. We had to let the school know last year for rough numbers and so they could see if the trip was viable. After they got rough numbers we had the itinerary and deposit was to be paid by end Jan.

They had 9 kids paying deposits. The school was v. calm and extended the deadline, a few more signed up. Still not enough to make the trip viable. School renegotiated the trip and cut a day, to make it cheaper with new deadline of end of half term.

We had an email last night, saying they still haven't got enough kids so the trip won't go ahead. My dd will be so disappointed. She was really looking forward to travelling with classmates and staying in a hotel with them. My ds did this 2yrs ago and had a brilliant time.

A quick chat with some of the parents revealed that there seems to be various weak reasons for not going like, "so and so isn't going so my lo won't go" or "I am worried about the food" or "terrorism". I am so p***d off about the apathy on the parents part that all the kids are now not having a residential trip. AIBU?

When my DD was at primary school then it felt like the school was always wanting money for something or another and me, and some of the other parents were getting quite pissed off with it.

I understand why some parents aren’t letting their kids go, but I understand your disappointment too, and esp if one of your kids has already been.

Why can’t they take the kids whose parents are willing to let their kids go? I suspect it’s about them not having got the money they were looking for? £450 is lots of money in all honesty, that’s the cost of a week away for 2 adults in some places!

Bloody Hell. £450.
DS has a mate whose parents scrape together £200 so they can get a caravan for a one week family hol in Yarmouth some yrs (1 hr drive away). They'd move heaven & earth to get their kids the best they can afford, but they can't magic up a money tree.

YABVVU.
You don't know people's individual circumstances, just because they work doesn't mean that's a reasonable amount to pay. Have you not heard of the working poor?
Cost of living has gone up, electricity and gas bills continue to rise, people just can't justify the added cost.
And by interrogating other parents to get an explanation is not going to make you or your child popular in their last year.
If you asked me I'd tell you to mind your own sodding business.

In terms of center parcs.

4 days from 22nd April 2019 (in my dc school holidays but I accept not hols for all, we seem to have later and aslo not a week but who goes for a week ) is 945 for a 4 bed lodge at Whinfell. So if you shared with another family it would be 475. That's how we've done it cheaply in the past. But you have to identify when your hols are different to the majority rather than just randomly book anytime. Also the different sites reflect their own 'local' school hols so again vary.

And of course that doesn't include spending money ...!

As a single parent I could not afford £450 for a school trip!! And I’m sure there are plenty others, single parent or not that just can’t afford it.... although I’d have been honest when approximate numbers were requested and said my dd wouldn’t attend. It isn’t on to say yes let the school do all the numbers etc and then say no after kids have got their hopes up. Did the school give an approximate cost when they requested numbers?

YABU, £450 is a massive amount of money so you can’t assume that everyone has the spare disposable income to save that up whether they’re in work or not.
Our school similarly has expensive residential trips in year 4 and year 6. My twins are in year 6 and it has cost us £395 each for them to go, we really had to think long and hard about whether to let them go, they were begging and we felt a bit railroaded into it as all their friends are going. We’re not badly off but £800 is a lot to find for a primary school trip, especially when we had to pay that 2 years ago for them to go to the same place in year 4. I wish that primary schools wouldn’t arrange such expensive trips.

Ah OK it's 4 days at Center Parcs not a week, sharing a lodge with another family. So is a mini break not a weeks holiday as previously stated.

Center Parks are so expensive. All activities, entertainment, food and drinks are too.

My DD is in year 4. I'm aware there will be a residential in year 6 but your post made me feel sick at the thought it could cost £450. We both work but that's a lot of money to find. I'm not sure we would be able to send her at that cost (I'm fairly sure hers will be cheaper than that though)

That's a very expensive school trip! Most schools in this area do Mon-Fri at at a residential activity centre by the sea and costs £250. Still a lot of money but includes a lot of fun stuff. The children sleep in single sex dormitories, certainly not hotel accommodation.

My DD doesn't want to go on her school trip. So what you are dismissing as 'weak' excuses (not that anyone owes you an explanation) might be genuine reasons. Some kids like the idea of a trip but when the time comes really don't want to go, which is why you get parents initially agreeing and then backing out.

It's irresponsible of schools to plan such expensive trips. I disagree that they are important - some kids enjoy them, others don't, but no one needs it. Schools ought to be a little less free with other people's money.

I also think that safety concerns are valid.

My family holiday cost that for a week last year. I suspect many felt the same.

I think that expensive school trips should not be allowed. It is another way of segregating the poor from the more “well off” families.
If these trips are supposed to be essential for educational (though I really don’t see a skiing trip as essential educational) they should be financially viable for those who are not so well off!
@Enidalton I find your comment that, those who financially struggle should not have children, completely out of order and not something a decent human being would infer.

Playmytune I agree with you completely. Kids now in secondary school and the cost is ridiculous. They do in a way that just some kids the whole year travel. I really don't get it. The kids go of skiing during term time and it's ok. But if I take them off a couple of course days to dine Mindy on overseas tickets I risk get fined

A residential trip my DD was hoping to go in has recently been cancelled due to lack of numbers. I explained to my DD that not many families can spend £500 on a trip, and others are concerned about finances in the future (one large employer in the area has announced future redundancies).

£450 is a lot of money, whether you work or not. However, not everybody wants to admit they can't afford to spend that on a school trip, so of course they'll think of a lame excuse. I've known parents do the same because they can't afford to go to the school summer.

Lucky for the OPs DD, she can have the money spent on her in other ways.