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.

I'm a teacher and that seems a lot. I don't know any teachers who work in state schools who get paid for trips. I never have. What does the trip involve? Y6 in my school go on a 5 night residential in summer term that costs around that!

Cover is because school trips cannot go ahead with a ratio of 1:30 in primary school. So additional staff may need to attend. Staff at activity centers can count towards ratios, but at least 2 school staff should always attend- so in e.g. a one form primary, you'd need to provide cover for one other class (unless the Y6 class had a TA willing to go, but given their pay is so low, they would usually be offered overtime).

*@Postapocalypticcowgirl
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Cover is because school trips cannot go ahead with a ratio of 1:30 in primary school. So additional staff may need to attend. Staff at activity centers can count towards ratios, but at least 2 school staff should always attend- so in e.g. a one form primary, you'd need to provide cover for one other class (unless the Y6 class had a TA willing to go, but given their pay is so low, they would usually be offered overtime).

We're obviously an exception because our TAs always put themselves forwards for the trips-there's usually a waiting list to go! We have a TA per class so we don't provide additional cover and usually the SLT go up for at least a day each and give the staff doing the full week a break. Every school is different, I guess in some schools it's easier than others. One advantage of being in a deprived area is, although it's challenging, we do have more staff than most schools.

Time of year is key. PGL Paris is £600 in July before adding on eg Eurodisney tickets or a trip to the Louvre. Swap to February and it’s under £400.

OP, you haven't considered the timings. Places which cater to school groups are much more expensive mid week during term time because that's when they're in demand. You would pay a premium for outdoor activity centres mid week during the summer term. Like how places that cater to families shoot up in cost during the summer holidays.

With staffing, centres / organisations we have used offer different rates depending on how many of their staff you require. With parents attending, you'd need the absolute minimum centre staff. If you can only take minimal school staff (due to cover needed in school) you pay more for the centre staff to make up the ratios. A recent (admittedly expensive) school trip would have cost the 20 students £50 extra each if I weren't able to attend (in my half term without additional pay).

With charities, it is likely that the centre may have a special lower rate for them. Either because they can claim tax deductions or they can advertise how good they are for children with special needs (or both).

Rugby clubs (and similar) often have plenty of volunteers willing to go, and their places may be funded by the club rather than the kids going. And they often use club funds to help with the cost.

I agree with you that children shouldn't be left out if their parents can't afford it. But I also really don't like the idea of getting rid of school trips / music lessons etc entirely. Enrichment shouldn't only be for the kids whose parents can afford private school.

This is one of those things which is often discussed about London schools having a massive advantage. As it is the capital city, there are far more enrichment activities which can be done for free / minimal cost compared to those of us in other areas.

Some good points.
As i said I am not (really) questioning the actual maths/cost. I do believe the activity centre is probably taking advantage but that's not my main point. My main point is at that age they will enjoy a lot of cheaper options just as well, in my view.

@oblada
As I said earlier , lone parent of 3 DCs, I can't afford it
Never have been able to afford £300* trips so mine don't attend those

I've saved yo when they have been £200 for a week on a few occasions but we go without to do so. And right now few people on low incomes with multiple DCs can afford to.

NRTFT

My general rule is around £100 per day, UK less/abroad more.

Dd1 went to Paris recently. 5 days/4 nights. It cost £540.

Dd2 went to Cornwall. 5 days/4 nights. It cost £380.

Apparently, it's the cost of coach hire and fuel that has shot up and is adding to the overall price.

I agree that whatever you get for the £300, it's a lot of money to ask of parents when lots of will be feeling the cost-of-living squeeze.

But for us it doesn't include transport though...

And i don't like the idea of people missing out because they can't afford it. It's just not fair. We should do something together that all the kids can participate in. We certainly try to be as inclusive as possible when it comes to special needs, it should be the same when it comes to income.

We are lucky in that we earn well enough. But we have 4 children incl one with special needs and due to that we have a full time nanny.
So we have fairly hefty outgoings too.

Can I afford the £300? Yes probably, it would be noticed of course as an extra cost but we would manage.
But on balance I don't want to because it just feels wrong. I'm lucky that my child understands and will be fine to miss the trip.

And i don't like the idea of people missing out because they can't afford it. It's just not fair.

Life isn’t fair.

If you choose to have children on little to no income you need to accept they will be left out of doing things. Not expect those children to miss out or have a reduced experience.

Oh! In that case, it's too expensive imho.

