Page 6 | To be fed up with the cost of school trips?

0TiredMumOf4 · 2025-04-02T20:26:01+00:00

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? 😤

hjokhjjjkkkd · 03/04/2025 07:33

RhododendronFlowers · 03/04/2025 07:31

You think they don't? Those who are Pupil Premium/FSM go for free. Other parents make a "donation". If they don't pay, the school pays.
No-one is excluded for reasons of poverty.

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Not high school residential trips in my experience, just a small discount.

RhododendronFlowers · 03/04/2025 07:34

hjokhjjjkkkd · 03/04/2025 07:33

Not high school residential trips in my experience, just a small discount.

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I'm challenging her claim that some pupils are excluded because of poverty.

MightAsWellBeGretel · 03/04/2025 07:36

Sorry, but part part of it is having three children, that doesn't sound unreasonable to me.

We stopped getting a coach and take them on the train instead. Kids get free travel in London.

That's great if you can, but some lines are packed all the time!

Strikeback · 03/04/2025 07:38

Ohioatdawn · 03/04/2025 07:26

You're completely justified in finding it difficult OP.
I've got a DC in year 6 and a DC in year 8.
For my year 6, school have asked for £55 for a day trip last month, £145 for 2 day trips in May, £650 for a 3 day PGL trip in May that's a 1 hour drive away, money for leavers hoodies, endless asking for money for a leavers celebration, they have asked for my DC to go to school tomorrow dressed as a WW2 evacuee which has meant I've had to buy an outfit which will only be worn for 6 hours (funnily enough we dont have kids 1940s clothes laying around ready to wear for a dress up day at school), they've asked for money to fund an Easter party, they ran a school disco last week and charged us for the kids entrance. This is a regular state primary.
In August, in preparation for moving to secondary in to year 7, I will be shelling out £500 for secondary school logo'd uniform and blazer and logo'd PE kit and new school shoes and the exact PE trainers they specify plus football boots (DC doesn't even play football but the school insists they all have to have a pair and they are expensive!).
Meanwhile DC in year 8 - school wants £485 for a 3 day trip in July also an hour away, £50 for a day trip in April, and in July I'll be spending another fortune on a load more logo'd uniform for DC who has grown out of this year's uniform. The uniform has to be bought from a specialist private shop that's a 35 minute drive away. It's literally the only shop that sells the school's specific, personalised uniform. You have to take your kids there to be measured up for all the uniform. Even the skirts have to be from this shop with the school logo embroidered on them. It's only a regular state secondary!😰

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Do you not have second hand uniform sales at your school? We make a fortune for the PTA at ours.

hjokhjjjkkkd · 03/04/2025 07:39

RhododendronFlowers · 03/04/2025 07:34

I'm challenging her claim that some pupils are excluded because of poverty.

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I know, I’m just saying that doesn’t work for residential trips in my experience, so exclusion will likely happen with those, if not the day trips.

Neurodiversitydoctor · 03/04/2025 07:41

avignon1234 · 02/04/2025 23:13

Some good points made by posters on here, and I would agree that the cost coach hire has sometimes become the main part of the expense. Unfortunately, even with the best public transport on your doorstep, there is a world of difference between nudging 50 pupils onto a coach in your own schoolyard, who are then captive until they arrive at another "safe" destination, to trying to corrall them onto public transport, which is fraught with all sorts of risks that are not likely to be tolerated by an institution, or those who work in it. Cancellations, delays, "the public", young people doing something unexpected (and they do !), accessibility, supervision, and unknown or unlikely risks that we never really want to think about. That said, I would agree that there should be some thought put into this by institutions about how many trips, what value they bring, and what they cost, what the alternative is, and what the impact is on parents who have multiple children. It's hard to say no to when it is your child. x

Really ? Many ( most) secondary school children take public transport to school don't they ? I know we took the tube as a class/ with the brownies all the time in the '80s.....different times I guess. I know Dd took the train for school trips in yr10/11.

TheNightingalesStarling · 03/04/2025 07:42

Ohioatdawn · 03/04/2025 07:26

You're completely justified in finding it difficult OP.
I've got a DC in year 6 and a DC in year 8.
For my year 6, school have asked for £55 for a day trip last month, £145 for 2 day trips in May, £650 for a 3 day PGL trip in May that's a 1 hour drive away, money for leavers hoodies, endless asking for money for a leavers celebration, they have asked for my DC to go to school tomorrow dressed as a WW2 evacuee which has meant I've had to buy an outfit which will only be worn for 6 hours (funnily enough we dont have kids 1940s clothes laying around ready to wear for a dress up day at school), they've asked for money to fund an Easter party, they ran a school disco last week and charged us for the kids entrance. This is a regular state primary.
In August, in preparation for moving to secondary in to year 7, I will be shelling out £500 for secondary school logo'd uniform and blazer and logo'd PE kit and new school shoes and the exact PE trainers they specify plus football boots (DC doesn't even play football but the school insists they all have to have a pair and they are expensive!).
Meanwhile DC in year 8 - school wants £485 for a 3 day trip in July also an hour away, £50 for a day trip in April, and in July I'll be spending another fortune on a load more logo'd uniform for DC who has grown out of this year's uniform. The uniform has to be bought from a specialist private shop that's a 35 minute drive away. It's literally the only shop that sells the school's specific, personalised uniform. You have to take your kids there to be measured up for all the uniform. Even the skirts have to be from this shop with the school logo embroidered on them. It's only a regular state secondary!😰

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I thought the government was working on restricting uniform costs.

