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??

I suppose it depends on how many staff and helpers they have. Taking 30 children on a tube is not easy (I’ve done 16 girlguides leaders in full high viz and it was stressful) there may be children with disabilities that mean a tube and walk in London weren’t suitable. I can’t imagine a school pays £100s for a coach without exploring all options.

I see primary school aged parties on the tube frequently. And my kids have done it. It’s a non issue.

Teachers don't get paid overtime! Any extra hours worked are part of their contract.

I think your previous school was obviously funding school trips out of their own budget which is unusual.

They are pretty expensive usually.

I've been told that London schools can use the underground for free when taking school trips. This might explain the free trips in the previous school.

I'm not saying it's not possible but it is a massive issue for schools! Never mind the logistics of trying to herd 90 kids on a tube, but the safeguarding /risk assessment paperwork will be immense!

BTW our staff didn't get paid more for doing trips. If it was over night for few days they would get 1 day in lui.

This. Coaches to take DC out of school are extortionate. If you cancel the coach for example because if it's torrential rain on the beach day, you still have to pay full price even though no fuel will be used. You'd think they'd at least reduce cost by the cost of the fuel it won't use, but no they don't.

Our risk assessments wouldn't allow for us to take certain children on the tube. They wouldn't cope with the noise etc. They are also flight risks and we don't have spare staff to be chasing children.

It's safer to take a coach. More expensive yes but our Head teacher wouldn't allow us to go.

They will not be making a profit. The cost will be mainly coaches and insurance I expect. You can ask for a breakdown of the costs if you really want to.

Coaches in our area are£20 pp. so that would be £40 plus entry to theme park at £23. That would leave £43 for the rest. I seems high to me I would have said around £85

It’s very much school and area dependent though? Beach might be a long way and tie coaches up all day. They need to include costs of all adults on coach and their tickets so if a lot are needing 1-1 that could be a massive difference between that school and another. I know we paid another £50 a person recently as coach costs increased and the travel company passed cost on for an international weekend girlguide trip.
Are they doing the activities week instead of a residential?

Rest assured the teachers won’t be getting over time pay. If they are VERY fortunate perhaps some time off in lieu, but usually these trips etc are part of a teachers contracted ‘directed time’ ie what’s expected as part of their job.

What beach is local to London?! Yes it’ll be coach costs. I work with a school and we went to visit a university last week in the next city over and it costs 800.00 to take 30 students 30 miles (15 each way)

“Just seems a bit bonkers when it would have been quicker and cheaper to take the tube.”

Personally I would much rather pay for the coach that will pick up and drop off at school. That to me seems safer than taking a large amount of children on the tube

No, they don't get paid overtime.

Ha! I think you need to look at cost/benefit analysis a bit more!

Who on earth would fritter away £110 for those "activities".

The park would be free, the "tech" designing, I'm assuming the same.

The theme park is £23, that leaves the cinema and popcorn at, what, £10..?

It's a nice little earner for the school, and the children aren't actually getting that much out of it. Not educationally anyway. A proper activity week away would be better. Team games, making things, camping etc.

Parks, cinema and beach trips get done with their parents a couple of times a year, surely?

I think it's scandalous, and I wouldn't pay it.

@penjil your post reveals utter ignorance. Schools are not allowed to make any kind of profit from these trips. Have you really not read anything in the last five years about teachers buying their own classroom supplies because schools have no money? If they were allowed to make profit in this sort of thing I guarantee you they would and they money would go straight into the childrens' education. "nice little earner for the school"? Clueless!

Comes out of Pupil Premium. That lofty £1000 a year that goes towards levelling things up a bit. After covering the costs of a week such as this for the poorest kids, there's an entire £4-ish a day equivalent throughout the school year to help with things such as uniform, breakfast clubs, TAs to staff the breakfast clubs, literacy and numeracy support, etc.

And of course, if somebody is skint but their child doesn't qualify for PP, it's stretched even thinner to benefit all kids, not just ringfenced for the very poorest.

Oh and almost every post if you bothered to read them explain the cost will be mostly the transport as coaches are £££.

I think the tube is safe and fine for Y6 children (I can understand not taking a younger group of children). We are in zone 5/6 with a very quiet tube station close to the school that is at the start of the line. They can zoom into central London in 30 mins and it’s fun for the kids.

Instead they took the coach to a museum in London and it took 90 mins to get there and even longer to get back due to traffic. Plus the travel time meant they barely spent any time in the museum.

Tech will involve materials that they wouldn't ordinarily have.

Even if they do it with their parents, doing it with their school friends is very different. Plus lots of Children don't get these experiences with their families. It's a place of privilege to assume that all do. I mean, I've never taken my children to the cinema (for various reasons) and mine have lots of experiences. We live a 10 minute walk from beautiful beaches, our school walks them twice a year for a beach day. It's an entirely different thing for them.

Theme park and beach will need coaches. There is no way the school will be making profit from it.

About 8% of kids at the school qualify for FSM. At their last school it was 48%.

It's not a 'nice little earner' for the school at all. Schools are not allowed to make a profit from trips. So you are talking out of your arse.
A lot of kids never get to see the beach as not all parents can afford to take them or will prioritise it.

Don't send your kid then. 🤷‍♀️

I couldn't risk assess c.90 primary kids, some of whom will certainly have additional needs, on the tube 🤣

What beach is local to zone 5/6 of London? I imagine it's still got to be quite a few miles away and so the coach to the beach and then to the theme park will be the vast majority of the costs.