To think the school need to get a grip?

[Tyrozet]

Just had a text from my son informing me of a letter he is bringing home from school about a trip abroad next year.

The cost of the trip alone is nearly £1000 - it is a skiing trip so on top of the basic cost of the trip, special clothes need to be purchased, passports paid for and of course spending money - I'd say all in it will be at least £1500.

It's a state school in a town with many deprived areas.

I know you can just say "no" if it's not affordable but AIBU to think the school shouldn't be putting on trips like this at a time when many families are having to choose between which basic essentials they can afford?

Things are shit enough as it is for alot of people without having the added kick in the teeth that this is completely unreachable at the moment.

I'd never been abroad or skiing before I went away with school. I'm glad I had the opportunity. It's not something I would ever have got to do with my parents. I had two friends with severely disabled siblings who also went on that trip, again, their family holidays looked very different out of necessity.

At our school there is a 3-day trip for £300 which is more affordable, though it's still not possible for everyone.
If anything this is more discriminatory because the majority would be able to afford it. So you're excluding the 10% (or however many) who can't. Whereas the majority can't afford / wont pay for a ski trip.

I agree with you op. If they are really intent on adding in skiing there are ways to do it that are actually inclusive. I went to a school in a poorer area and they created a club for skiing and snowboarding instead of doing a big trip. They were able to negotiate cheap rates at the closest range (a few hours drive) and even now trips are no more than £50 and include all equipment and transportation.

I was at secondary in the 80s and we had the same thing then. My mum was on her own, Dad had long fecked off with his younger model and I didn't even take the letters home as I knew it would upset her.

Only the rich kids went. It was a real dividing line, tbh, and not a nice one. Especially when they got back and talked about it for months.

It's not compulsory to go, my DS went on school ski trips, he had a wonderful time and I saved all year for him to go (& ski clothes are no where near £500). I appreciate that it is a lot of money and some families have absolutely no spare money but in many cases people choose to spend their money differently and make different choices in life. We made a conscious decision to have one DC, and one of the considerations was so he could enjoy experiences like this. Other people choose to have more than one child, have an expensive pet, go on holiday to Disneyland, go to Lapland UK, buy their DC iPads etc - all choices I would not make. DS also had a paper round and then weekend pot wash type jobs to provide his own spending money on the trip.

My DS bought home letters about other trips, but understood that the ski trip was special and he wouldn't be doing sports tours etc.

i get your point, but i dont think its wrong that they set up the trip for those that can go. Secondary schools do tend to organise one or two big expensive trips that only a handful go on. I am sure that even in your area there will be people that will be able to afford this, and it wouldnt seem right to not offer anything or to only offer a budget trip to blackpool just because its a working class area

YANBU. School was the only way we could afford for DS to go skiing. His school went by coach to Austria for about £850.

Unfortunately DD's school skiing trip was flying to Whistler at more than double DS's school trip. We couldn't believe the price difference.

Fortunately DD was less keen so went on a different trip later on, but it would have been difficult if she had wanted to go.

This is a huge argument between me a DH.

My school never did anything like this (there was a big deal made when the afterschool chess club made it to the European tournament in France and went abroad but that was only 4 people) and I think it's appalling.

My DH thinks it's completely reasonable and normal and I'm a cruel mother for not wanting our kids to go despite the fact we cant fucking afford it.

We spend approx £100pp (not including food/drink) for our big annual holiday and thanks to cheap hotels and Easyjet/Ryanair we have had some nice weeklong sunny holiday and ski resort holidays for the whole family under £500.

£1.5k would literally be the equivalent of 3 annual family holidays for us just for ONE person.

Maybe teachers are out of touch, I heard two teachers talking the other day at the school gate (my DS teacher and her friend from the next school over) and the friend said their school trip to India was canceled due to covid concerns so they have decided they are going to Dubai instead.

We live in one of the poorest parts of the country, and she a teacher at one of the rougher public schools in the area, how the fuck do they expect parents to afford to send their kids to Dubai?

Crass and tone deaf. Our school is doing a residential in this country that costs £120 and they're letting us pay it off over a year because that's how life is right now. Who the heck can afford over a grand?

You think it's inclusive😂

I don't think any state school should organise trips like this.

@Whatalovelydaffodil

I don't think any state school should organise trips like this.