Some schools are extortionate! State education is supposed to be affordable for everyone.

MummyInTheNecropolis · 03/04/2025 07:44

That’s an insane amount of money! I’m a primary school teacher, my class have been on 3 trips so far this year, 2 of them were free and one that was further away and cost money was £4.50 per child. Admittedly, we have 2 school minibuses which the PTA fundraised for years ago so we never use coaches, but we often walk or use public transport as well. I did the science museum a few years ago with a different school and we went by coach. It was £12 per child. Surely costs haven’t risen that much?!

GrammarTeacher · 03/04/2025 07:44

user1494050295 · 03/04/2025 06:52

Thanks. I guess living in sw London with everything on the doorstep gives access to so much so the our incurring the costs you described. Although I will say when travelling in to town there are regularly groups of primary and cinders children swamping the train with us. No biggie. And finally if a university event you could ask for help to lay on a coach. They may say no but you might’ve surprised

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In the case of the uni trip it isn’t transport that’s the issue. There is funding from them for travel as you say. We still need to charge for the cover costs and admin costs. So a ‘free’ trip is still at least £5.

TheNightingalesStarling · 03/04/2025 07:45

Re public transport..

If you have public transport going where you want to go, in a time efficient manner, and you can guarantee space for all the children.. great.

If the public transport is a single decker bus every half hour that will take an hour to get into town... not so useful!

Moonnstars · 03/04/2025 07:49

RhododendronFlowers · 03/04/2025 07:31

You think they don't? Those who are Pupil Premium/FSM go for free. Other parents make a "donation". If they don't pay, the school pays.
No-one is excluded for reasons of poverty.

Show quote history

At my kids school PP are expected to pay half the trip cost. However the letters for primary school trips always state they require a 'voluntary contribution'. The issue is if everyone took note of this and decided they weren't going to voluntarily pay then trips don't happen. The only trip I have seen where this hasn't been noted is the residential, I assume because this isn't in the school day and if people don't want to go then that is more of a choice.

OP do ask for the breakdown. I think there have been lots of suggestions for the cost (coach, specific exhibits/workshops that are paid for - just a quick search of the science museum shows wonderlab £15, a new exhibition £12, power up £12, 3D film £12). I think you keep saying it's a free museum but I imagine they are doing something specific once there that will not be free and if it's led by a specific member of staff that will require payment.

forgotmyusername1 · 03/04/2025 07:49

amiadoormat · 02/04/2025 22:00

i Don’t think “technically” schools can charge for trips undertaken during school time. I also have 3 in school and the trips are outrageous and parents get about a weeks notice to pay.

My school did a trip to a free to enter religious centre this year and wanted to charge £10 per Child (for transport!) .. I politely told them there was a bus stop outside the school entrance which drops off outside the venue and maybe they should put into practice some of the virtue signalling do-gooding they do about teaching about climate change and sustainability. They said they couldn’t possibly take the children on a public bus - the horror! I told them that I work in the centre of London and frequently see whole classes of children being taken on the Tube for school trips and if they could manage it with children half the age of my child I’m sure the school could. They said no. So I didn’t pay.

talking to teachers at the other schools there is definitely a different ethos of schools that don’t consider themselves in deprived areas. My school is in a fairly well off area and there is little thought given to cost of school trips, branded uniforms (which can’t be bought at ASDA) etc yet a local school 3 miles down the road in what is considered a deprived area the teachers openly talk about how hard they work to keep cost down and are more creative about where when and how trips are organised

What happens though if the bus turns up and there wasn't enough space for all the children to get on? Do you all wait for the next bus or do you send some kids and then wait half an hour for another bus with the rest of the kids? What happens if you can only get 10 kids on each bus and there are 60 of them in total. Might take 3 hours to get them all there.

GrammarTeacher · 03/04/2025 07:50

Neurodiversitydoctor · 03/04/2025 07:41

Really ? Many ( most) secondary school children take public transport to school don't they ? I know we took the tube as a class/ with the brownies all the time in the '80s.....different times I guess. I know Dd took the train for school trips in yr10/11.

