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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Cost of school trip.

66 replies

tallcypowder · 08/07/2023 09:06

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/mum-slams-utterly-ridiculous-school-30403085.amp

I am in two minds about this. While I think a lot of people are struggling with the increase in bills. ( me included) to complain over something that is a choice and not comparing like with like is silly.

In 2018 a school trip to Barcelona cost £600 for my daughter with all food including and entertainment even a theme park.

While £800 is a lot for one person it would be a different experience to a week in a caravan as the woman describes. She maybe pushing it for a weekend in centre parks. Grin
It is her choice what she does with any spare money. She didn't have to send her son on the trip and I would probably make the same choice but realise it's cheaper for a reason. However not complaining to the school that's bizarre.
However it also highlights another cost of living division and everything costing more and more.
I am in two minds.

OP posts:
MillicentTrilbyHiggins · 08/07/2023 09:11

It is a choice to send your DC or not, but it's really shit to be the parent (or child) who can't ever afford them.

And I do think comparing it to a family us relevant. If I could afford one holiday costing £800 it would be for the whole family not just 1 DC. And whilst I agree its not comparing like for like, it's a choice lots of people would have to make.

EmeraldFox · 08/07/2023 09:16

That's a lot! Three nights on another European trip to an expensive city is costing £325 including breakfast with a recommended £100 for other meals. £800 is crazy.

Dressydress · 08/07/2023 09:17

I think it's stupid. I may or may not be able to afford it depending on how well our business was doing at the time. So I could potentially afford it for 1dc. But perhaps not the other 3 dc when it's their turn.

I don't understand why they need to do trips like this? And before someone says experiences, or they might not get the chance other wise.... of a parent can afford to send their child on this trip then its highly likely they have parents with the finances so these trips anyway. And it still isn't accessible for those who wouldn't be able to afford a family holiday. So these children will miss out still.

Xrays · 08/07/2023 09:20

I don’t think schools should be doing trips like this. It just separates the haves and have nots.

Sunmachine · 08/07/2023 09:24

I have friends who would never be able to
go skiing as a family for financial reasons, but they are able to fund one child each year to go on the school ski trip which means they all get a turn to go. I understand it’s rubbish for the kids that can’t afford to go, I think there should be a cheaper trip everyone can go on (Norfolk broads etc) and then still offer the more expensive ones…

PeachesOnTheBeaches · 08/07/2023 09:25

Those who can afford it should not have to miss out because others can’t.

Yeah, it’s shit to not be able to, but that doesn’t mean others shouldn’t have experiences just to save your feelings. Life isn’t fair.

Totaly · 08/07/2023 09:27

But those who can afford it probably have been away -

A venture centre abroad would be cheaper and more accessible.

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 08/07/2023 09:27

The school is offering only 40 places, so it won't just be the "poor" who can't go. It's not like they are saying "everyone can come unless you can't afford it"

noglow · 08/07/2023 09:30

Its always been the way. Schools offer ski trips and it's only ever the wealthy who can go.

I do think it's silly comparing it to a caravan holiday for the whole family though

Bluevelvetsofa · 08/07/2023 09:31

It was ever thus. I badly wanted to go on a school trip to the South of France, as a teenager. If I’d had a Saturday job, my parents would have scrimped and put something towards the cost and I would used my earnings. The head teacher of my very formal girls grammar school wouldn’t allow Saturday jobs, so I didn’t go.

hedgehoglurker · 08/07/2023 09:33

It was a relatively small trip for 40 pupils, which I believe was open to 4 year groups. So no real expectation for her child to go. She seemed really unreasonable to me.

Blueskysunflower · 08/07/2023 09:35

The alternative though is not to run these trips, which means even fewer kids not from middle class families with financial and cultural capital getting access to this stuff. It’s optional, in the school holidays and I dare say is a cheap as it can be - comparing to standard family holidays/what an individual adult could spend on a weekend is daft, there’s a load of supervising adult’s costs to cover for a start, plus it’s school holiday prices for flights, you’re paying for coach hire etc. If she wants to spend her money on something else she’s free to do so, all the school has done is offer an extra opportunity via a single letter, they are hardly demanding money with menaces and with only 40 spots presumably loads of kids aren’t going.

As for Center Parcs, like hell is a family of six getting a weekend there for £800!

ilovesooty · 08/07/2023 09:36

I think she's being unreasonable. It's a trip with a small number of pupils with a specific cultural focus and her potential family holidays aren't comparable.

I do think it's very short notice for the non refundable deposit though.

