To not want to have to find more than £200 for a school trip in january....

[filthymindedvixen]

Ye gods, does anyone have any spare cash in January??

And to make matters worse, ds2's birthday is end of october, dh and mum are mid december and ds1's is right before xmas.

We are skint already and the idea of having to find £200 for this trip is making me feel quite sick.

I can't go and plead poverty as i am a governor and it would be utterly mortifying.

Can you not pay it off a bit at a time ??

When dd1 went to France with the school, we just paid a deposit and then paid it off in small chunks.

Schools usually let you pay in installments. And let you pay what you can afford - legally they have to.

Being a Governor doesn't mean you have to have spare cash.

Where are they going that costs $200? Even our Y5 week-long residential didn't cost that much.

Bloody hell! How do all the parents on benefits cope? Can you put aside a bit each week? I'd plead poverty, times are getting hard, governor or not. They shouldn't plan trips that cost this much just after christmas, if you can't afford it then there's going to be others who can't either. Maybe you should have a chat with the head and ask for it to take place later ih the year because all the parents on benefits wo't be having a christmas if you don't.

yes but it all has to be paid by the trip in january, so it makes no difference whether I pay £50 a month between now and jan or £200 now, I still have to find the money so soon after xmas IYSWIM. It's not like I can defer payment til, ooh, say May.

It's a sodding 5 day residential at an outward bound place, not a week in the algarve...

I mean, we didn't spend £200 on the family holiday this year.

The problem is ds1 hates school and lived for this trip last year, but was at a more civilised time of year to find the cash. He is so excited about this one...

I'm really pissed off tbh

Blimey fmv where are they taking them? Does yuor ds have to go?

Good God that is a ridiculous amount of cash.

You need to convince them of the benefits of changing the day to later in the academic year. All the ones that are scraping by will have more time, the weather will be better etc.

The cost goes up when the weather gets better.

Ours changed from March (£195) to June (£350)

I suspect it is then because that is when the place has vacancies. We only found out yesterday. I want to say something to the head but I suspect she wll say ''it's then or not at all....''
All the year 6 kids had such a fab time on the last one. Not going is NOT an option.

What about the parents that can't afford it?

exactly Avena. I'm one of them!
(DH was out of work for the first 4 months of this year and we are still playing catch up from that.)

Hmm. This seems very off to me. All those parents who struggle to pay for christmas as it is will have the added expense of this. I would refuse to let my child go and save the money, then take him away for a few days once money's not so tight. They shouldn't have parents over a barrel like this. It's very unfair to assume that everyone has this cash to spare so close to christmas. Did you have alot of notice for this?

found out on friday

agree with avenalife. Have you discussed it as the main Christmas present? Could you afford it then?

Just cut back on your birthday/Christmas spending.

Christmas is not about unadulterated spending.

I have 2 children and one of them has a birthday right before xmas. I don't spend £200 on birthday and xmas present combined.!

So techically it's a term, even so, the head should know that the christmas term is a bad time to be asking parents to fund trips like this. It's common sense. I really do think you should talk to her, there are going to be singl mums, parents on benefits etc who will have a choice between buying christmas presents for their children and sending one on a school trip. Am I right in thinking that those who seriously can't afford it can get the trip paid for by the school? You need to make the silly bint aware of how much it's going to cost the school if no one can afford it. This can't be a good idea!

oh squeaky pig ''just cut back on xmas spending.'' If I pare any closer, we'll be on cabbage soup for xmas dinner.

This is my point, it is just bloody unfair of the school to expect us to be able to do this!

It doesn't sound complusory and they are giving you notice.

I don't think 1 term is notice enough to those parents who have struggled to afford school uniforms, will now have to pay for this and christmas.

Have you ever tried living on income support SqueakyPop? There's a bigger picture here, not everyone has £200 at their disposal.

We work, Avena.

squeaky, have you ever had your child be the only one not to go on a school trip??? No? Well, it may not be compulsory but to a child who is utterly miserable at school due to learning difficulties, it is a beacon of light in an otherwise grim world of school.

Notice? Many of us have just bankrupted ourseleves to buy new school shoes etc for our children while all the time fretting about forthcoming birthdays and christmas, let alone paying the mortgage/fuel bills and putting decent food on the table.....

ah, learning difficulties.

squeaky, don't be so patroning to Avena. My dh and I work, but sadly, life is costing us more than we can currently earn. I appreciate you taking time out of your hectic schedule surveying the rest of us from your ivory tower but...