Can't afford Dd's very expensive school trip

[Wario54]

My DD is 15 and in year 10 at the moment. We live a deprived part of the North of England. She goes to a local, state comprehensive

My DH has had his hours reduced at work in recent months. I work part time in retail (can't get anymore hours unfortunately - I have asked). Like a lot of families, we're financially struggling to keep our heads above water. But we get by (somehow) and I never take the little things for granted (that we have each other, food on the table and a roof over our heads). We've not told our kids about our financial worries - they know there isn't much spare money but not about the extent of our problems.

Dd has come home tonight with a letter and great excitement about another school trip. They had a guest speaker today (external travel company) in assembly today enthusing them about a trip to Borneo of all places. It's 4 weeks long and the cost is £6,500. Currently planned for June/July 2027 (just after her GCSE'S). They are expected to fundraise some of the cost themselves (bake sales, sponsored walks etc) but we will have to pay the majority if she's to go.

She said today that she'll get a Saturday job to cover some of the cost herself. But even with that, taken into account we just can't afford it. It breaks my heart, because I'd love to give her that opportunity but I know we simply can't.

She's full of excitement about trekking through the jungle and cuddling Orangutans. But how do I tell her when she's already set her heart on it? 😢

I just think the school are being completely ridiculous by offering such an expensive trip in a cost of living crisis.

Hello, we are in north east to. My daughter’s secondary school goes abroad 3 times a year. The prices are a fortune and they don’t give you enough notice, they do payment plans but these are over 6 months which for 2/4 grand it’s a joke. I’m lucky my daughter won’t go as they won’t allow them to have their phones, bit stupid when anything could happen I wouldn’t feel comfortable with her not having it either. 2027 is over 2 year away, maybe try and pay something each month and see if their is any charities etc who can support this.

Sorry over 1 year not two

I signed up for one of these trips maybe 15 years ago. 2 and a bit weeks trekking through south America and building a school. I think it was about £4k even then. I was a free school meals kid in a very wealthy area and I managed to scrape somewhere over £1000 before we decided that it simply wasn't feasible to find the rest and I had to pull out. They didnt refund a penny of the installments we'd paid. Wish my mum had just said no thats ridiculous at the start.

Many year ago I did something similar called world challenge in Thialand and Cambodia. My mum had many of the same concerns as you. She said I had to prove I could fundraise the deposit which was £100 due a month after the trip was first discussed. I got a diary and sold dates in the diary for £1. The winning date was selected and won half the money and I kept the other half. Raised the deposit, was signed up to the trip. As a group we did some collective fundraising and I did lots of individual fundraising including car boot sales, bag packs and running a tuck shop at Guides and School. We raised the whole amount.

if she wants to do it she needs to commit and it is a lot of work but also Xmas is a great time to start fundraising as lots of fairs and little stocking fillers you can make.

I will say this trip was the subject of a uni interview where I got an unconditional offer and additional scholarship for community service so 10000% more than a school trip if you make it so.

Yes, spending that much money on what is effectively a holiday and of no educational value just seems a waste.

Exactly this. Bloody infuriating not to be able to afford something and then be told that sure! You can! You just aren’t hard working enough/creative enough/dedicated enough/want it enough. Talk about insulting.

In fact sometimes 'voluntourism' is actively harmful.

A few years ago i wanted to do a sponsored ride with a large equine charity- you needed £3,500 of sponsorship- much less than this holiday to Borneo, the only purpose of which is to be a holiday. I tried getting sponsorship, but I quickly realised people didn't see it a a charitable donation they saw it as them paying for my holiday. I couldn't afford over £3,000 for a holiday-so i dropped the idea.
No matter how innovative and hands on the child is raising £6,500 is very unlikely.
I would also question why the holiday is this expensive, I have found into longer holidays for an adult in Japan for much less. Japan is a much more expensive location and is as far away- so why twice as expensive?
I would suggest looking into the connection between the school and the travel company, as I suspect a substantial part of the £6,500 is going to the school for allowing the travel company to pitch and supporting the fund raising efforts.