CeeJay81 · 08/07/2023 09:38

My ds high school apparantly(ds never took the letter cause he knew I'd say no) are offering a trip to New york for £1800. Thankfully none of his friends are going(including one who is very wealthy). I think the trip might end up being cancelled thankfully. I think most people could gradually pay up a few hundred quid over a year for a trip but any more than that is just not reasonable for many.

VariationsonaTheme · 08/07/2023 09:40

ilovesooty · 08/07/2023 09:36

I think she's being unreasonable. It's a trip with a small number of pupils with a specific cultural focus and her potential family holidays aren't comparable.

I do think it's very short notice for the non refundable deposit though.

The short notice deposit is what makes the school unreasonable, not running the trip itself. It’s unlikely that children in low-income households would be able to come up with that money without a lot of warning and planning, and so they’re not making it equally accessible to all.

TidyDancer · 08/07/2023 09:40

Hmm not sure how I feel about this one.

The attention seeking sad face mother is hardly highlighting an unknown problem. And the trip itself looks like good value for money given how much is packed into it.

But I'm not a fan of 'exclusive' school trips that either price out a lot of kids or are so restrictive on numbers that even if loads could afford it, it would end up a lottery as to who could go.

Expecting £300 deposit within 11 days (I think that's what it said) is definitely unreasonable.

Bringonthesunforthewashing · 08/07/2023 09:50

Personally I think it’s far too much.

As I have twins I would need to find double the amount - as I already have to do for other school trips.

Yes of course they don’t HAVE to go, but when all their mates are the pressure is on to magic the money.

A while ago there was a school trip to a mosque. I literally couldn’t afford it. I rang school and spoke to deputy head. Explained with 10 days notice I couldn’t afford the £60 for them to go.

I felt like the worst mum ever because she explained to me repeatedly it was educational, they really should go, if they didn’t they would miss an exciting opportunity, fall behind in class and not understand homework.

BorneoBound · 08/07/2023 09:51

I think it's good if schools can put these trips on - DD would love to go skiing, but as I can't ski I don't feel able to take her as part of a family holiday. I know of three families where one parent has a severe fear of flying and as a result don't go abroad - this type of trip gives the experience to their kids who otherwise wouldn't get to go. Our school never seems to takes more than a third of a year so those left behind are in the majority.

Original poster
tallcypowder · 08/07/2023 10:00

Pp children can get some of it funded too.

OP posts:
Bringonthesunforthewashing · 08/07/2023 10:11

Pp children?

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 08/07/2023 10:13

Bringonthesunforthewashing · 08/07/2023 10:11

Pp children?

Pupil Premium

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 08/07/2023 10:16

The trips don't generate a profit for the school so it's costing what it costs. But of course they need to use a regulated operator as they are taking multiple children, abroad, in loco parentis. Plus insurances etc.

Could I take the family and do all that in Krakow for less than £800pp? Of course! But even at £500pp (Inc all meals) that's still 2k for a weekend away. To somewhere I've already been. So if I could afford it, given the historical aspects of the trip and the comparative costs for our whole family to take the child, then yes I'd pay £800.

There will be a significant number of families who can't or won't pay it and that's fine too.

BiscuitsandPuffin · 08/07/2023 10:17

Maybe this will signal the beginning of the end of these ridiculous trips that only rich kids can afford and that are shit for the environment and of dubious educational value.
I worked in one school where they wanted to arrange a trip to antarctica at a cost of £5k per student. FFS. I was secretly quite pleased when the whole thing fell apart at the signups stage because more staff wanted to go than students.

BiscuitsandPuffin · 08/07/2023 10:20

BorneoBound · 08/07/2023 09:51

I think it's good if schools can put these trips on - DD would love to go skiing, but as I can't ski I don't feel able to take her as part of a family holiday. I know of three families where one parent has a severe fear of flying and as a result don't go abroad - this type of trip gives the experience to their kids who otherwise wouldn't get to go. Our school never seems to takes more than a third of a year so those left behind are in the majority.

But even the ski trips are ridiculous and the preserve of the bourgeoisie. If you or the school just want the children to experience skiing, why do they never just organise a trip to the ski dome in Milton Keynes where there are qualified instructors who can do the same job without the price tag?

DisquietintheRanks · 08/07/2023 10:23

Sunmachine · 08/07/2023 09:24

I have friends who would never be able to
go skiing as a family for financial reasons, but they are able to fund one child each year to go on the school ski trip which means they all get a turn to go. I understand it’s rubbish for the kids that can’t afford to go, I think there should be a cheaper trip everyone can go on (Norfolk broads etc) and then still offer the more expensive ones…

So because you've chosen to give your children the experience of growing up in a large family, no one else's child should experience going abroad with the school? What about parents of only children? Are they not allowed to spend more on their child because it wouldn't be fair on yours?