Cost of year 6 school trip.. AIBU?

[BanginChoons]

My dc came home from school today with a letter for a school residential. It's for 4 nights in the UK, at an activity centre. The children will be doing things like canoeing and high ropes. The cost is £360. Aibu to think this cost is too high? I would prefer a shorter trip and a lower price, I am concerned that families on lower incomes will struggle to afford this.

@Kacha30
It's for NEXT year, not this. The OP has been given 12 months notice!

The difference in cost then between Scout and school is accommodation type? Assume Scout camp is basic camping out youth hostel type whereas school is something a bit more sophisticated?

Not necessarily the case - the accommodation that we use at PGL with the cubs is exactly the same as the schools use, but the trip costs under half the price per night (£40 per night). When we do camping, then we only charge £20 per night, including all food, lots of activities such as archery, climbing, as well as more traditional ones like shelter building, fire lighting etc.

A big cost extra cost for school trips must be the coach - at our scout group we try to avoid this by staying fairly local, within say 40 minutes from home, so parents can bring the children.

When my DCs went on their Y6 residential, they went to a PGL over 150 miles away, although we've got one just 30 miles away - no idea why, but it must have added to the cost of transportation.

Ours would have been £300 for 2 nights last year but it was cancelled. It was more than family paid for their DC to go to France for 4 days. I put the difference down to the activities done, need for qualified instructors, insurance and the supervision ratios they would need for that type of thing. Some schools do it cheaper but activities tend to be sightseeing or excursions so much cheaper to run.

We've just booked ours with PGL, and it sounds about right. They bump the price up straight after SATs week. You can only get it cheaper by booking for winter but that's not much fun.

Ours was £320 for 4 nights. They are really worth the money I think, they do some amazing activities (that is if it’s a PGL place)

You need to remember what you’re actually paying for - coach travel to and from, 4 nights accommodation, 3 meals a day, snacks, drinks, activities each day, school staff pay and centre staff pay and all equipment. It’s standard price and IMO, good value for all that.

School staff don't get paid extra for going on residential trips! I wish!!!

I am genuinely wondering now what the cost of my 7 day trip to prestatyn cost my parents when i was at school, not least because i did it 2 years in a row as the first year they asked our class to make up needed places for the older year to go.

@PyjamaFan
School staff don't get paid extra for going on residential trips!
We don’t either, but I know some schools do!

It’s about right. My daughter had hers a week ago and had the best time ever. Worth every penny I’d say!!!

DS has just been on his. £250 for 2 nights, 3 days so probably comparable as a daily rate.
I'm a teacher and a Cub leader, so have a bit of insight where people are talking about Cub camps being much cheaper though. Remember that you pay termly subs for Beavers/Cubs/Scouts which go towards these activities, so you may not pay much for an individual camp, but the group uses at least some of your subs to cover the cost. We're all volunteers so the only costs are the trained instructors and equipment, we generally supply the tents, buy and cook the food ourselves, and manage evening entertainment ourselves. We generally ask parents to drop off and collect so the transport cost is parents' own fuel, which many probably don't consider in the grand scheme of things.

On a school residential/PGL holiday you're paying for everything to be provided. Might be slightly outing, but I have also worked for PGL in the past-the insurance/travel is a big chunk, and you're not just paying for the trained instructors but also the catering staff who make the 3 meals each day; the domestic staff who clean daily and changeover between your departure and the next arrival, and the back office staff who keep the centre running.

If you are struggling with the cost though, definitely talk to the school as they might be able to help.

Last yrs yr 6 didn’t get to go at all.

@GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing

Last yrs yr 6 didn’t get to go at all.

depends when they went, last lot at my dds primary went in early feb, right before lockdown happened... so some got to go.

About right

Ours is £315 for three nights, four days. We were given about 9 months’ notice and able Tom pay in instalments. Good value I’d say for three nights, travel, three big meals a day and all the activities. School Will help pay for those who can’t afford it.

[quote BanginChoons]@aggathapanthus it includes transport, 4 nights accommodation, food, and daily activities such as high ropes and canoeing.[/quote]
I can easily see how all the costs of a trip like this - with all the specialist staff, equipment, insurance, food, accommodation and transport would add up - and the kids will get such a lot for that £90 a day.

If you are going to struggle, @BanginChoons, please do ask your school for help - I get that it is not easy to do so, but I am sure they would rather people asked for a bit of help, so that as many as possible of the children can go. I know that, when my boys were at school, I would have been happy to know that money I had donated/helped raise went directly to benefit other children in this way.

Sounds standard to me. Free school meal children here get it free or largely discounted.

I’m in the same boat. Single parent on relatively low income despite working full time in stressful job and I have twins. I don’t qualify for financial help and it willl be just short of £800!!! Instalments / saving is not an possibility as we only break even ever month. The children really want to go, so only way I can think is instead of a family holiday. I’m quite broken hearted by whole thing.

When mine were at primary, they had details on the website re day trips and residential ones and in which years they would occur so that parents knew in infants that there would be trips away in juniors etc.
Travel, accommodation, food, insurance etc all adds up but many parents want the option of extras within the school curriculum.

It's about right. It's secondary school that's the hard one. We had 2 trips advertised....Vietnam and New York....both not considered study trips so no financial help available and both averaged about £2000..... there is an obvious divide for those who can and those who can't at my ds school.

Our was £375 for 4 nights in year 6. Steep but considering coach hire is £350 a day they need to cover the expenses of everyone helping out on the trip, and accommodation, food, back to back activities, I thought it was fairly priced.

@2babies1me have you looked on the Turn2us grant search tool? Depending on the type of job you do, you may find you are eligible to apply for a grant to help with the costs of school journey. Also, some local authorities will cover the cost of board and lodgings whilst on school journey for those children eligible for free school meals so that's worth a look too.

Thanks! @SE13Mummy. We don’t qualify for free school meals and aren’t perceived as needing help, but with 2 at once it’s def a huge chunk to find, so I will def look into what might be out there and speak to the school.

We paid £350 for two nights. North east. Kids had a blast and was worth it .

Sounds about right. I'm currently paying for DS PGL trip for this year.