To think £110 for this Activity Week is too much?

[Eastie77Returns]

DD’s school has a Y6 Activity Week in the Summer term. It costs £110 and comprises:-

A movie and popcorn afternoon
Visit to the local the park (park is 2 mins from the school)
A day at a local beach
Visit to a theme park (entry is £23 per child)
An afternoon of tech design in the school

I cannot for the life of me work out how this can possibly cost £110. The school will receive almost £10k across the 3 form entry year. I’m a bit baffled??

If we book a coach from 9.30 to 2.30 for a 45 minute trip , it costs us £350 minimum. Which means just 3 and a half hours at the venue. If we go beyond these times, the cost raises to around £600.

It'll be the coaches

I’d suspect it’s the cost of coaches to beach and theme park.
Teachers spaces on coaches and theme park tickets need factoring in.
If it’s not affordable I’d ask about help to ensure child can still attend. Often children on pupil premium won’t need to pay.

As for the parents who can't afford it there might be some help I would imagine. However this has always been the case that there might be trips that not everyone can afford. I'm in my 50s and remember there were trips I couldn't attend. I remember parents were asked for school fund years ago. Schools seriously underfunded. I teach I see evidence of this every day

Is it instead of a residential in yr6 or aswell as would very much depend on how peeved I was at the price….

my Yr6 residential is £450 in June but being paying it over the year.

sadly coaches cost a lot!!!

That’s the cost, if you don’t like it then your child doesn’t go - simple

coaches are expensive.
outside activity providers are expensive. tbh just over 20 a day sounds about right.

Does your school do a Year 6 residential as well? If not then £110 is a bargain

I cannot for the life of me work out how this can possibly cost £110.

I'm surprised you think it's expensive. I think £110 is a great price.

The week includes

2 trips out of school (presumably by coach, which is very expensive)
Entry to a theme park
The cost of tech materials.

I think school have done well to keep the costs low and still provide interesting activities.

What about parents who DO like it but just can't afford it?

I don't think the PP is actually saying she doesn't like it!

It's the coach costs as others have said. I got a coach quote a few weeks ago for £1100. It covered an 18 mile round trip that would be completed twice on that date. Another quote was much lower thankfully. But coach costs are creating problems for my job at the moment.

I think thats very reasonable OP.
I booked a 52 seater coach last year for our sports club away fixture. Hiring a coach plus driver from Friday evening to Sunday evening for 800 miles was nearly £2000. For £110 for 5 days, thats cheap!

What happens if they dont do the Activity week? I mean £110 is reasonable for the Activities ,but not if you dont have the money! Up to you but it does seem a lot for a parent to find ,even if the costs are reasonable!

Coaches for the beach and theme park will add up. Assume they need to buy supplies for the tech afternoon too. I think yes it's quite high but no it's not unreasonable.

Where can I sign my child up? That is very reasonable and I had to pay £360 for 5 days and that didn't even include include any off site activities. What about transport, insurance, people's time? Don't think you realise how lucky you are.

It feels expensive, but they have to pay for travel, as others say, and for the teachers/helpers entry. Probably food as well. There is insurance, there may need to be a SEN person there. It may be subsidising FSM kids as well.

Could you ask to pay in instalments? I guess you can ask them to explain the breakdown of costs more explicitly, but I'd say if you can afford it then it's a shame not to let them go.

That's cheap our chikds was 99 pounds for one night away

As others have said it's coaches I think it's good value, but if you are struggling financially please ask for help.

You forgot travel and extra staff expenses. They won’t be able to manage with one teacher at the beach it’s not a classroom.
Theoretically the cost per head might be more expensive as some families might not be able to pay at all so depending on the area and school’s policies the price for those who can pay may cover partly those who can’t.

Ok, I really didn't realise coach costs were so high. DD's previous school was in inner London and they didn't use a coach for any trips. Every journey was on the tube, bus or train. It was in a deprived area and I think the high levels of premium pupil funding must have been used to cover costs as I didn't have to pay for a single school trip for either DD or DS at that school.

We've moved further out but the school is not far from an overground station and a tube line that takes 30 minutes into central London. However the school insists on using coaches, e.g. to a museum in London for which we had to pay £17 even though entry is free. I now realise that must have been for the coach. Just seems a bit bonkers when it would have been quicker and cheaper to take the tube.

Paying £110 is fortunately not an issue for us and I have no issues with the Activity Week itself. Although as a PP said, it's a lot to pack into a week and several activities are at the mercy of the weather!

It may be quicker to use the tube but for a three form entry school (I think you said it was?) would you fancy taking 90 school children on the tube? I certainly wouldn’t!

Definitely the price of coaches. As someone who hires them their prices have shot ip ridiculously . It has put off the availability of trips for schools.

If uou really want to know, you can ask the school for a breakdown. My husband, head of a large primary. Has been asked by parents who think it's too much and then suddenly realise that tge school is actually subsidising the trips.

Could be covering the cost of paying overtime to teachers as the ratios mean they need more there?

No - I wouldn’t be taking any school kids on the tubes, let alone that many. Too much risk. With a coach you know where they are at all times.

There’s also the transport costs.