School trip - what is a reasonable cost?

[oblada]

Y6 school trip. Our school is asking for close to £300 for the end of year school trip (2 nights away). It doesn't include transport which is covered with fundraising.
Now I can't complain too much, I can probably afford it. I don't have £300 to burn but I can manage.
But it feels wrong. Especially at the moment.
We're in the North West. Not an affluent part of the country.
I think I have made up my mind about what to do but I would be interested to see what everyone thinks generally on the cost. School is adamant it is a reasonable cost. Most people I discuss it directly with tend to agree with me (but maybe they don't really won't knows).
My own view is that up to £150 per kid is relatively affordable for most, in installments, and should be the max budget for a school trip. Whatever the kids do together will be unforgettable to them. They don't need millions of activities crammed in.
But is that unreasonable? Are other school able to do trips for cheaper than £300 per kid? Our weekends away are far cheaper than £300 per person. Now we don't have to worry about the safety aspects etc but then I'd think they'd be savings in the number of kids involved.

But if they " do something else" then half the pupils and families will be complaining because it's not fair, they were looking forward to it ( remembers bitterly the trip to a Crich tram museum that went every year but mine- and that's 50 years ago now!)

If the school cancelled the annual trip they'd get a barrage of complaints from parents who want their child to go on the trip or whose children were looking forward to it. On the other hand, life would be a hell of a lot easier for teachers if school trips were just scrapped across the board.

£300 for two nights seems like a lot. But you can't compare to a charity run one unless that was also during term time. Activities places which cater largely to school groups are much cheaper during the holidays.

Slightly worried the activity centre is taking advantage (knowing of the other one we go to with the charity for a fraction of that).

Are you comparing the price directly? The price by the charity may be subsidised or a special rate, so not reflective of the price actually charged.

We can never afford these school trips so my DCs don't go

Tbh i don't have the financial details so i don't know for sure.
Charity one was weekend away. I know the cost before the subsidy through fundraising which is a fraction of what I am being asked to pay here.
But no I don't have the full details.

Yes. There is an issue with state funded schools. The lack of funding. Hence the strike vote.

surely anyone with children knows the issues with state funded schools?

btw in the uk a public school is a private school. You're saying the opposite of what you actually mean repeatedly. If you do not know the type of school you child attends, you will miss relevant news reports, such as the many on lack of state school funding.

DS’s Y6 residential last year was £300 for 4 nights.
He’s now in high school and they’ve just sent a letter out about a trip to a European country next year for a specific sport (which DS is highly involved with), but they’re estimating £1k for 4 nights. DS will not be going on it, it’s frankly ridiculous.

Yes i get the state/public terminology confused. That is all. I am not repeatedly saying the opposite to what I mean. This is just a terminology i still get confused despite having been here for 20yrs. Surely my meaning is relatively clear still🙄and it doesn't impact on my understanding of "news reports"...

Nw here, paid £180 last year for the school residential, 2 nights - 3 full days. Our school takes them right before the sats while in year 5 to keep the price down as low as possible, risk is we can still get snow at that time of year. The cost is solely down to the centre but its a good centre that provides a lot and do what they do well. Oh and I know our school doesn't provide financial support for pp families.

@oblada i think the Ywar 6 stuff is ridiculous. DD’s school have thought about it a lot and organised something different to the standard residential trip which overall is £100 for the week. The parents are organising the expected ‘American style’ end of year event because the children deserve it. I don’t disagree that it’s lovely to do but that’s another £80. The response if you question affordability is well you have a year nearly. It’s not fair on the children, so you end up feeling forced into it because your child has to stand and watch as their mates go off together in limos. I’ve never know anything like it, given right now we don’t even know what finances are going to look like I really think it should be considered a little more than it is sometimes.

Sorry but we can’t go through life being inclusive about everything.

The cost of the trip is £300. If you can afford that great, if you can’t, that’s unfortunate.

But the trip shouldn’t have to be changed and made cheaper (or not done altogether) simply because not everyone can afford it.

But you dont need to do it in a safe centre away from the general public and for 20-30 kids that also need to be fed 3 meals a day, accomodated, supervised 24/7 and kept safe. It is a different prospect entirely and you cannot compare the two.

Our local authority used to run its own site (in a different area of the country) which reduced costs a great deal. It was tents and a toilet block, and there were staff who were paid for the entire season who ran the activities (kayakking, abseiling, cycling, etc). Some groups went Mon-Fri and others Fri-Mon (I don't know whether some of the latter were non-school groups), and the same buses took one group there and brought the previous one back - so transport costs were nearly halved.

Actually it is exactly that. Adding special needs to the equation as the charity is designed to support people with a specific condition. It is exclusive use, full board and lodging. The difference is that parents are there so absolutely you can add extra cost for staffing ratios if need be. Not that different at all otherwise and we're talking over 3x the cost here.

That's an interesting view. I can't agree with that though. Not as part of state funded education.

That seems like loads. My DS never went on a school residential as they never had a cheaper one. It was either skiing in the alps for £4k or Alton Towers for the day for £60 (guess what
most parents chose?!) When he’d go away with his rugby club for their yearly weekend away, it was around £50 with all meals included. They’d play rugby funnily enough and do other activities like paintballing and go-karting. I’d send him off with enough snacks to sink a ship as the boys would be up all night eating, of course 😆

if it covers qualified tuition, equipment, insurance, all food and accommodation, bearing in mind it will be covering the teachers’ costs too, that sounds about right. Comparing to what a charity charges is comparing apples with pears.

Sounds about standard to me. You said that on the charity trip you are comparing it to the parents are there- that is a very different ball game! The big cost is the staff at the centre.

I’ve recently come back from a Y7 trip which was a similar price for 2 nights. All activities included such as surfing, high ropes etc. 3 meals a day for 200 kids. Fully qualified instructors at a ratio of 2-3 instructors per group of 10 kids. Evening entertainment also put on by the centre and run by their staff- karaoke, football tournament, talent show. Although we brought teachers obviously there were still duty staff who slept in the centre overnight.

Unfortunately it is what it is, these activities cost a fortune! The kids had an absolute ball though.

"The big cost is the staff at the centre." In which case I still fail to see how it differs?
The charity provided some volunteers but the activities were run by the paid staff of the activity ctr.
But again I am not particularly questioning the maths.

You don’t need to agree with it. Life isn’t fair. We can’t all afford to do what we want.

Those who can afford it shouldn’t miss out just because others can’t and thankfully that is the default position.

The staffing ratios for safety are supervising mostly are provided by the residental provider, and they package that with activities because as a business that is where they make their money, that is where most of the costs are incurred.

Unless parents are willing to attend (which defeats the purpose of the residental and opens another can of worms for safeguarding), there are limited alternative options.

Because the staff don’t have to be in loco parents the whole time, it makes it a very different trip.

But if you are really sure I guess all you can do is email the school directly and say “have you thought about using X centre next year? I went there on a trip with my charity and it only cost X amount”

My DH is a primary school teacher who spent weeks researching and visiting centres to find the right one for their Y6 trip. If you genuinely know of a better one they may be grateful for the input.

Nobody has to agree with anything but society is built on people's views and actions derived from those views. And I cannot support the idea that a non educational non necessary trip in a state funded school should exclude pupils based on means instead of doing a more inclusive trip accessible to all.

Well they weren't at all interested unfortunately 🤣

My twins are in year 6 this year so I dread to think what the cost will be, equally I am glad they get this opportunity as my eldest didn't because of covid.

One night in London for him is £265 but they have packed loads in so I'm pretty happy with that.