True, life isn't fair and yes some children will have fewer experiences due to parental income. Although I am not keen on your comment about "ha well you choose to have more kids etc". Things like separation, bereavement, mental and physical health (parent or child), loss of job etc are often relevant and are not "choices".
In any event I am not complaining. We can afford more than most probably. But that doesn't mean I agree with it.
I don't think that a school trip should be another opportunity to exclude the less fortunate. There are far too many inequalities already, creating one more on the back of a non educational non necessary trip is, to me, wrong. And i don't think a cheaper trip would be a reduced experience. I actually think it would create a far richer bonding experience than 15 activities crammed over a couple of days.

@oblada what about the kids whose parents can't afford anything ? Most schools will have some of those at least. By catering to the lowest common denominator, that means schools could only do trips/activities that are local and free or that can be subsidised from the school budget, which doesn't give a lot of wiggle room.

Would you be happy with that?

Life isn't fair, but I don't think school trips are the place to learn that. It's also disproportionally going to be the children who don't get family holidays either who mis out.

It's not always plan-able either.

I know someone who struggled because her oldest was in year 6 (5 day residential at £500) and the twins in year 4 when they decided they'd also do a residential in year 4. (3 day at £300)

She'd carefully saved up for the oldest one, knowing it was coming and was already putting a little away each month so the twins could go in year 6 too.
Adding another £600 at not a lot of notice just made it unfeasible for her.

Actually in that case the school stepped in, which I think is right.

Our school residential is around £300 but it's for 5 days. I also run a youth group which runs a residential for £125 for 8 days. However, with the youth group it is heavily subsidised, in a highly deprived area and we can run things differently thus save in ways that a school can't.

There are a few of things to note here though:

• children for whom the school receive pupil premium will likely have the costs paid for them (common in schools) which takes care of those with the lowest household incomes.
• these trips are usually known about far in advance, even if the specific cost that year isn't known, so if cost is a concern, families could have been saving little by little over time if they wished to.
• schools will typically support those who cannot pay in full before the deadline by either putting them in contact with charities or extending the payment window to include after the residential.

My dd's year 6 pgl trip for next year was £395 for 2 nights and we had to do drop off and pick up 'to keep costs down'. There was only a 50% take up so it's been cancelled and replaced with 3 separate days of activities. 2 local activity days ( still have to do pick up and drop off) and 1 day at Chessington. New cost is £150.

DS will be having his first residential (Y6) in the Spring. It’s £350 for three nights but that does include transport. I think it’s reasonable and we can it in instalments but it’s still a lot of money. We are also north west

We can afford it though I can’t just throw £350 around without thinking about it. However I’m sure a lot of people can’t. The letter does say if you can’t afford it speak to the school so I assume there is some provision for those who can’t do no child misses out.

As i mentioned up thread I'd be much happier with a £150max budget as I'd expect some parents to be able to then (willingly) contribute to help others.
A couple of people mentioned struggling with the £300 cost for ours. I can't do anything except sympathise and explain my child probably won't go as I don't agree with the idea.

If it was £150 I'd happily step in and pay for one more person than mine to go. We don't have to go with zero, everyone is likely to be able to contribute something and if we keep it reasonable then as a group we can include everyone in all likelihood.

Ours is Monday to Friday and is around £320. This used to include coach and ferries to Isle of Wight. Post covid this covers a week at a local activity camp and doesn’t include transport.

300 for 2 nights seems a lot

know our school does a trip in yr6. Goes to same place every year and I see it on Fb

think they go away for 4 nights but I don’t know what the cost is

makes sense to have a saving plan from yr 4 so can save for 2/3yrs and pay £10 a month of something like that

I know if child is on pp that their money can go go towards the trip in last two years of school as my friend did that year before covid

I'm a teacher who organises school trips, and they've become so much more expensive since the pandemic. Ultimately we don't have control over how much they cost, we just have to charge whatever the total price of everything is. I'm organising a trip to Paris at the moment that's costing over £600 for just three nights, in 2019 it would have been around 400. We've even taken out some activities to reduce the cost and will replace them with some free activities.

To be honest, I think it's a ridiculous price to pay for three nights in Paris, but our school is very keen (i.e. forcing) us to organise it and we can't make it any cheaper.

As i mentioned up thread I'd be much happier with a £150max budget as I'd expect some parents to be able to then (willingly) contribute to help others.

You may not realise this as the bleeding heart liberal that you are, but nobody else would be paying anything towards other kids going.

That’s an awful expectation to have.

🤣 then I'm a bleeding heart liberal! I never knew that no!
I don't know. I'd like to think others would do the same as me. Maybe I am ridiculously naive. Maybe not.
Also i said that I'd expect people to be able to, willingly, contribute... So i don't think it's particularly awful as an expectation.
But at least with a £150 budget it would still be more accessible anyway, so still a win in my books!