Schoo trip first come first served

[Meetingonthehill]

AIBU to think school could and should have managed this better?

Son is Year 9.

Today school informed the children that there is an enrichment trip to a theme park. The letter would be sent to parents at 3.30pm and the payment portal opened at the same time. Kids advised it was first come first served.

This particular enrichment activity was open to Year 9 (this is their only offering for this year group) and also open to Year 8 (who have the choice of two theme parks).

(Year 9 have had no enrichment trips prior to this - Covid meant the Year 7 residential wasn’t offered and nothing was offered last year when they were in Year 8.)

My son tried to call me at 3.20 as he came out of school but I was at work (no phones allowed). I did finish work at 3.55 so called him back when he told me about the letter and trip.

I logged on to the portal straight away but all the places had gone.

AIBU to think that if offering something on a first for first served basis they should give people a bit more notice than 10 minutes? (The time between when the kids can use their phone after school and the time the portal opened.)

Surely only the parents who don’t work/have desk based jobs can realistically book something with that tight a turn around?

Not to mention those who may just be able to afford it but might need a little bit of time to balance the books to make sure.

Of course, it’s half term next week so nothing can be done and probably won’t be.

I realise they are lucky to have staff that can put on trips but it seems really unfair to split this opportunity across two year groups and not give everyone a fair chance at taking them up on the offer (especially as they haven’t had any other trips before). I realise they may not have the staff to cover everyone going. But why not make the booking process fairer?

Lottery is inherently more fair than first come first served and no more difficult to administer. Why wouldn’t schools do that?

While it may be fairer, it's almost certainly more difficult to administer, as presumably the school are using software that they just set up and let run. It would be more work to do a lottery system, I would think.

I'm a cub leader, and organise about 6 trips/camps per year. Most are unlimited for attendance, but sometimes we have to limit numbers. We always do this on a first come, first served basis - it's the easiest way due to the software we use, I don't have time (or inclination) to run it any other way. Sometimes I release the details during the working day, with no notice (not even an hour, because of the way our system works). And because that's when it suits me to do it.

I do agree that a little more notice would be good, but the timing of the 'release' may just have to be during office hours, as that's when the teachers are available to release it. I appreciate that this will vary according to the software used, but may explain why some schools can't be more flexible.

At the end of the day, no system is perfect, and you'll always annoy someone!

I disagree with this.

How on earth is it the fairest way?!?!

What about parents who work? Parents who don't have instant access to a phone/computer? Parents who cannot pay immediately?

Firstly, any school trip that takes place during school hours in the UK CANNOT ask for payment - they can only request a voluntary donation. The school then has (limited) funds to subsidise pupils from very low income families who cannot afford school trips*.

The ONLY fair way to do it is to give people a time period (say 48 hours) to ask for a place, then if there are more demands than spaces, a fair ballot needs to take place.

• If too many parents refuse to pay the voluntary donation but want their child to go on the school trip, the trip has to be cancelled.

Firstly, any school trip that takes place during school hours in the UK CANNOT ask for payment - they can only request a voluntary donation. The school then has (limited) funds to subsidise pupils from very low income families who cannot afford school trips.*

Isn't that for educational trips?

First come first served with several days warning would be better, though I still feel any time would disadvantage some.

Restricting numbers is reasonable in my view.

It is super easy to run a lottery system, probably 5 mins max to run it.

What are those prices?!? 😱 My kid has been in private schools since reception and I've never seen school trip prices like the ones you mention. Ski trips, New York trip, trip to the Algarve etc. are all around the £1500 mark. Your school is nuts.

It is super easy to run a lottery system, probably 5 mins max to run it

Except it isn't, it's actually quite a bit more time consuming to run. The software that we use sends out emails, asks parents to sign up, and once the places are full, it runs a waiting list. This is all done automatically.

If we did a lottery system, then this would have to be done manually, would involve making lists, selecting names the old fashioned way (quite literally out of a hat!) sending out many more emails, and would be much more time consuming. I appreciate that this may depend on the systems used, but for my scout group, this is how it would be. And I'm only talking about a cub pack of 30, it would be much more time consuming for a school year group.