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Again, possible to take the train for year 11 small subjects for us. English, less so. The times we would be travelling there wouldn’t be capacity. When I trained we were significantly closer to London and could leave on the train after 9. Walk to the Globe from Waterloo, perfect. Impossible now.

RhododendronFlowers · 03/04/2025 07:50

That's what's happened, @Moonnstars .
Not enough parents are prepared to pay, so we don''t run the trips.

Tbrh · 03/04/2025 07:52

If people are complaining about the cost of the coach so much, why don't the parents offer to take a few kids themselves then .... oh wait I guess they wouldn't do that though, would they?

notnorman · 03/04/2025 07:54

Good grief to the posters expecting teachers to take whole classes on the bus!!!

Ddakji · 03/04/2025 07:55

notnorman · 03/04/2025 07:54

Good grief to the posters expecting teachers to take whole classes on the bus!!!

When DD was at primary school, her class would take the bus into London for school trips no problem. 25 kids and a handful of adults. This was only a few years ago.

Embarrassinglyuseless · 03/04/2025 07:56

these seem very very high

Home Counties here - my child recent trip
to robotics work shop @ LEGOLAND follows by an afternoon in the park was £27.

My other child has have a Windsor castle tour + workshop (£22

and a day on the Isle of Wight for beach activities + an aquarium in Portsmouth -
transport including hovercraft. Total cost less than £40

Do you live a long way from the locations so coach journeys are extremely long? Is my children’s school subsidising? Or are some schools charging parents more to subsidise parents that can’t or won’t?

Sirzy · 03/04/2025 07:56

TheNightingalesStarling · 03/04/2025 07:45

Re public transport..

If you have public transport going where you want to go, in a time efficient manner, and you can guarantee space for all the children.. great.

If the public transport is a single decker bus every half hour that will take an hour to get into town... not so useful!

We end up doing it that way for a lot of things because it’s either that or don’t go on the trips at all. It’s far from ideal and makes things even more stressful for staff but it’s the way we can make sure children do get these experiences.

getting a coach would be so much easier but the cost is prohibitive.

Sirzy · 03/04/2025 07:57

notnorman · 03/04/2025 07:54

Good grief to the posters expecting teachers to take whole classes on the bus!!!

Many schools do just that. Next week I am going on a trip via public transport with our nursery and reception children.

Garlicgarlicgarlic · 03/04/2025 07:58

Look up how much it costs to raise one person to 18…and multiply that by four 😱

GrammarTeacher · 03/04/2025 07:59

Embarrassinglyuseless · 03/04/2025 07:56

these seem very very high

Home Counties here - my child recent trip
to robotics work shop @ LEGOLAND follows by an afternoon in the park was £27.

My other child has have a Windsor castle tour + workshop (£22

and a day on the Isle of Wight for beach activities + an aquarium in Portsmouth -
transport including hovercraft. Total cost less than £40

Do you live a long way from the locations so coach journeys are extremely long? Is my children’s school subsidising? Or are some schools charging parents more to subsidise parents that can’t or won’t?

You costs actually seem really low. We’re in the South of East Anglia and wouldn’t be able to run trips to London for that cost.

forgotmyusername1 · 03/04/2025 08:00

We got the letter about the ski trip yesterday. £1250

We will make it happen as it isn't something we are likely to do as a family so a good opportunity but yes it is pricey

Cognacsoft · 03/04/2025 08:00

TeenLifeMum · 02/04/2025 22:19

Dd1 goes to Italy on Saturday - ancient history A level - £1400. For what they are doing it’s good value but I was surprised how many are going (1/4 of her year group). Dtds want to go on the skiing trip - £1200 per child but we’ve planned for it as older dd went 2 years ago. Our days of £45 trips seem a distant memory. Mind you, the ski trip when I was at school was £850 and I’m now 43 years old. School also has a “charity trip” to Kenya for 4 weeks at £7k. This is a state school in a deprived area apparently (my dc are not going to Kenya).

Those African charity trips are virtue signalling holidays and I wouldn’t allow dd to go. I told her that raising thousands (that mostly goes to some company) was ridiculous and the ‘charity’ would benefit more if a lump sum was sent direct and the kids didn’t fly all the way to Africa for two lines on a cv!

RhododendronFlowers · 03/04/2025 08:00

Embarrassinglyuseless · 03/04/2025 07:56

these seem very very high

Home Counties here - my child recent trip
to robotics work shop @ LEGOLAND follows by an afternoon in the park was £27.

My other child has have a Windsor castle tour + workshop (£22

and a day on the Isle of Wight for beach activities + an aquarium in Portsmouth -
transport including hovercraft. Total cost less than £40

Do you live a long way from the locations so coach journeys are extremely long? Is my children’s school subsidising? Or are some schools charging parents more to subsidise parents that can’t or won’t?

No, you can't charge others more to subsidise the non payers. If some don't pay, then the school does. Not enough pay? The trip doesn't run.