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.

YANBU

They say having school uniform is to stop price tag bullying, then they put out these trips that sort out the rich kids from the not so rich.

Some parents will end up shelling out for this and getting themselves into debt, as they feel they have no choice.

Those that go will form a bond with the teachers and be treated more favourably

I can't see one benefit from offering these expensive trips. If you want your kid to go skiing that badly, take them yourself.

@pralinee

I think it's fine, as long as the school offers a range of trips and experiences for different budgets. I do wonder about the environmental side of this though. Schools are trying to be increasingly eco-conscious, and as I understand it skiing is pretty carbon-unfriendly. I wonder whether they will begin to factor this in?

Really good point, and this is exactly where the rubber meets the road in terms of young peoples willingness to actually sacrifice things for environmental reasons. It absolutely should come into play.

Just ignore it. The vast majority of kids won't be going.
I think it's really expensive but if enough families have the money and want to send their kids then I wouldn't object to the school running it.

What would be objectionable is if a trip for GCSE or A-Level was compulsory and cost that much. That would be well out of order.

As far as I know, Mary Graves Trust help pay a good part of things like this. I went on a cruise when I was at school and my son went skiing just before covid became known. Not sure if it's for families on low income or anything but definitely look into applying to the Mary Graves Trust Fund.

@DazzlingDarrenDring

YANBU

They say having school uniform is to stop price tag bullying, then they put out these trips that sort out the rich kids from the not so rich.

Some parents will end up shelling out for this and getting themselves into debt, as they feel they have no choice.

Those that go will form a bond with the teachers and be treated more favourably

I can't see one benefit from offering these expensive trips. If you want your kid to go skiing that badly, take them yourself.

If any parent gets themselves into debt over a school skiing trip, that’s on them. It’s not like a trip the whole class is going on - it is always a minority.

And if you think those on the trip will be treated better after then you’re in cloud cuckoo land.

1. Teachers aren’t that unprofessional
2. They’re skiing, not bonding
3. They’re just as likely to come back hating that particular kid having spent a week telling them off

Of all the things to have against a school ski trip, that’s a very odd one!

I agree OP. School trips should be available for everyone with a fund to help those whose parents can’t afford to send them. School isn’t the place to widen the gap between those with affluent parents and those on the breadline. Every child deserves the same opportunities throughout their school career.

I could never have afforded a family skiing holiday so the school ski trips allowed my middle DS to experience skiing. He absolutely loved it and now as an adult pays for himself to ski at least once a year.

My DS school offer a ski trip. There's very few spaces for whole school so by far the majority of kids don't go. There was also a trip to Russia which I'm assuming is cancelled. He was doing neither. I don't think other children should miss out just because we can't afford it.

@Just10moreminutesplease

I agree OP. School trips should be available for everyone with a fund to help those whose parents can’t afford to send them. School isn’t the place to widen the gap between those with affluent parents and those on the breadline. Every child deserves the same opportunities throughout their school career.

I thought that children who are eligible to receive free school meals got school trips free too ?

@EatSleepRantRepeat

Jesus Christ, some comments on this thread! All wailing and sympathy on mumsnet threads about equality of opportunity and supporting all parents, until it looks like your own kids might lose out on something to foster that equality. Then it's "fuck you, I got mine". Some of you need to understand that the low income families we're talking about are the same key workers everyone was clapping for throughout 2020 - should they have used skiing holidays as a motivator for putting their kids off these professions, *@vickyc90*?

I grew up in a poor keyworker household, had none of these opportunities but still had the drive to get me to where I am now. Some of the "they'd be able to afford it if they did X" makes me feel sick.

"No one can have nice things unless everyone can have nice things"

Other than the rich, of course. They'll have nice things come what may. But we must stop those in the middle getting anything.

YANBU.

I’d have hoped they’d stop this pointless shit by now. If families want to take their kids ski-ing they can organise the trips in the holidays.

I grew up in a deprived mining area and expensive trips simply cement the differences between the wealthier families and those struggling to get by. (It was in the 80’s after the miners strike and these things were in very stark contrast as they no doubt are again)

Only the wealthy kids stayed on a school for A’levels because the poor kids like me would be shunned, although several of us who were bright, left school at 15/16, got jobs and took evening classes and ended up graduating later on.