I'm with @budgiegirl , it's a nightmare trying to organise trips through lotteries.

Ski trip was 10 days in America, 6 skiing, then 4 sightseeing (Manahattan)

Geography trip is to Iceland.

All accomodation, food and flights included.

Surprisingly all places go on these trips and neither of my children go and aren't any worse off for it.

Parents can afford it.

50 children out of the year went skiing

20 are going to Iceland

I honestly think that if they can't make it available to everyone within reason then they shouldn't offer it all.
I agree with this! All or none. Or two/three trips if necessary so everyone can go. I'm lucky that I can log on any time but we had a similar situation and I quickly phoned his friend's mum and the place had already gone!

YANBU. They shouldn't have split it across two years - if Year 8 can't go on a trip they can go when they're in Year 9.

And yes, if they were going to do it this way, it should have been with more notice.

Schools cannot charge for education outside of school hours or during school hours, however they can charge for extras which include transport, accomodation and food if they organise education trips.

It clearly states this in the document "charging for school activities"

This is what it clearly states you are paying for in all letters regarding the trip.

They can do smaller local trips and ask for voluntary payments and these trips can also be cancelled if they dont meet the required cost e.g. the transport and entry payment etc.

Schools have hardship funds but certainly won't have to cover multiple coaches and hundreds of children to fly off round the world.

And first come first served is fair. Our first come first serve trips have gone live at 3pm and close at 7pm or when they become full. They oversubscribe to then make a waiting list because children may also drop out.

Sadly, life isnt fair and not everyone will get to do everything all of the time. It would probably more unfair to open up a trip for everyone and the ones who camt afford it even after some help from the hardship fund, are the only ones that don't get to go.

We download the names into a spreadsheet, then upload into a random generator. Literally a few clicks of a mouse and a bit of savvy depending on your software.

But given that genuine first come first serve is so unfair to so many families, even if you had to do it manually I would argue that it still should be done.

Wow I have honestly never heard if school trips being that expensive. My daughter is going to New York for a week for just under £1500 (also all travel/accommodation/food/sights included) and she has been on ski trips at 5* resorts for around £1600 - granted it was in the Alps. But it seems your school has some ultra wealthy families.

They definitely should have given more notice than this. Son's school normally give us a day or 2 notice, before the booking portal opens at 6pm (I assume they set that time as most parents will be home from work then.

Going by the title I was all set to say you were being unreasonable but having read your post, no you are not. If a trip is offered first come first served (which is reasonable), there should absolutely be a fairer time frame to give every parent the opportunity to mobilise. Apart from working parents being adversely affected, those on low income who can't scramble instant money would also be affected.

It surely wouldn’t be they difficult to give a week’s notice, ask for interest to be declared by x point and then do a ballot with a waiting list. Fastest finger first stuff really annoys me .

Wow things have changed since I was at school. We could all go to everything if we wanted to

Our school sends out a letter some times ahead of the trip with a ´closing date’ then if there is more demand than places they pull names out of a hat. Then you have another deadline by which to pay. Unpaid places go to people on the waiting list. This was also gives you time to cool off if your kid doesn’t want to go on the trip or the dates don’t work or something.

The way you school does this does seem rather unfair.

The portal shouldn't be opened until 7pm, for example. Working parents stand no chance in this instance.

It's not fair. Not every parent has a deposit available to secure a place within hours. Most parents have to discuss with each other, and agree on finances. And doesn't give any child, without a way to be first come first served, a chance at all

Completely unfair process they should definitely consider at least a 24 hour period before deciding

Gosh, that is really shit. YANBU.

How is a theme park an enrichment trip?

They should have given earlier notice and opened the registration at 7pm or so fora more fair chance.

I don’t disagree that a lottery may be fairer, or at least more notice and a different starting time would be good.

All I’m saying is that it does create more work, and depending on the software used, it might be quite a lot more work. So I can understand why sometimes the school does it the way it’s been done here. It’s how I do it, as a cub leader, due to software/time constraints.

And as I said earlier, no matter what you do, it will be wrong for someone!