So only private school kids should get the chance? That is divisive. If 20 kids from a school of 1,000 go on the ski trip then that’s hardly marginalising or highlighting the ones who don’t go.

@Tyrozet

I think alot of people have missed my point, or maybe I haven't explained it too well.

I actually think that in a school environment, this sort of trip is divisive and discriminates against people who are from poorer backgrounds.

I understand that not everyone will be able to afford every trip, but this isn't necessary or educational, it's a holiday being facilitated by the school which blatantly excludes a large number of pupils because of their background.

Well-off families who can summon up £200 by next week to enter the lottery for a place will be fine, but others who can't come up with that sum of money with no notice wont get a look in - even if we could afford to save the installments for the rest of the trip.

No, we understand your point perfectly.

@LadyHonoriaDedlock

Crass and tone deaf. Our school is doing a residential in this country that costs £120 and they're letting us pay it off over a year because that's how life is right now. Who the heck can afford over a grand?

Lots of people can afford it.

@Snoozer11

Some people can't afford a £300 trip. Would the school be unreasonable to continue to organise those?

What about school lunches? Some parents can only afford a packed lunch for their kids. Should the school enforce packed lunches for all?

It is not the fault of the school if your child can't understand that their parents can't afford a £1500 ski trip or you are unable to tell them "no".

Where have you been?

School meals are the subsidized and free option... its pack lunches people cant afford.

I actually think the opposite to your last post OP - if state schools, especially ones in poorer areas, DIDN’T offer these trips I think that would be divisive - because the trips, and skiing as a sport, would go back to being the preserve of private schools and the super rich.

I don't think any state school should organise trips like this.

But then you are excluding even more people? We definitely could never afford a skiing trip for the 4 of us as a family. DS2 only got the opportunity to do one because it was a school trip and someone else would be taking him.

So you think it's fair that because you can't go we shouldn't go either? Bizarre logic.

These are the sort of trips state school shouldn't be pushing. It's all for a few pictures to make it look wonderfully good at offering exciting opportunities to prospective parents, attract the sort of people that want their child to go on skiing trips etc. But it's an exclusive opportunity, trips through school should be inclusive, it's a state school - with delusions.

When I was a kid, I used to bin the ski trip letters they sent home every year. Never took them home to show my parents. I knew money was tight when we were kids. Parents were divorced so two lots of household expenditure to consider not just one and even as a kid I was wise enough to realise we had more going out than we had coming in, and I didn’t want my folks feeling pressured into trying to find the funds to send me on a ski trip that had no educational value. A trip to a museum with the history class - fine. Ski trip for a week to goof off - not financially justifiable.

I completely agree with you @Tyrozet - I was the poor kid whose parents had no money for our school skiing trip, it was hard enough to afford the days out and we never had foreign holidays as a family. The school focused so hard on the "equality" aspect of us all having (expensive) school uniform, but then created situations like this to divide the haves and have nots.

What I found was that it also disrupted existing friendships across the rich/poor divide - the kids who could afford it all bonded on these trips, made new friends and left the rest of us behind. Skiing is particularly unnecessary as a school holiday - at least foreign exchanges allow you to learn languages and culture which are directly transferable for most jobs. Even when I worked in a shop after school my French and German was used for visitors.

I want my child to get an education at school, an academic one. Not a lesson in elitism.

I run a ski trip, of course I’ve thought about the expense and I’d like to think I’m not tone deaf. We have a fund to support some low income families. About 45% of ONE year group apply and I take about 33%. If I opened it to the whole school I could fill it many, many times over. It is in the school holidays, I don’t get paid for going or for organising it (I think I’m probably on 500 hours?!) but I do it as I think it’s a great opportunity. I teach in a mixed area, parents know about it from when they join the school. Some kids can afford to go on all the trips, some none. My kids will be somewhere between the two but would have to put birthday/Christmas money into the pot. If you think running a trip for almost 100 kids is a jolly then you are sadly mistaken. I do open it to all staff but can only take 8.

@GivenchyDahhling

I actually think the opposite to your last post OP - if state schools, especially ones in poorer areas, DIDN’T offer these trips I think that would be divisive - because the trips, and skiing as a sport, would go back to being the preserve of private schools and the super rich.

It already is, @GivenchyDahhling - I don't know a single person on a low income that goes skiing, the equipment hire alone is more than their daily budget for fun and food.