To be fed up with the cost of school trips?

[0TiredMumOf4]

Hi all,
Just having a bit of a rant because I feel like I’m being totally swamped by the cost of all these school trips recently. DD1’s school trip to the Science Museum in London is coming up, and it’s a whopping £45. That’s for one trip! And to make matters worse, I’ve already shelled out for DS’s farm trip (another £35), and DD2’s little museum trip just up the road (which, okay, is £15, but still) 🙄.

I get that these trips are important, but seriously? £45 for a museum trip? That’s not even factoring in the cost of packed lunches and the inevitable begging for snacks to take on the coach. And they expect me to fork out this kind of money for all three of them every time there’s a school trip?? 🤦‍♀️

It’s not like I’m made of money, and it feels like they have a trip every other week. Am I being unreasonable to feel totally fed up with how much these things are costing? I don’t mind supporting the kids, but I can’t keep up with this!

Anyone else feel the same, or am I just being a tight arse? 😤

Its coach costs . They are ridiculously expensive.

If they didn't offer trips though then parents would complain about that.
Yes it's annoying, especially if you have multiple children but you either just suck it up, or refuse to pay and then see trips no longer offered as school cannot afford to subsidise everyone.

I felt sorry for you until you moaned about feeding your children. 😂

Surely they eat when not on trips?

I've run the same trip for years but can't justify booking it again. The coach costs are 2.5 times the entry fee. It's a shame though because it's the only trip children go on in Y5/6 except for residentials. We used to do at least two trips every year.

Just take your children to the museum yourself at the weekend or on school holidays and see if it's any cheaper.

That's how much it costs now, sadly. We do our best to keep costs down, by ahopping around for coach hire, seeing if we can find alternative trips, or school visits etc. But these days we have no budget to subsidise it, so if we don't get enough parents paying the full cost, the trips can't happen.

Oh I get that coaches aren’t cheap, but £45 still seems mad for a free museum 🤷‍♀️. I don’t mind paying something, but when you’ve got 3 kids in school it really adds up. And tbh, I’d rather they did fewer, more affordable trips than constant ones that cost a fortune!

They might have free school meals. If they do, school should be providing a free school meal on trip days - probably sandwiches.

OP, say no to coach snacks. There's no need and they shouldn't be eating on the coach surely?!

Those trip prices are really high and you're not unreasonable to be frustrated. how far from London are you? They could surely take public transport for far less than £45 per child!

They will be getting a school package/tour though, not just general admission. Dedicated staff, set areas to learn/play/eat, separate queues etc...

In our school it's a once a year trip, so I don't mind paying, and often there's talks/tours by experts you wouldn't normally have access to as a regular visitor.

Our school bring people in occasionally (maybe not quite every term) that have small cost, for example exotic animals petting "zoo", which is under a fiver. I'm glad they have these rather than more trips.
Last two years of primary are residentials at £300ish and in high school the (optional) trips are over £1k.

How often do they run trips? Sadly our school only seem to do one once a year for each year group, presumably due to the cost issue.
As others have mentioned it's the transport that is the issue. While the trip might go somewhere free, the price of getting there is what makes it expensive. It might also be that they take part in workshops which might involve a fee.

Also to note, you mention coach snacks? I have never seen young children being allowed to eat on the coach on a school trip before. They normally have to wait til normal snack time (when they arrive at destination) and then have lunch at lunch time.

We live in Yorkshire. DD has been to HP studios (cost £45) and the Houses of Parliament etc (£35 including dinner).

So your costs do sound high.

Paid £15 for a more local museum.

Speak to the school business manager if you’re struggling, or if you want to see a breakdown of the pricing. I can guarantee that the school won’t be making a profit.

You do realise that schools aren't making a profit on the trips, right?

Three kids is a lot to pay for. It’s why I stopped at 2. Speak to the school if you are struggling. They may be able to help.

I get that trips cost money but £45 still seems steep, especially when it’s somewhere that’s actually free to get into 🤷‍♀️. And yeah, I do take them to places when I can, but it’s not the same when it’s a school trip with their friends and all the extra stuff they get to do. Feels a bit unfair to expect parents to just ‘take them themselves’ when it’s basically compulsory if you don’t want them left out 🙄.

I hate to tell you, but it gets worse and it gets very exclusionary as they get older. I’m fortunate to have both the money to pay for them and the time to queue up and get dc on them, but it bothers me. Y6 residential to France was £250, which was heavily subsidised (full cost of £600 per student). Payments all happening the same month as leavers hoodie and some other end of year payment. It was not easy for some parents.

Now in secondary school, it’s even worse. This is a total ordinary academy secondary, large catchment, rural and market town but not well off areas. Mid December payments started for the ski trip happening next December. I think it’s probably £1000 in total (don’t know, my dc not going).

Enrichment week for July bookings opened 20th of December, 5 days before Christmas! Varied offerings from several European week long trips at £700 each, week of surfing in the UK at £150, down to things like board games at school and learn how to run a salon, both at school and free. I had the time in the middle of the day to book mine in (all spaces on her trip gone in 5 minutes) because I wasn’t working and I could drop £250 on a deposit the week of Christmas. I am not the majority in this school.

It’s completely impossible for a lot of parents and I will honestly say I don’t think it’s coincidental that they made it difficult for students from less comfortable backgrounds to attend the ‘posher’ trips. Less hassle chasing payments over the next 6 months, fewer students dropping out, everyone who turns up with have the right kit and enough spending money, etc. I think the school wants certain students on certain trips and not others, and I think it’s really crap.

A lottery system would be more fair and there should be support for those who need it to attend the big desirable trips. Otherwise, the kids whose lives are already enriched by travel and cultural experiences get more of it and the ones who don’t are just stuck at school learning about nail art and never seeing beyond our tiny little town. Anyway, I’ll stop ranting now, but it annoys me a lot.

Did you think having three children was going to be budget friendly?

I mean you've got 3 kids. Of course it's going to be expensive.

DS's Y4 residential is only £25. That's not a typo.For that they get coach transport about 20 minutes away, overnight camp for one night, all meals other than lunch on day 1 (pack up needed) and activities such as den building, outdoor games and general team bonding stuff. It must be heavily subsidised as I can't think it's that cheap. I think because the school is in a very deprived area they do this as many children will never have been that far from home, gone camping etc.

Coaches are very very expensive these days. It is probably where most of the cost is going.

If that concerned over the cost, why not ask the school for a breakdown? I don't know how far away it is for you to travel into London, but that will be a significant factor. If you also look at the science museum, while entry is free they do run other paid for activities, so if the school is booking those then that would also cost (the same as it would you if you did these).

I don't think anyone expects parents to take kids themselves and if you are having financial difficulties then talk to the school as they can help you, whether that is to help contribute potentially to the cost for your child or to give a payment plan option. The issue is the more people that don't pay, then in the future the trips won't run as school budgets cannot pay for this and regardless of how good your PTA are they are unlikely to be able to pay for a trip for every year group.

YANBU - that sounds like a lot, but coaches are expensive these days.

I'm fortunate that at my DC's school all UK-based trips are offered free of charge. Families who can afford to just pay a nominal fee for transport. A recent trip to a paid London attraction was just £11 all in. They also cover eg all foods for food tech, and the uniform and lunches are very affordable too.

We were quoted over £2000 for one coach to do a school trip to the zoo (50 miles each way), obviously plus entry costs etc. That was three years ago now, I dread to think what it’s gone up to! To add insult to injury, the coach driver got free zoo entry for the day as part of their school offering!

It is a lot of money, and it’s awful that people are being excluded/struggling to find the money, but it really is just what it costs these days.