I would have the money for this but still wouldn’t pay it. I wouldnt pay this for a family holiday. I remember my school doing a ski trip once a year which was a lot of money - I didn’t even show my parents the letter as I knew it wasn’t an option. They were horrified at my £30 Tower of London trip 😂

Yes, I'm not sure some posters are getting that if you're in a low income community, the adults around you are much less likely to have spare income that they can use to pay teenagers for things they don't want or need. If your plan to afford something is to outsource a certain amount to those grown ups within pestering distance, the amount of cash those grown ups have makes a biiiiig difference.

Its voluntourism, not just a holiday, and no, schools don't make money out of it 🙄

I cant belive the school to even suggest such an expensive trip. Even parents sending heir kids to private school would sturggle to pay this. It's completley ridiculose. 6 and a half grand is a long way towards a mortgage deposit, not something 99% of families would even dream on spending on a family holiday let alone an after GCSE trip. You'll just have to be honest with your daughter and say that the trip is not a realistic price for anyone.

@Wario54 you are not alone. We have had the same company in our state school (North East also). Cost was the same £6,500 per child, for 10 days, living on a boat on the Amazon with composting toilets.

I think it’s bordering on immoral tbh - not just cost but the environment as well. How is flying kids to the rainforest doing anything to protect their their habitat 🤯

I am also considering a letter to school. Why can’t they look at Europe - there are plenty of lower cost summer adventures and conservation projects to be had.

I’m just saying it’s a racket where teacher gets a free holiday essentially paid for by the children’s parents who go who are asked to pay more than triple the amount the trip actually costs. Teachers and schools shouldn’t be encouraging this. But if I was a young teacher with no family commitments and had opportunity to go to Borneo for free for a month with a teacher friend & just have to be responsible for a few 16 year olds who’s parents are paying for it all then sure, id do it!

Absolutely appalling! I would be complaining - is there a parent forum?

This is the ultimate 'pester power' upsell they have allowed to come into school. If I had that ££ I could take the child onma. life-changing educational holiday myself and we could ALL see amazing things.

I don't think they'll have many takers either so she won't be left out.

I imagine nobody will go

Bonkers. Just no. We aren't that hard up but I still wouldn't do it.

Maybe you could go on the game, OP?

only joking.

It really isn't worth the effort and responsibility of running a trip. It's really no racket at all. Possible exception of a ski trip where the kids are in ski school but then if one injuries themselves it's not fun and nor is dealing with the rife contraband alcohol.

Trips are a total headache for most teachers.

The final instalment is usually about 4 months before the kids are due to go, which leaves just 14 months to raise £6.5k. That’s insane!

Year 10 + 11 are very important years at school. Year 11 especially. My son quit his beloved gaming for at least 6 months - not asked by us - to get through all his GCSE revision. No way would I be wanted my daughter, year 10, to be focused on fund raising rather than her GCSEs! It’s a ‘very hard’ no from me.

Final note: how dare the school offer this out just before Christmas when many families are struggling financially and already wondering how they can afford to get their DC the presents they want.

Sounds like a World Challenge trip my sons school sent out in September for Cambodia for £5,500 and so few people responded that they sent out a survey to see why take up was so low. They are now offering a revised 13 nights to Borneo but it is still £4195 so he won’t be going.

I hope you're going to make a complaint about it to the school and the council

In that case at least half of the money is going to the project in Borneo.
A large charitable donation like that means you should look very closely into the project , and how much actually gets to the people that need it. You then need to make a decision if that project is one you think is so good you want to donate £3,000 to it-being endorsed by the school does not necessarily mean it will meet your expectations. I make no charitable donations to any cause where less than 85p in every £ goes to the cause, very few charities meet this criteria, and I would want this "volutourism" to meet it.

Pls don't feel guilty, OP. There's no need to. In theory we could afford this due to our current circumstances but there's no way I would shell out for something like this and if DS asked I'd just shut it down straight away and not give it another thought. Ask yourself this....if you randomly came into £6K so the money was no issue...is this really what you'd actually spend it on? I feel like sometimes people get more wrapped up in the guilt of not being able to afford something than whether it's actually worth it regardless. This makes me sad as there are people who can easily afford it but would just say no without any guilt at all.

I am on a good salary but would (and have) refused to pay this kind of money for a school trip. My DCs school did trips to China and I was raging about it at the time. It’s so unfair to those children who could never afford it, and it’s not necessary for anything they are studying. I feel it’s morally wrong for schools to put these kind of trips on.