I agree with you OP. State school education is for everyone, why are they putting on something that most families can't afford? What is the value in that?

Also do the teachers who go pay their own expenses? If not why are the school spending tax payers money on something that only benefits the wealthiest families?

I also question the educational value of some of these trips, sure it's nice to have the opportunity to go skiing but it's not exactly the same as a geography field trip where kids go and learn something related to the curriculum.

No point getting angry Secondary schools have always ran pricey trips like this even when I was there in the 70’s/80’s usually only a small proportion go. We are fairly comfortably off but didn’t let DS go skiing or DD go on a school trip to Bali due to finances. Really only a tiny proportion of kids actually go and its usually across multiple year groups as well so they don’t know everyone and its not like its a whole class trip and your dc would be the only one missing out the ones who actually end up going will be in the minority when it comes down to it. Just calm down and explain sorry its too expensive I can’t afford it move on, no need for anger or big drama lllama.

I really have never understood why schools put on ski trips, it just seems like it's more for the teachers than the kids - it's not like they are doing any one a favour and offering to take kids from a less well-off on a subsidised trip, if a parent had a spare £1500 and wanted to take their kid skiing then I'm sure they would rather take them themselves.

@EatSleepRantRepeat

There are plenty of dry slopes in this country where kids can learn to ski, some with YHAs nearby. The families could then arrange trips to follow up on their "skiing education" if they wanted to. Yet the schools always go for a foreign snowy ski resort with apres-ski opportunities for the adults. Funny that.

As if the two are remotely comparable!!

Plenty of state school families can afford ski holidays and school ski trips. Why would anyone want this opportunity to be purely limited to private school? Surely that makes it more elitist not less.

I was the same @justmovedhouse , then my younger DB grabbed every school trip he could seemingly with no guilt!

As long as these trips take place in the holidays, I can’t see why anyone would be anything other than grateful for teachers who give up their own time to provide other peoples children with enriching experiences and opportunities.

I appreciated my dc being offered trips through school precisely because I couldn’t afford to take the whole family to some of the places. The school offering to take my children meant that it was more affordable to provide them with those experiences than it would have been otherwise.

Interesting. @superram, when you go on this trip, do you pay money for the flight, hotel, pass etc or are your costs paid for as part of the costs that attendees pay?

For what it's worth my view is that schools aren't travel agents and if there is a school trip it should be for something directly educational that all or nearly all pupils should be interested in.

Also do the teachers who go pay their own expenses? If not why are the school spending tax payers money on something that only benefits the wealthiest families?

In my experience teachers pay for their own expenses but their place on the trip is given free by the tour operators because without those teachers who are willing to go, the TOs won’t have any school trip customers. The TOs presumably cover the cost of the ‘free’ places in what they charge for students, which is fair enough.

Europe (mostly Austria or northern Italy) and Canada (no idea why they think Canada when there are great ski areas in Europe).

The snow is about 100X better in Canada, but it is very cold. I went skiing for the 1st time at school, so pleased I got the opportunity. I think schools should try to keep the costs down, but is a really valuable experience.

@Comefromaway

I wouldn't take a group of kids on a ski trip if you paid me triple so its laughable to think its the teachers wanting a jolly.

Maybe you wouldn't, but I have worked in three schools where that's the case.

I think that the school isn't being unreasonable in offering the trip but it's up to parents to decide whether they can afford it for their child and taking into consideration if there are any younger siblings who would in their turn expect the same opportunity .

Why do you think it's up to school to do this @bumpytrumpy? Especially when you know a good proportion of pupils will be left behind?

Its obviously not for the learning opportunity or you wouldn't be so sniffy about UK dry slopes!

@JudgeRindersMinder

You surely don't believe this school trip is inclusive ? An inclusive school trip would be one that both poor and rich kids can afford to go on.

My DD who is Yr 7 is going on her school trip. It is 214 pounds for a full week away with activities. Nearly all kids in year are going. That’s the sort of School trip I like. It’s a very small High school and they always do trips of this value. To a lot a couple of hundred pound is still a lot of money but they tell you in September and the trip is in June so pay monthly. They even fundraise throughout the year with selling cakes and things and the bill gets reduce. It has already gone down 13 pounds due to this. It’s a shame all schools don’t do this.